New York's High Court Hears Arguments Today In Satmar's Factional Dispute

New York's Court of Appeals, its highest court, will hear arguments today in a long-running suit between two factions of the Orthodox-Jewish Satmar Hasidic community. Yesterday's Times Herald-Record reports that control of millions of dollars worth of property is at stake in the power struggle between followers of Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum and followers of his younger brother, Rabbi Zalmen Teitelbaum. Each brother has been declared by his followers to be the grand rebbe to succeed their deceased father, Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum. Also each faction elected its own lay officers to control the movement's assets. The major issue in the case is whether a civil court can apply neutral principles to determine which side won the disputed election. Rabbi Zalmen's side claims that the now-deceased father endorsed its election, and argue that a secular court must stay out of the essentially religious dispute. (Here are links to numerous prior postings on the dispute: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.)