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Ridiculed in life for his rigorously uncompromising religious faith, he continues to be revered in death for his refusal to concede even an iota of change or modernization. The flourishing, exploding community he left behind—which today has more than doubled in size—still has more than its fair share of detractors in Jewish communities both religious and otherwise.

But the true genius, and the greatest contribution, of the Satmarer Rebbe was his creation of a gold standard of purest Jewish faith and adherence that the entire Jewish world, frum or not, ultimately respects, regardless of how they feel about it.

Old photos from the satmarer rabbi see slide show

Early years

Reb Yoelish was born on the 5th of Teves, 5647 (January 1, 1887) in Sighet, Hungary (now Romania), to Rabbi Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum, the Rov of Sighet. He was the youngest of five children.

From an early age, Yoelish displayed the agile mind and quick wit that would become his trademark in later years. His fertile and keen intellect quickly absorbed his limudei kodesh in his earliest years, filling his memory with the Torah he would later share with enthralled followers and distant observers alike. His seforim were drawn upon "by many rabbonim clandestinely," reports respected historian Rabbi Berel Wein, who merited to share a unique relationship with the Rebbe over the years.

Reb Yoelish married Rebbetzin Chava, the daughter of Plantcher Rov Rabbi Avraham Chaim Horowitz, at age 17. They had three daughters. Rebbetzin Chava tragically passed away in the 1920s, and Reb Yoelish remarried Rebbetzin Alte Feige (née Shapiro) a few years later. In the 1920s, he served as the Rov of Krole, Hungary and became the Rov of Satu Mare, Hungary in 1934. Well-known as both a gaon and a tzadik, talmidei chachomim and Chasidim flocked to him from far and wide. And his fame kept growing. By the time the Nazis, yimach shmam, arrived in Hungary in 1944, he was one of Eastern Europe's leading Rebbes.

An old Video [undated]clip shows the Satmarer rabbi entering his car see below

The 1940s and 1950s

Through a series of miracles large and small, coupled with the intervention of Jewish-establishment activist Rudolph Kastner, the Rebbe escaped on a legendary train transport that carried him, and over 1,600 select others, to safety in Switzerland, although they were perilously diverted to Bergen-Belsen for over four months during this journey.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Reb Yoelish made his way to Eretz Yisroel, where he became the leader of Jerusalem's Chareidi community and remained until 1946. But due to the request of many of his followers the Rebbe departed the Holy Land for American shores, preferring Brooklyn over a Jewish state he saw as soulless, anti-religious and artificial.

The grave site in Kiryas Joel, NY of the Satmarer rabbi and his wife Alta Feigah

When Reb Yoelish Teitelbaum arrived in America, he set up his then-small court in Williamsburg, which was then teeming with frum although non-Chasidic Jews. He was the first "major-league" Rebbe to put down roots in Williamburg after the war (the Tzeilimer Rebbe had been the first Rebbe at all to settle in the neighborhood; he had the good fortune of arriving in 1939).

It was at this point that the first signs of things to come began to emerge. Reb Yoelish quickly established his own cheder, shul, beis medrash and mikvah—all the trappings of a self-contained, fully functioning frum community, and With the financial help of a few self made Satmar philanthropist in the community at his side. Reb Yoelish quickly established a reputation as the new gold standard in town—a reputation and a legacy that continues to this day.

The story is told that once during those early years, before the Rebbe's fame and following rendered access to him difficult, the Rebbe was walking a Williamsburg street when he was stopped by a Yiddish-speaking, non-religious but traditional Jew, an Americanized Yid whose Yiddishkeit had fallen by the wayside as it did with so many in those years. The clean-shaven, well-dressed gentleman complained that the Satmar Rebbe's complete rejection of modern American society was bad for the country. "Rebbe! You're going to ruin America!" the man lamented, perhaps even with good intentions—to which the Rebbe smiled and replied, "Don't worry. I haven't ruined America yet. But I will!"

the famous event of Kof Aleph Kislov where the satmarer rabbi participated

The 1960s and 1970s

Through the late 1950s and 1960s, as frum Williamsburg underwent numerous changes, Chasidishe Williamsburg—spearheaded by the leadership of Reb Yoelish—continued to grow. As crime grew and the frum community shrunk, with Yeshivah Torah Vodaath moving out in the 1960s from north Williamsburg, Satmar became the nucleus and the anchor around which revolved the emerging new face of Williamsburg.

NY Times Article from Aug. 20 1979

Everything about this Williamsburg was defined by the Satmar Rebbe. Yiddish was, and is, the lingua franca in everything from chinuch to commerce, with Yiddish-language store signs and Yiddish in the street rendering Williamsburg an insular but healthy shtetl right in the heart of Brooklyn. It was the realization of the Satmarer Rebbe's vision—a world in which a frum Yid was surrounded by as much kedusha as possible, with virtually no secular inroads or compromises made whatsoever.

Furthering this "Goshen" atmosphere was the 1960s creation of Kiryas Yoel in upstate Monroe, New York, a self-contained, completely frum "shtetl" that stands strong to this day as one of the most powerful frum community in the United States.

