Post-Holocaust Immigration and Hassidic Leadership: The Cases of Viznitz and Satmar
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Hassidism in the USA and Israel after the Holocaust
3. Satmar in America
3.1. Historical Background
3.2. American Orthodoxy’s “Slide to the Right”
3.3. The Expansion of Hungarian Hassidism
3.4. Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum—The Satmar Rebbe
3.5. The Establishment of the Satmar Hassidic Court
3.6. Rabbi Yoel’s Attitude to the Material World in America
3.7. The Initial Implementation of the Materialistic Approach
3.8. The Expansion of the Community
3.9. The Deterioration of the Hassidim’s Economic Situation in the Mid-1960s
3.10. Overview: Hassidic Leadership in America after the Holocaust
4. Viznitz in Israel
4.1. Hungarian Hassidism in Eretz Israel
4.2. Viznitz Historical Background
4.3. Viznitz Leadership Legacy
4.4. Viznitz in Eretz Israel
4.5. Overview: Viznitz Leadership in Israel
5. Conclusions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
1 | In the following, the article will discuss how the term “court“ was expanded to indicate all the Hasidim who felt related to the same Rebbe. |
2 | For more details on the scholarship on Migration Studies, see, for example, IMISCOE (International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion) Migration Research Hub: https://migrationresearch.com/ (accessed on 23 August 2024). |
3 | This phenomenon began on a small scale after World War I when many rebbes fled their hometowns and settled in the cities. After the war ended, many of them returned to their former locations, yet some remained in the cities, particularly in Vienna. However, their number and status were far smaller compared with that of the rebbes who settled in New York or Tel Aviv after the Holocaust. |
4 | On Hungarian Orthodoxy and its uniquness, see: (Keren-Kratz 2023a). |
5 | Ha-Leumi, 3 January 1889, pp. 4–5; ibid., 10 January 1889, pp. 4–5. The titles of these congregations are taken from the Hasidic version of the Siddur (prayer book), which indicates that it followed a more kabbalistic interpretation of the text. |
6 | Apirion, 5, 684 (1924), p. 131; ibid., 5, 686 (1926), p. 171; ibid., 5, 687 (1927), pp. 50, 58. |
7 | (Keren-Kratz 2022). Although the Fair Labor Standards Act that regulated working hours was introduced in 1938, it took some twenty years until it was fully implemented. During that time, many businesses, and especially the garment industry in which many Jews were employed, continued to work a six-day week. |
8 | Ha-Pardes, December 1937, pp. 2–3. |
9 | Ibid., February 1947, pp. 6–7; Morgen Journal, 3 January 1947, p. 5; U-Moshe Haya Roeh, Kiryas Joel, 2006, vol. 3, pp. 386–87. Following Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum’s death in 1979, Rabbi Moshe succeeded him as the Satmar Rebbe. |
10 | Morgen Journal, 1 March 1949, p. 10; ibid., 18 November 1949, p. 10; ibid., 5 December 1949, p. 10. |
11 | Among them were Rabbi Yehoshua Greenwald of Huszt; Rabbi Yekuthiel Yehuda Halberstam of Sanz-Klausenburg (Cluj); Rabbi Meir Hager of Oyber Visho (Vişeu de Sus, Felsővisó); Rabbi Yoel Meyer-Teitelbaum of Királyháza (Craia); Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipa Teitelbaum of Nyírbátor; Rabbi Ya’akov Weiss of Spinka; Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Meislish of Vác; Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandel and Rabbi Shalom Moshe Ha-Levi Unger of Nitra; Rabbi Elazar Shapiro of Kivishad (Mezőkövesd); Rabbi Yozepa Friedlander of Liska; and Rabbi Raphael Blum of Kosice. |
12 | (Keren-Kratz 2014). The Kasztner train was a rescue operation aimed at saving some 1800 Hungarian Jews. Despite its success, the orgenizer, Zionist activist Israel Kasztner, was heavily criticized after the Holocaust. On this affair, see, for example: (Hecht 1961). |
13 | After the Holocaust, the yeshiva was reestablished in Nitra, Czechoslovakia, but a few years later Rabbi Weissmandel transferred it to the United States. On the yeshiva that later moved to Mounk Kisko, see: (Yeshiva 1953, (the book was printed by the yeshiva’s own press); Weissmandel 2016, pp. 356–57). |
14 | The Rabbis of Skvita and Tosh also adopted Rabbi Weissmandel’s concept of a secluded community, yet with far less success than Rabbi Yoel. |
15 | Der Yid, 12 December 1958, p. 7; ibid., 21 August 1959, p. 6. |
16 | (Rubin 1972, pp. 41, 131, 259). The average annual income of the Hasidim, around USD 8000, was like that of the New York City average. See US Bureau of Labor Statistics information: https://www.bls.gov/opub/100-years-of-u-s-consumer-spending.pdf (accessed on 24 August 2024). |
17 | Der Yid, 12 December 1958, pp. 6–7; Panim El Panim, 10 October 1958, p. 11. |
18 | Der Yid, 12 December 1958, p. 7; ibid., 21 August 1958, p. 6. |
19 | Ibid., 14 August 1964, p. 2; ibid., 17 September 1965, pp. 1–2; ibid., 1 March 1966, p. 1; ibid., 13 May 1966, pp. 1–2; ibid., 1 July 1966, p. 1; ibid., 3 February 1967, p. 1; ibid, 28 August 1970, p. 4; (Mintz 1992, p. 18; Kranzler 1995, pp. 33–37). |
20 | Der Yid, 29 April 1966, pp. 1–2; ibid., 3 November 1967, pp. 1–2; ibid., 1 December 1967, p. 1; ibid., 12 January 1968, pp. 1–2; ibid., 9 February 1968, p. 2. |
21 | New York Times, 17 May 1963. |
22 | Der Tog/Morgen Journal, 6 March 1958, p. 5. |
23 | New York Times, 28 July 1967; (Kranzler 1995, pp. 15–19). |
24 | On the transformation of Satmar into a political and economic mega-power, see: (Deutsch and Casper 2021; Stolzenberg and Myers 2021). |
25 | On Rabbi Haim Meir, see: (Roth 1990–2001). |
26 | Mahazikei Ha-Dat, 1 April 1912, p. 6; Der Moment, 22 April 1912, p. 2; Ha-Tzfira, 22 April 1912, p. 3; Ha-Modia, 26 April 1912, p. 1. |
27 | Ha-Modia, 3 June 1951, p. 2; Shearim. 28 June 1951, p. 3. |
28 | Shearim, 1 July 1955, p. 5. |
29 | Forverts, 12 September 1957, p. 12; Shearim, 21 January 1958, p. 2; ibid., 29 January 1958, p. 2; ibid., 17 August 1959, pp. 2–3; (Roth 1990–2001, vol. 3, pp. 411–28). |
30 | Panim El Panim, 25 May 1955, pp. 10–12; Shearim, 2 October 1959, p. 16. |
31 | Panim El Panim, 19 July 1963, pp. 12–13, 17; (Roth 1990–2001, vol. 3, pp. 461–62, 466–67). |
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Keren-Kratz, M. Post-Holocaust Immigration and Hassidic Leadership: The Cases of Viznitz and Satmar. Religions 2024, 15, 1058. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091058
Keren-Kratz M. Post-Holocaust Immigration and Hassidic Leadership: The Cases of Viznitz and Satmar. Religions. 2024; 15(9):1058. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091058
Chicago/Turabian StyleKeren-Kratz, Menachem. 2024. "Post-Holocaust Immigration and Hassidic Leadership: The Cases of Viznitz and Satmar" Religions 15, no. 9: 1058. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091058