Brooklyn, NY - Judges Explore The Authority Of Late Grand Rebbe Teitelbaum

Brooklyn, NY - For more than a quarter century, Grand Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum led the Satmar chasidim. The pronouncements of the grand rebbe once reverberated among thousands of families across the globe.

But two months after his death, a panel of state judges is exploring what limits, if any, existed to the scope of Rabbi Teitelbaum's authority over his congregation based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The issue is a $500 million property dispute - consisting of the synagogues, schools, and property that the congregation has amassed more than 50 years of life in New York.
The specific question that faced a four-judge appellate court in Brooklyn is whether Rabbi Teitelbaum had the power to expel the vice president of the congregation from the Satmar community. One faction in the bitter succession struggle among two of the grand rebbe's sons says the rabbi did just that in January 2001. The court's ruling will determine which of the two factions that have formed around the sons, rabbis Aron and Zalmen, has control of the assets.

"The result of this appeal will only be to decide which side has to dig into their pockets to build new institutions," the editor of a newspaper, Joel Weiss, said.

A similar case is also before the same court on appeal. The question has split the two lower court judges who have examined the issue.