Aaron Teitelbaum - Background

Background

Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum has written a number of scholarly commentaries on the Torah and Talmud. Over fifteen volumes of his teachings have been published. Rabbi Aaron was appointed as the chief rabbi of the Satmar congregation in Kiryas Joel in 1984. Prior to that he was the rabbi of Atzei Chaim of Siget Synagogue on Hewes Street in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY.

His followers point out that since 1980, when his father was named successor to Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, Aaron has become the most prominent Satmar voice against Zionism both at community events as well as at anti-Zionist street demonstrations in New York and Washington DC. His famous anti-Zionist addresses include a speech delivered in Bnei Brak in the summer of 1994 where he specifically articulated the Satmar position against speaking Modern Hebrew. His father also mentioned that Aaron’s family ties to Agudat Israel, meaning his father-in-law's participation in it, would not weaken his anti-Zionist stand.

Presently, Rabbi Teitelbaum has control of the main Satmar synagogues in Kiryas Joel. In Williamsburg his main centers of operation are the great Satmar synagogue on 14 Hooper Street and the Sigeter synagogue on Hewes Street, his father's first home in America and his own home after his father moved to Boro Park. He is the official leader of 10 other synagogues in Williamsburg; the main Satmar shul in Boro Park and its branches; the main Satmar shul in London and its branches; the main Satmar shul in Bnei Brak and its branches; the Satmar shul in Jerusalem named after the work authored by his late father, Beirach Moshe.