There is a big debate going on now in the government, in the Finance Committee. 

Satmar is thought of as being an extremely anti-Zionist hassidic group, led by the Satmar Rebbe, following the writings of Rav Yoel Teitelbaum against Zionism. And they are. But Satmar has historically differentiated between the State of Israel and the Jews of Israel. While Satmar opposed the State of Israel, it has supported the Jews of Israel, especially in times of trouble.

this is funny..

Haredim10 brings the interesting words of the Satmar Rebbe from Kiryas Joel yesterday.

In an event commemorating the rescue of the Satmar Rebbe from the clutches of the Nazis in 1944 (Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum made it out of Hungary on the "Kastner Train"), the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Zalman Teitelbaum, sharply criticized the frum community in the USA for getting heavily involved in the presidential election.

This is interesting. There might be different ways to ensure yourself some protection from CoronaVirus, even if other methods did not necessarily work..

There are a couple of humorous anecdotes in this article on Kikar about Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef refusing to meet with the Gaavad of the Eida Hachareidis, Rav Tuvia Weiss.

According to the article, and in a news blurb I saw elsewhere, Rav Weiss called Rav Yosef to  secret meeting, yet Rav Yosef refused to go to him for the meeting. Rav Yitzchak Yosef said, in his weekly Motzash shiur, that Rav Weiss called him in to talk about why Rav Yosef recently said that the Eida is the worst of the hechshers on meat and Sefardim should not eat it at all. Rav Yosef said, he called him in and said he is willing to accept me to talk about it - thank you, he wants to tell me the hechsher is ok. Rav Yosef repeated that the Eida is the worst [on meat]. Rav Yosef previously said people should rely ont he Rabbanut hechsher and strengthen the Rabbanut and not add on with other hechsherim (specifically the Eida, but if he says Rabbanut is good and we need to rely on it and strengthen it, he must mean against all other hechshers as well, not just Eida. Even his own family's Beit Yosef hechsher).

Another thing he said is that Rav sent a messenger beckoning him to come for a meeting at midnight with no cameras. He said he refused - what do I need to go for so after they will put up signs about me?

Another interesting anecdote related is not about the Eida, but about its close cousin, Satmar. Rav Yosef said that one of the admorim of Satmar came to him but was worried about the meeting being made public and it would end with him being attacked as a Zionist. Rav Yosef says he responded that you have nothing to worry about because the position of Rishon Letzion has existed for 350 years [and has nothing to do with Israel or Zionism] - if you would meet with the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, then you should be concerned because that position is a State-mandated position.

That last one is funny. As if he was not appointed by the politicians and rabbinic leaders of the State of Israel to this position. As if his chief rabbinate position is not an Israeli office with budgets and salaries paid by the Zionist state, with authority granted by the Zionist state. As if the Sefardim in general, including the rabbis and him and his family, are less Zionistic than the Ashkenazim.

PM Netanyahu has a daughter from his first marriage. The daughter and her husband live in Mea Shearim in Jerusalem. Noa Roath, his daughter, stays away from the limelight and they seem to have a mostly "distant" relationship. Anyways, her son, Bibi's grandson, is seen in this picture greeting shaking hands with the Satmar Rebbe as part of a ceremony of schoolchildren greeting him when he was here recently.

I had heard of this incident, as there was some buzz about it at the time, but only now saw the picture. The teacher or whoever that is seems extremely excited to present this child...

The Satmar Rebbe has come to Israel.

And I don't care.

The Haredi press is making a big deal about this, and the Haredi community is talking about it, and debating the visit, non-stop. Who is going out to greet him, who is not, is it good he is coming, is it bad, is it true to his ideology or is he selling out, is he benefiting form the State of Israel or is he not... blah blah blah...

Some people like to keep fighting the battles of history. The Satmar Rebbes lost their fight. The Jewish community overwhelmingly supports Israel, in one capacity or another. The vast majority of Haredi Jewry supports the State of Israel in some capacity, whether a lot or a little. The Satmar ideology is irrelevant today, except to the tiny number of Satmar chassidim out there, and even to many of them it is irrelevant.

Many of us like to argue about Israel as if the issues of 70 years ago, or 100 years ago, or 50 years ago are still relevant today. They are not. The fights are history, as are the ideological opinions of Satmar.

the Satmar Rebbe can come and visit and spend his good money in Israel while denying he is supporting the State if that is what makes him happy. Or he can stay home in New York and visit London instead when he wants to travel. I really don't care. He and his opinions are irrelevant to almost everybody. He is just another tourist.

According to Kikar, the Satmar community in Israel has petitioned the Supreme Court to have automatic exemptions from IDF service granted to the entire Satmar community.

