Satmar (Hasidic Dynasty)

Satmar (Hasidic Dynasty)

Satmar (or Satmar Hasidism or Satmarer Hasidism) (Hebrew: חסידות סאטמאר) is a Hasidic movement composed mostly of Hungarian and Romanian Hasidic Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants. It was founded and led by the late Hungarian-born Grand Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum (1887–1979), who was the rabbi of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary (currently Satu Mare, Romania). The town's name in German is Sathmar. The name Satmar was used by the Yiddish-speaking population, Yiddish being then the common language of the local Jews. Members of the movement are usually referred to as Satmar Hasidim or Satmarer Hasidim.

The two largest Satmar communities are in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Kiryas Joel, New York. There are also significant Satmar communities in Borough Park, Brooklyn and Monsey, New York. Smaller communities can be found in other North American cities such as Lakewood, New Jersey Montreal Canada, in some European cities such as Antwerp, Belgium, London and Manchester in England, in Argentina, Australia and numerous cities and towns in Israel. The late Satmar Rebbe, Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum, also held the title of the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem's Edah HaChareidis, although he did not live in Jerusalem after 1946.

Satmar is claimed to be one of the largest and most influential Hasidic movements in existence today, but formal demographic comparisons with other Hasidim are not available. It is believed to number close to 130,000 adherents (including men, women and children), and is rapidly growing due to the extremely high birth rate of the group. This population figure does not include a number of smaller and related anti-Zionist Hungarian Hasidic groups who align themselves with Satmar.