Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum dies at Age 91

10,000 Mourners Gather for Burial of Grand Rebbe

Thousands of mourners from the Satmar Hasidic sect gathered at the burial site for spiritual leader Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum in Orange County Tuesday morning, April 25, 2006, pushing close to get a final view of their revered leader of 30 years.

The 91-year-old Rebbe died Monday evening, April 24, 2006.

The Satmars have 120,000 followers worldwide, according to sociologist Samuel Heilman, with large congregations in Brooklyn and the village of Kiryas Joel, 45 miles northwest of New York City.

The sect takes its name from the town of Satu Mare in what is now Romania.

Teitelbaum was born in Siget, in present-day Romania. He escaped Nazi persecution during World War II and came to the U.S. in 1946.

Members of the Satmar sect even oppose the state of Israel. Further they do not vote in the Zionist Elections and they do not accept any funds from the government of the so-called the state of "Israel".

Their belief is rooted in two convictions:

1. Zionism, by advocating a political and military end to the Jewish exile, denies the very essence of our Diaspora existence. We are in exile by Divine Decree and may emerge from exile solely via Divine Redemption. All human efforts to alter a metaphysical reality are doomed to end in failure and bloodshed. History has clearly borne out this teaching.
2. Zionism has not only denied our fundamental belief in Heavenly Redemption it has also created a pseudo-Judaism which views the essence of our identity to be a secular nationalism. Accordingly, Zionism and the Israeli state have consistently endeavored, via persuasion and coercion, to replace a Divine and Torah centered understanding of our people hood with an armed materialism.

Thousands of mourners crammed into Teitelbaum's Brooklyn synagogue Monday night waiting for his body to be brought into the main sanctuary. Thousands more congregated outside, and police sent hundreds of officers to control the crowds.

A burial was to immediately follow in Kiryas Joel. Under Jewish law, the dead must be buried as quickly as possible.

Grand Rebbe Moses Teitelbaum, zt"l

Teitelbaum took over leadership of the Satmar sect from his uncle, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, who died in 1979. He took the formal title of rebbe the following year.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called Teitelbaum "a gentle soul who carried himself with poise and distinction."

"From the fires of the Holocaust, the grand rebbe and his uncle performed a miracle here in New York by rebuilding their community to match its glory days in Europe," Bloomberg said in a statement.

Teitelbaum's survivors include four sons, two daughters and dozens of grandchildren.