Last Saturday night, December 17 2011, Satmar Hasidim all over the world celebrated the 67th anniversary of the miraculous escape from Nazi Germany of their founding Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, of blessed memory. This year's celebration boasted the participation of an estimated 45,000 people. The current, highly influential Grand Rabbis of Satmar, Rabbi Aaron and Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, both gave keynote addresses in which they noted the accomplishments of their great uncle, the founder, and pointed out the path to continuing his work.
As in previous years, the grand rabbis took the opportunity to address the issue of Zionism, and emphasized the teachings of their predecessors regarding the danger Zionism poses to worldwide Jewry, and particularly to the Jews in the Holy Land.
But this year, they also reacted to recent statements by certain Jewish "leaders" who unceasingly pressure politicians to pursue the pro-Israel agenda, especially during election campaigns, and the relentless, irresponsible condemnation of the Obama administration, which they deem not to be pro-Israel enough to their liking. Both grand rabbis declared in no uncertain terms that these practices must cease at once, as they go against the teachings of traditional Judaism.
Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum said, "We live in a country of kindness. We enjoy freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The prophet Jeremiah says, 'Seek out the welfare of the city where I have exiled you, and pray on its behalf to G-d.' This country in particular lets us live as we wish, and even gives us the right to vote. But recently, certain self-appointed Jewish leaders have gotten up and insulted the President in the worst way. Their words have been broadcast on the radio and television and all the media. And everyone knows that they say these things for the benefit of the defiled State [of Israel]. Why should Jews come out in public with these sort of statements? It is provoking the nations to hate us, and it brings danger upon Jews not only here but all over the globe. We mustn't forget that this is exile. Who knows what the effects of this irresponsible behavior could be?"
Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum said, "The Torah teaches, and history has shown, that when Jews treat the leaders of their countries with respect, those leaders are benevolent toward the Jews, but when Jews insult and degrade the leaders, it arouses anti-Semitism."
The grand rabbis concluded that it is our obligation to make known that religious Jewry is completely opposed to these self-appointed leaders. Religious Jews pray every day for our country and bless its leaders with success in all their efforts to bring peace to the world.
The anniversary of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum's escape is celebrated every year by Satmar Hasidim all over the world. The sentiment of the day is one of thanks to the Almighty for the overwhelming mercy and compassion that He showed the Jewish people at that terrible time in history by preserving Rabbi Teitelbaum's life, and enabling him to rebuild and reestablish the Hasidic Jewish community here in the United States.
Rabbi Teitelbaum arrived in America in 1946, and found it to be a vast spiritual desert. He was confronted with the especially difficult task of transplanting the original way of Jewish life and belief from Europe to modern America.
He founded his community with only a handful of families, but today it has grown into a major empire with some 100,000 members. The community is centered in Brooklyn and in Kiryas Joel, New York, but it also has major branches in Great Britain, Belgium, Argentina, Canada, Australia and the Holy Land. Some thought it impossible for Hasidic Judaism to flourish in the modern world, and the Satmar community views its own success as a miracle, evidence of Divine providence.
Beyond the insular world of his followers, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum was famous in the general Jewish world for his relentless campaign in condemnation of Zionism and the so-called Jewish State of Israel. He saw Zionism as the greatest obstacle to Jews and Judaism, both spiritually and materialistically, and waged a life-long struggle to preserve the remnants of the Jewish nation from falling prey to its poison.
Over the years, the annual celebration has evolved into the largest assembly of Satmar Hasidim of any time of the year. It became customary on this day for the grand rabbi to give the central speech of the year, something like the annual State of the Union Address given by the president of the United States.
Rabbi Aaron and Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum hope that their words this year will have an effect, not only on their own community but on the larger Jewish world. They hope that this coming election will not degenerate into a contest over which politician can make the most militant pro-Israel statements - statements that do not reflect the feelings of a large portion of Orthodox Jewry at all, statements that are bound to arouse latent anti-Semitism.