The Satmar Chilul Hashem

Lag B'omer in Kiryas Joel - what the wedding might have looked like (TOI)

I don’t know where to begin. Even though their views on the State of Israel are in direct opposition to my own, there was a time  where I had a soft spot for Satmar. The Satmar Chasidim I knew were among the finest people I know. They were as warm and friendly as their reputation said about them. Kind and gentle souls that would give you the shirt off their back if they thought you needed it. 

Satmar Chasidim are in fact known for that kind of thing. They are exemplary of the very Jewish trait of Chesed. Which our sages tell us we - the Jewish people - inherited from our patriarch Abraham. 

The famed Satmar Bikur Cholim Society surely came out of such concern for fellow Jews. That society is dedicated to visit the sick of all of Klal Yisroel regardless of how observant they are, Even if they are not observant at all. They will make sure that all of their needs are taken care of as well as the needs of family members that are there with them. 

And yet I have long ago stopped being a fan. Which was a bit hard for me to do on one level but on a far more important level was the right thing to do. Because when a Chilul HaShem is involved all else pales in significance. There have been more than a few instances of that over the years. But what happened on November the 8^th this year outdoes them all. I wish I could say I’m surprised. But I’m not. 

They need to be called out by every responsible Orthodox Jewish organization with a public voice. Every Rosh Yeshiva… every Orthodox rabbi… anyone that might be considered a leader in the Orthodox Jewish world. There is no explaining... no excusing... no forgiving what they did

According to an article in the Times of Israel (which is apparently based on a New York Post story quoting one of Satmar’s own newpapers, Der Blatt) a massive Satmar wedding took place a couple of weeks ago.

“Due to the ongoing situation with government restrictions, preparations were made secretly and discreetly, so as not to draw attention from strangers,” the Satmar newspaper Der Blatt reported, according to the Post’s report.

Thousads of people were in attendance! It was the wedding of the R’ Aaron Teitlebaum’s grandson in Williamsburg. Held clandestinely -  purposely hidden from the authorities. They knowingly defied the law. More importantly they defied public health guidelines designed to protect – not only themselves but anyone they might come into contact with. And perhaps most egregious of all is they defied the Torah itself by increasing the liklihood of contracting a deadly virus. 

Of course they will surely deny that last one. Probably claiming what they did was in service to the Torah and that the dangers are exaggerated. Which they surely believe justifies hiding it from the authorities.  I know that Rabbi Aharon Teitlebaum is a huge Talmud Chacham. I fully admit being a midget compared to him in Torah knowledge. But that does not make any difference. The sages tell us the following: B’Makom Chilul HaShem, Ein Cholkin Kavod L’Rav!  When a Chilul Hasehm occurs, there is no such thing as honoring a Rav. No matter how much Torah  he knows. 

What the Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Joel has done here is show complete disdain for the law and endangering many of his own people in the process. Why? Because he felt that his grandson’s wedding merited it as a matter of  Kavod to the Torah.  He convinced thousands of people of that. As well as indicating his contempt for the science upon which those health guidelines are based. 

In doing that, even those that did not attend must now believe that the pandemic is nothing to worry about. That wearing masks and social distancing is a joke. All while new records of sickness and death are being broken every day in exponential numbers The Chutzpah of this man just so that he could have a wedding ‘befitting’ the grandson of a Chasidic Rebbe ends any pretense to humility that he might seem to have in other ways. 

I don’t see how anyone can explain this away. This is the strongest evidence yet about how double faced Satmar is with respect to the US which has given them a home and unprecedented freedom to practice Judaism as they see fit. 

They keep saying publicly how much they love this country and then they do something like this?! They don’t love this country. They only pretend to. If this wedding shows anything it is that they could not care less about this country and the freedom it stands for. The only freedom they care about is their own. If I were the US government I would throw the book at them for doing this and never trust them as a community again. 

I of course realize that a lot of people of all faiths in this country are not adhering to the precautions and are abandoning some if not all if them. All one has to do is look at what is going on in airports now just before the Thanksgiving Day holiday. But that certainly does not make what Satmar did OK. Especially since they tried to hide it. While publicly lying about their commitment to abide by the rules.

Can there be a greater Chilul HaShem than that?! We are currently experiencing an explosion of sickness and death because of all that. In Illinois, COVID is now the third largest cause of death - just behind heart disease and cancer. What a sad day for the Torah world.