In the petition to the Supreme Court they explain that they do not see themselves as part of the State - not just in the form of not recognizing it but actively opposing it and believing the existence of the State is causing the delay in the coming of Mashiach. To that end the Satmar community isolates itself in every way possible from the State and its symbols and institutions.

Additionally, Satmar is opposed to any and all army service, as any war declared by any body other than the Sanhedrin is not valid and is simply murder.

They want to be exempted not just from service, but also from any paperwork and medical exams related to the service. They don't want to even have to go file for an exemption, as that would be recognizing the validity of the State.

The Supreme Court has ordered the State to write a response to the petition made by Satmar.

While essentially I can accept such an arrangement, similarly to the way the State automatically exempts most Arabs, for example, I do not know how it can be employed. How does the State determine who is Satmar and who is not? How does the State know to exempt one person and not the other? Will Satmar submit lists? Will anyone else not wanting to serve be able to find a way to be considered Satmar?

Ironically, Satmar petitioning the Supreme Court seems to be some sort of recognition of the State that they say they don't recognize and isolate themselves from its institutions.

I was completely shocked when I first saw a report about this and thought it can't be true...but now I am seeing it in a few places along with video. While it is still shocking, now it seems to be true..

It seems a number of young women from the Satmar community in New York have recently baptized themselves to Christianity. There is video of one of them, the daughter of a Hassidic Rebbe (the Dezher Rebbe) from Flatbush, Mindel Paneth - now going by the name Hayden Paneth, who went to school in the Satmar school system. A Satmar girl from Monsey named Leah Levy also did the same. Supposedly there are others - some say a total of four known who did it publicly and others say there are tens of these young women, many of whom did it privately.

I have no idea how many actually converted to Christianity. It does not really matter. Every single one is a Jewish world destroyed and even just one is a horrible tragedy. I have not heard a reason given, though some online are pointing to, and blaming, the extreme Satmar views against Zionism. It might be that or it might not be that. They have extreme views on a lot of things, not just Zionism, so without any explanation from these young women, it is really just guessing to point to one aspect of Satmar life and blame that. It also seems to be a trend, if it can be called a trend, within Satmar. I have not seen or heard about it among other groups.

I first saw it discussed in the Haredi news website Haredim10.  That made me start looking around and I saw it discussed in an online Haredi forum, and then found the following post in English (with video) about it. Then Ben Waxman posted a Maariv article about it on Twitter.



Very shocking and very sad.

Satmar educators are looking at these extreme acts and wondering if something in their education system needs to be changed. As one is quoted, it would be one thing if some girls just stopped living a Haredi life, went off the derech, stopped keeping mitzvos, even becoming fully secular, but converting to Christianity is a protest, an evil act, some sort of revenge against something...

I really hope the reports are exaggerated. Even though I am no fan of Satmar and would not have any problem with these girls, and many more, leaving Satmar if they don't like that lifestyle and instead adopting a different sect or stream within Judaism, it is very sad to see them leave like this.

At the recent Satmar rally against Zionism, the Satmar Rebbe railed against the phenomenon of even Satmar Chassidim following the news from Israel and being proud of its successes, and even more specifically following and talking about the prime minister. Bibi Netanyahu and his recent successes. To quote Rabbi Teitelbaum, "the chatter in the mikva (aka mikva neis) is about the success of the prime minister and the other branches of Zionism around the world".
sources: Kikar and A7

I am not even sure what to say about that. Is it good, as they are seeing "the light" and the truth, despite all the indoctrination against Israel? Is it bad, as this is their style and tradition and it is failing them and, eve if I think they are wrong, perhaps that is bad? For a Satmar, is this like going "off the derech"? Do they really have any way to control this - if after 70 to 100 years of speeches and behavior can't stop the trend, will a few more speeches do the job?

Yehuda Glickman, formerly one of the heads of the "bnei yeshivot" division of the IDF and involved in the drafting of Haredi young men,  successfully sued some of the leaders of the Peleg group for their involvement in the "shaming" campaign, known as "Hatzayadim" - "The Trappers" - that caused him so much damage.

The suit was against 3 people and the court ruled that 3 of them are each obligated to pay Glickman 600,000nis compensation, while a fourth was found innocent and Glickman was obligated to pay 15,625nis for his court costs and lawyers fees. In addition,The three found guilty have to pay 30,000nis in court costs and 65,000nis in lawyers fees.

The courts ruled in Glickman's favor saying that the publication of the "Hatzayadim" brochure led to a wave of negative publicity against him, and abusive behavior against him that caused him much anguish and suffering.