And in the context of creating a fully self-supporting shtetl in the noblest traditions of Europe's great Jewish cities, it was the Satmarer Chasidim, inspired by their great and holy Rebbe, who showed the way for the rest of the Jewish community, teaching them just what Jewish community and "kol Yisroel arievem" means. The world-famous Hatzolah volunteer ambulance corps was born in Williamburg. So was Shomrim, the community patrol that every major Brooklyn frum community has. Gemilas Chasudim Fund, Keren Chasanim, MRA, Hashuvas Avideh, Bikur Cholim Rooms at hospitals, And the Satmarer Rebbetzin, for her part, created a flourishing Bikur Cholim organization that today serves as the model for other such organizations; the legendary Satmar Bikur Cholim of Williamsburg today prepares and serves hundreds of meals daily for Manhattan and Brooklyn Jewish hospital patients. It is rightfully fair to say, that today most of the frum Jewish volunteers organization in NYC has some roots from Satmar.

This article appeared in The NY Times Aug 26 1979, click to enlarge

The 1980s and Beyond

Much of the Satmar Rebbe's stance on Zionism, largely due to the State of Israel being the emotional issue that it is for Jews, is hugely misunderstood. It is clear by the communities he established that Reb Yoelish merely wanted to continue the age-old, faith-driven traditions of Yisroel Saba, honed and reinforced over centuries in Europe—that simple emunah that the Master of the Universe, heralded by His Moshiach, would bring Jews back to Eretz Yisroel, and not the secular-learning socio-political movement that is Zionism.

In one of the strongest known writings in his Sifer ‘Vayoel Moshe’ the Satmar Rebbi states the following: “if we place all the immodesty and promiscuity of the generation and the many sins of the world on one side of the scale, and the Zionist state on the other side of the scale by itself, it would outweigh them all. Zionism is the greatest form of spiritual impurity in the entire world. They are polluting the entire world. They have polluted the Jewish people with their heresy”.

Many of the Rebbe's contemporaries agreed with Reb Yoelish, and continue to do so at least in personal belief even while accepting the State and working with it to make it more "kosher." Despite their differences, these gedolim all knew that when it came to frumkeit, Reb Yoelish was the undisputable tzadik hador.

Times Herald record who was known to be a strong critic when the village of Kiryas Joel was Esteblished in 1970 reporting of the passing of Reb Joel Zt'L Aug 20 1979. click to enlarge

And Reb Yoelish's tzidkus was only matched by his scholarship.

Rabbi Ephraim Greenblatt of Memphis, Tennessee, shlita, [a big talmid chocham] a talmid muvhak of Reb Moshe Feinstein, zatzal, recently told VIN News in a different interview that when he asked Reb Moshe who to consult on Torah learning, he was told, "go to Reb Yoelish—he has kol hatorah kulah in his head and knows more than anyone from this generation." Rabbi Greenblat told VIN news that when he first met the satmarer rabbi after the advice of his rabbi, he was mesmerized of the Bekias Hatorah of Reb Yolish.

The great tzadik and leader Reb Yoelish Teitelbaum passed away in 1979, leaving a huge community, and Klal Yisroel, grieving for its terrible loss. 29 years later thousands of his chasidim still continue to talk with tearful emotions of 'Der Hilger Rabbi', as they used to call him.

Rabbi Wein, who merited a personal visit from the Rebbe in 1960s Miami Beach while serving as a rov in that city, paraphrases a gemara about the passing of a great Tanna, who was mourned by a contemporary who said, "Now there is no one to be afraid of." The Satmarer Rebbe, who came to symbolize absolute adherence to the highest levels of frumkeit, inspired awe in all, says the rabbi.

It can perhaps be said that the greatest measure of a great man is what he leaves behind when he dies—or what he doesn't. Reb Yoelish left this world with the slimmest of personal possessions, and absolutely no money. Whatever money he had always went to tzedakah, and thousands of Jews will attest that it was the Satmarer Rebbe who was baal chesed of the generation, having discreetly helped them through crushing troubles over the decades.

When Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky Zt'l spoke at the unveiling of the matzeivah (monument) at the gravesite of the Satmar Rav, one week after his passing, he commented on the special gift G-d had bequeathed on our generation through the presence of the Satmar Rav for over nine decades:

"When an era closes, there is always a danger that the succeeding generations will be oblivious to the values and special character of their predecessors. Thus G-d often grants one exemplary member of the preceding era longevity, to permit him to teach the next generation how the old generation lived - by his mere presence. Thus did Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi - who closed the era of the Tannaim by writing the Mishnah - continue to 'frequent his home' for decades after his passing; and Rabbi Yochanan, who compiled the Jerusalem Talmud, lived for hundreds of years...; and thus did the Satmar Rav grace our generation with a greatness in scholarship and piety that had been identified with the glory of days gone by.''

Today, the Chasidishe Williamsburg, and Kiryas Joel Reb Yoelish left behind has more than doubled in size and population. It is a testament to his uncompromising vision. But most significantly, the self-contained ecosystem that is today's Williamsburg and Kiryas Joel is perhaps the greatest gift Klal Yisroel has—a gold standard of Torah, yiras shomayim, gemilas chasudim that not only strengthens itself, but strengthens Jewish communities the world over.

Only a tzadik like Reb Yoelish could have seen this. And today, his vision holds true more than ever.

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