Thursday December 28 3:12 PM ET

Nachal Charedi meeting turns into political mess

By GIMPEL the SHISTER, HasidicNews.com Writer

WILLIAMSBURG (HN) - A meeting was called in the Satmar Zalmen Williamsburg headquarters to discuss support for the communal educational institution "Nachal Chareidi". 40 Rabbanim attended the responded to the invitation for the meeting in hopes of making a difference for this commendable cause.

Instead, it quickly became apparent to the participants that the meeting was called for the sole purpose of denouncing Aaron and promoting Zalmen. Speakers at the meeting urged participating Rabbanim to publicly denounce Aaron and his supporters, to outlaw Aaron's newspaper "Das Blat" and more. Some Rabbanim felt extremely insulted for being lied to with regard to the nature of the meeting and left the convention soon after they arrived.

One of the prominently outspoken pro-Zalmen Rabbanim, Rabbi Joel Morgenstern, Sharmash Rav, even went as far as urging his fellow Rabbanim to totally separate from Aaron's people, not to rely on their Kashrus certifications, not to daven in their Shul's or intermarry with them, much the same way as the Orthodox community officially separated from the Reform communities in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Satmar Dayan in Lakewood, Rabbi Mordechei Betzallel Klein, raised a pacifist conciliatory tone. He argued that the Aaron people are no different than "Bnei Yoel" who were not allowed access to community resources and denied membership because of their opposition to current Satmar Rebbe Moses Teitelbaum. Yet, after the Satmar community split into the Zalmen-Aaron teams about two years ago, Zalmen's people quickly legitimized "Bnei Yoel" in return for their support and made peace with all Bnei-Yoel-sympathizing Dayanim and Rabbi's.

The meeting was closed without the participants reaching any final resolute agreement or signing any documents. Yet, Zalmen's people were quick to post large notices in the central Satmar shul on Rodeny street about the resolution reached by the Rabbanim against Aaron. After those Rabbanim were contacted by Aaron's supporters and asked whether they actually concurred, the Rabbanim claimed that they never signed or agreed to any resolution. The posters were then quickly removed by Zalmen's people out of embarrassment.

Zalmen and his people are increasingly finding themselves to be on the loosing side scrambling for support wherever they can get it. Traditional Satmar foes, such as Bnei Yoel and Kloyzenberg have been legitimized in order to boost the supporting base.

In recent elections to ascertain the will of the majority of the community, Zalmen's team sought to destabilize the voting system and had said they will not consider the election process legitimate. They claimed that the nominees for the congregation officials from Aaron side were never officially submitted to their offices and approved. This claim was apparently used because it was apparent that Zalmen would loose if he would hold free and unfraudulant elections.