This was all put together by private investigation funded by Glickman. Glickman responded to the decision by saying this is one of the first court decisions clarifying that the Haredi community is no longer closed and the blood of Haredi soldiers is not free and their honor is holy.
sources: Kikar, Haredim10

According to a report in Actualic, some wealthy Satmar hassidim from the USA and the UK have committed to paying off these fines.

Sadly this had to be done privately. For whatever reason the police and the IDF could not figure out how to discover who was behind the campaign and only a private person with some private money was competent enough to do so. The police need to deal with law enforcement. The IDF needs to protect its soldiers and deal with law enforcement in relation to the soldiers of the IDF. If they weren't going to chase down the perpetrators and find them, at least now that they have been found I hope those responsible for law enforcement will deal with the guilty perpetrators on a more public responsibility level.

The residents of Kiryas Yoel have been fighting for a long time with the township of Monroe - over land and politics.

They have solved their problem by running a campaign to secede from Monroe and to create their own town. The campaign was successful as about 80% voted in favor.

The new town, to be established by 2020, will be the first town set up as an ultra-orthodox town and will be called the town of Palm Tree - a name using the translation of the name Teitelbaum, after the Satmar Rebbe. A small amount of land, 56 acres, will be added to Kiryas Joel, or Palm tree, as part of the arrangement.

Michael Egan, founder of United Monroe, says this is a win-win situation and everyone will go their own way and end the fighting and will all become better neighbors.
sources: JTA, Spectrum News

I guess they will have more control over the direction of government funding to various programs. I assume they will have public schools according to their lifestyle that might save the residents of a lot of money from private school tuition. Of course there is a power and control. And there are probably a lot of other benefits to doing this that I have not thought of...

Kikar is reporting about a Satmar summer camp that is going to be runnign an unusual activity. They are, supposedly, going to have a couple of people dressed up like Israeli Haredi soldiers, aka chardakim, and have them jump out of a helicopter into the camp and then try to convince the young Satmar boys to join the IDF. The boys will be given beans to throw at them and will refuse to be convinced by them.

The idea of this is, seemingly, to give the kids a sense of participation in a holy battle. As well, it probably will be in order to also make the issue more palpable to them.

When playacting it is common to wish the actor "break a leg". "Break a leg" in theater is an idiom for wishing the actor good luck, but there is a superstition against saying "good luck" directly.

In this instance, wishing these actors "break a leg" before they go jumping from the helicopter into this den of hate would be more literal...

According to reports, Satmar in NY will be supporting and encouraging the fights of the Peleg Yerushalmi in Israel and paying anybody forced to sit in jail for being  deserter from the IDF to the tune of $100 per day.

Two heroes have already been granted the first awards; Zvi Dov Friedman from Bet Shemesh was awarded $7400 for sitting 74 days in jail, and Yisrael Toledano was awarded $6300 for sitting 63 days in jail. Each was granted the money upon their recent release from jail.
source: Ynet, Srugim, INN, Walla News

This is significantly more money than what kollel brings in, so I think a significant percentage of people in the relevant groups might consider this a strong incentive.

BH there is a lot of money in the Jewish community, enough for everyone to support the causes dear to their hearts. At least the recipients of this award will be just a few less people they will be knocking on our doors to support. Unless you give your donations to Satmar who will need to fundraise to pay the awards...

I admit to not being an expert on the nuances of Satmar, but this statement put out by one of the Satmar Rebbes (Rebbe Zalman) is surprising to me..

The Rebbe said that it is obvious that one is allowed to go to the draft board in order to get his exemption from the IDF. He also said that the Divrei Yoel (Rav Yoel Teitelbaum) also said the same, and it is too much mesirus nefesh to not go at all and it would be very difficult to say going to the board is prohibited.
source: Haredim10

What is more interesting about this than the little item and understanding about Satmar is the revelation that the Peleg Hayerushalmi people led by Rav Shmuel Auerbach are seemingly being even more extreme than Satmar on this issue

Satmar, seemingly both of the major Satmar sects, has issued a call to its supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States in the elections this week.

Satmar's endorsement comes with an explanation - Clinton helped the Satmar community in her role as Senator, and in her husband's role as President of the USA. They point to "freeing captives", saving lives, helping get the Jews of Iran out, assistance (permits and welfare grants, presumably).. and more specifically point to the fact that Trump is too pro-Israel.
sources: Haredim10, Kikar, INN

For normative Jews who are pro-Israel, this seems to be the best endorsement for Donald Trump. It seems to be a bit of a backhanded compliment to Clinton. She is good because she is not pro-Israel, or at least not as much as Trump. I am not sure she would like to be portrayed that way.

On the other hand, Ivanka Trump and family were documented going to pay a visit at the ohel of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
source: Algemeiner

It seems the Satmar and Chabad communities are at odds once again...