Satmar

Satmar (Hebrew: סאטמאר‎ or סאטמר‎) is a Hasidic sect originating from the city of Satu Mare, in present-day Romania and then in Hungary, where it was founded in 1905 by Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum. Following World War II it was re-established in New York, becoming one of the largest Hasidic movements in the world. After Joel's death, he was succeeded by his nephew, Moshe Teitelbaum. Since the latter's death in 2006, the dynasty is split between his two sons, Aaron Teitelbaum and Zalman Teitelbaum.

Satmar is one of the largest Hasidic dynasties in the world: The estimated number of affiliated men, women, and children ranges between 50,000 and 120,000. It is characterized by extreme religious rigidity, rejection of modern culture, and fierce anti-Zionism. Satmar sponsors a comprehensive education and media system in Yiddish, and its members use Yiddish as a primary language. The sect also serves as the leading power within those ultra-Orthodox circles which oppose the State of Israel, heading the Central Rabbinical Congress and providing most donations for the Orthodox Council of Jerusalem.

When Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum, the Grand Rebbe of the Sighet Hasidic dynasty, died in 1904, he was succeeded by his oldest son, Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum. A small fraction of his hasidim regarded his second son, Joel Teitelbaum, as the appropriate heir. Joel left Sighet, and on 8 September 1905 he settled in Szatmárnémeti (in Yiddish: Satmar), where he began to attract a small following in addition to his few old supporters. Hungarian journalist Dezső Schön, who researched the Teitelbaum rabbis in the 1930s, wrote that Joel started referring to himself as the "Rebbe of Satmar" at that time.

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