Today's Forward reports on the controversy between supporters of two sons of the grand rebbe of the Satmar Hasidic sect. Each side claims that their rabbi is the rightful successor to the ailing 91 year old leader of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish group. New York Supreme Court Judge Stewart Rosenwasser is presiding in a case in upstate New York that focuses on which group should control a cemetery in Kiryas Joel.
Rosenwasser, who is up for re-election as judge next week, recently issued a temporary ruling in favor of one of Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum's followers, but warned that it should not be read as determining the broader question of who controls the Satmar's communal assets of more than $100 million. Earlier, a different Brooklyn judge had ruled that followers of Rabbi Zalmen Teitelbaum, the other brother, should control the group. The Forward reports that coincidentally, Rabbi Aaron's followers are an important voting bloc in Rosenwasser's district. The feud between the two factions has led to physical violence between them at the main Satmar synagogue in Brooklyn. On Oct. 27, the judge wrote to lawyers on both sides demanding an explanation of the fight that broke out at the synagogue two days earlier during Shemini Atzeret services.
