The Zalmen Aaron conflict and its far-reaching implications

by Gimpel Shister Nov 2003

When I left the community in 1999 noone would have dreamed of the scenario that has recently developed in the Satmar community. Things are changing so drastically that people don't even have a chance to realize how drastic the changes are.

Four years ago, there was one Satmar community and one Rebbe (Moshe Teitelbaum) who was seen as firmly in control of his congregation. The original minority opposition to his leadership had been weeded out, persecuted and isolated in Williamsburg His son Aaron in Kiryat Joel also managed to successfully isolate the "misnagdim" (opposition leaders) and remove them from the central Satmar community in the village.

Everything seemed to settle down when the new conflict suddenly erupted. A strong factor in the timing of the development is, no doubt, the Rebbe's increasing forgetfulness and radical mood-swings. He was no longer emotionally stable. In his shalosh seduda sermons who would ramble away about off-topic matters (such as about avraham Leitner's mother) and he would forget what he was about to say. Even his scripts proved helpless. Perhaps his concentration and memory was so bad that he couldn't even follow a scripted sermon.

Naturally, people began thinking "who's next?". Aaron, the eldest son of the Rebbe and the Rav of KJ obviously felt that he was the rightful heir to the Satmar throne. Not only is he the oldest son but he is also, by far, the most capable of all. His speeches are eloquent, his Torah knowledge is strong and he's an experienced leader in KJ. Before the conflict erupted, it was a no-brainer that he would take over his father's throne.

However, during his ruling era in KJ he had accumulated quite a few enemies both in KJ and elsewhere. His "government" was totalitarian and arbitrary. He rewarded his followers and relentlessly persecuted those who opposed him or doubted his character. He was also quite arrogant in general and when he would come to visit his father in Williamsburg for a shabbas in particular. He came with his own entourage and tended to ignore the rules of the house and violate the order imposed by Moshe Gabbe. As the official lieutenant of the Rebbe, everyone was supposed to heed his word and kiss his ass. Aaron was too big though to comply. He would storm in to meet his dad whenever he pleased and without the approval of the Gabbe.

Moshe Gabbe developed a tremendous dislike to Aaron. They eventually became outright enemies. Aaron frequented Williamsburg more and more often in order to try to become more acquainted with his would-be congregation and gradually develop loyalty amongst them. As he would do that his confrontations with Moshe Gabbe and his followers became more and more flagrant. Moshe and his followers knew they needed to act quickly in order to avoid Aaron's eventual takeover. Zalmen the Rav of the Boro Park Siget shul was the second-eldest son of the Rebbe. He was a far cry from the tremendous splendor and talent his older brother commanded. He was a virtual nobody compared to Aaron.

Moshe Gabbe, however, saw Zalmen as the only viable alternative to Aaron. He was, therefore, invited frequently to Williamsburg and Moshe fostered a zalmen-followship among the Hasidim. Moshe eventually successfully managed to have Zalmen appointed as the "rav" of the Satmar congregation. This move was tantamount to an outright declaration that Moshe intends to have Zalmen take over the Satmar community in williamsburg. Aaron geared up for battle and sent troops to Rodney street. He also started sending his delegations to all the various Satmar institutions in williamsburg to try to wield control over them away from the congregation. His success in that was quite limited but he did manage to stir up the heat of the battle and to insert many of his followers in community bodies that were supposed to be loyal to the congregation-appointed Zalmen.

Aaron's yeshiva in KJ was until recently the exclusive Satmar "yeshiva gedolah" and the young generation was therefore brought up in his bastion and naturally turned out to be almost exclusively his followers in the zalmen-aaron conflict.

The young generation, as we know, is extremely powerful. They managed to chip away more and more from Zalmen's domain in williamsburg, eventually creating a situation where Zalmen supporters were the minority even in Williamsburg. Zalmen has since been in big trouble and has been losing ground to his brother Aaron ever since.

My opinion:

My heart sides with Zalmen for one major reason. Zalmen is really a nobody; he has no talent and no experience as a Rebbe, but guess what, if we would have been picking our leaders amongst the most talented we wouldn't have George w. bush as US president, Michael bloomberg ay NYC mayor and both Zalmen and Aaron would be way down the list in qualifying candidates for the leadership of Satmar. We choose our leaders based on "kin" and the alternative to Aaron is Zalmen. Since Aaron is known to be arrogant and tremendously abusive of his leadership role in KJ and elsewhere, I prefer the totally-unqualified Zalmen to the arrogant, deceitful, conniving and evil Aaron.

In reality, however, I am not rooting for Zalmen for a different reason that is intellectually rooted deep inside me. We all know that Aaron has emerged as the reformist while Zalmen has held on to the traditional Satmar views. I know that with Zalmen comes cultural stagnancy and adherence to die-hard Satmar fundamentalism. With Aaron, on the other hand, comes innovation and reform.

It is paradoxical but true nonetheless. While Aaron used to be the big "kanai" (zealot), that was pre-conflict. The aron-zalmen conflict has transformed him into a completely different person. In a sense, we can say that he became humbler after coming so close to losing central control over Satmar for eternity. But he also changed his entire platform somehow. He now sanction's the Eiruv; he started posting pictures in his newspaper "Das blat" and he has emerged as a reformist.

If he is the only realistic chance that Satmar has of ever advancing culturally and coming to terms with modern-day America, then I'd take him and accept him for what he is: a repentant despot.

My prognosis:

It is now quite apparent to me that Aaron will emerge victorious in this war. As in every war, that does not mean that there will be no Zalmen camp. The Zalmen camp will remain for the foreseeable future but it will be small and way outnumbered by the aaronim. Aaron will eventually control most, if not all, of the Satmar institutions in Williamsburg and Zalmen's side will be sidelined and will end up like the 1980's Satmar misnagdim did: dwindling in number and influence and eventually disappearing from the political map.