Thursday November 1 3:12 PM ET

Satmar Squabble Rages On

By GIMPEL the SHISTER, HasidicNews.com Writer

WILLIAMSBURG (HN) - The squabbling between the two Satmar Newspapers "Der Yid" and "Das Blat" rages on.

Originally "Der Yid" was the only Satmar newspaper. When the Satmar Congregation split into the Zalmen and Aaron teams, Der Yid ended up as expected in the hands of Zalmen. Aaron's people launched "Das blat as a way of asserting their independence and counter the pro-Zalmen Der Yid.

One of the ironic outcomes of this inner squabbling is the shedding of some traditional no-no's like pictures. Der Yid never used to show any pictures. Das Blat in an attempt to attract readers and perhaps convert them to their cause, started showing pictures. Der Yid quickly followed suit.

One notable prevailing attitude is for one paper not to discuss any news occurring in its opponents team. This is somewhat odd, but quite common in the Satmar world. Ever since Satmar started fighting Belz about 15 years ago, Satmar official media never mentioned anything about Belz, including The Belze Rebbe's highly-publicized visit to the US about seven years ago.