Satmar Dispute Over Many Millions To Be Decided by a Secular Court

Four state judges based in Brooklyn are expected to decide soon on a dispute over control of a New York real estate empire worth more than half a billion dollars.The assets at stake include 26 properties in Williamsburg worth $339 million; 329 acres of land in Ulster County worth an estimated $25 million, and 146 acres in Sullivan County worth an estimated $7.3 million.The dispute has been in the courts since 2001, and involves rival factions that each claim to have elected a president to the corporate board.Oh – and the corporate bylaws are written in Yiddish, and one of the 26 buildings in dispute is the partially built skeleton of a 10,000-seat Brooklyn synagogue that, if completed, would be one of the largest in the world. One New York judge, Melvin Barasch, who heard the case, decided in 2004 that it was a matter not for a New York court but for the grand rebbe of the Satmar chasidim.It is the Satmar whose holdings are being litigated, and the story illuminates the material success achieved in America by the fervently Orthodox Jews of the movement founded by Joel Teitelbaum, a Romanian who arrived penniless in America following the Holocaust.At first Teitelbaum led his followers in prayer in a borrowed room in Brooklyn, an editor of the weekly newspaper Der Yid, Joseph Deutsch, said. But in the last 60 years, the holdings of the Satmar community have multiplied through the dues and donations of members.“The fact that there is a dispute is not eye-opening,” the general counsel of the American Jewish Congress, Marc Stern, said. “What makes this particularly poignant is the amount of power and control that comes with it as a community that has built itself up from nothing in 60 years into a truly admirable and massive institution.”The current Satmar leader, Grand Rebbe Moses Teitelbaum, is in his 90s and rarely appears in public. Two of his sons, Rabbi Zalmen Leib Teitelbaum and Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, have followers who back each rabbi’s aspiration to succeed his father. Rabbi Zalmen is the leading rabbi in the Williamsburg congregation, while his older brother, Rabbi Aaron, heads up the congregation in the largely Satmar town of Kiryas Joel in Orange County.Based on a recent appraisal of lands and buildings held by the Satmar community, the treasurer for the umbrella religious corporation, Meyer Rispler, estimated that the Satmar movement has significantly more than half a billion dollars in real estate across the state. Although the recent appraisal fixed the value of holdings in Williamsburg at $339 million, Mr. Rispler said there are also the summer camps in the Catskills, synagogues and schools in Boro Park, and the holdings of the Kiryas Joel congregation in Orange County, which were not counted in the recent appraisal.This feud has landed two cases before a mid-level appellate court. Oral arguments were made last year in one of the cases and a decision is expected in the coming months. Their decision will resonate through the 9,000 households, which, Mr. Rispler said, comprise the Satmar communities in Williamsburg and Boro Park in Brooklyn and the village of Kiryas Joel.Each case stems from the same disputed set of facts: Which of two elections that the Williamsburg congregation held in 2001 is valid?But the details of the case are nearly impenetrable, and proceedings dragged out for three years in the court of the first judge hearing the case, Judge Barasch. He, and later Judge Stewart Rosenwasser, were asked to decide which of two men purporting to be the elected president of the corporation board of the Williamsburg Congregation was indeed the rightfully elected officer. At stake was which president and group of board officers had the authority to manage the collectively owned assets of the community.The two separate elections had been held within weeks of each other and had resulted once in a president who followed Rabbi Zalmen and once in a president who supported Rabbi Aaron. One of the elections came with the certification of the grand rebbe, but some called that document a forgery. There was also the possibility that the grand rebbe had previously expelled one of the men elected president. But whether the grand rebbe had indeed done so – and whether he even had that authority – was another matter. Lawyers brought forward the bylaws written soon after the Satmar movement incorporated in 1948. But they were in Yiddish and one translation supplied to the court was incorrect, Justice Barasch noted in his decision.The one man who could settle many of the debated points, Grand Rebbe Moses Teitelbaum, never appeared in court. Nor did his sons Rabbi Zalmen or Rabbi Aaron submit any testimony.Because the litigation raised issues about membership in the congregation, Justice Barasch decided the issue was fundamentally a religious dispute.Supporters of Rabbi Zalmen claimed victory because the status quo that Justice Barasch left intact meant that the congregation was largely under their leadership. From a legal perspective, the supporters of Rabbi Zalmen viewed Justice Barasch’s restraint as appropriate.“What civil court is capable or would want to evaluate whether a person is sufficiently observant of Satmar religious doctrine to qualify as a member?” said a lawyer, Scott Mollen, who represents Rabbi Zalmen’s followers.These types of concerns have been raised before in other lawsuits.“From a legal point of view, you have a general assumption of broad clerical power, in this case rabbinical power, superimposed over the democratic governance provided by New York religious corporation law,” Mr. Stern, with the American Jewish Congress, said. “The two do not mesh well. It’s good for lawyers, but for nobody else.”Supporters of Rabbi Aaron say they found Justice Barasch’s decision disturbing, because of the substantial assets at stake. They say the court’s hesitancy to involve itself in a dispute within a religious community leaves vulnerable the democratic safeguards of that community, such as an elected corporate board. There is the sense among some that they have been stripped of a say in the community that they, their parents, and even grandparents, helped build.The damaging effects of this struggle are to be seen throughout the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, one supporter of Rabbi Aaron in Williamsburg, Abraham Rubin, said. The feud had stalled the congregation’s plans to build one of the world’s largest synagogues – after a frame had been erected on Bedford Avenue at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. Congregants now call the structure “the skeleton.” And the dispute has threatened to transform teaching jobs, counselor positions, and employment at the famed matzo factory into part of a patronage system controlled by whichever faction can claim an election victory, a supporter of Rabbi Aaron and editor of a weekly Chasidic newspaper, Joel Weiss, said.“Our whole life is built in this community,” Mr. Rubin said. “If somebody walks away with a building, will the courts say I’m sorry it’s a religious thing?”Nobody yet has walked away with a building, but each side suspects that the other is capable of such an act. The stakes grow amid allegations of fraud, forgery, and criminality that each side has leveled at the other. Judge Barasch’s decision notes allegations that Rabbi Aaron’s followers include a felon and prison escapee.The supporters of Rabbi Aaron too have had their day in court. Last year Judge Rosenwasser, whose district includes the town of Kiryas Joel, navigated the election debate by examining the Satmar corporation’s bylaws. Addressing the efforts of one purported board president to transfer cemetery land, Judge Rosenwasser wrote: “this Court is of the view that this property dispute can be resolved through neutral principles of law without resort to judicial intrusion into matters of religious doctrine or succession.” He affirmed the election of the president associated with Rabbi Aaron.But final judgment on whether this dispute in the Satmar movement is appropriate for a court to decide on may have to wait until after any ruling by the appellate panel. Supporters of Rabbi Zalmen seem generally to agree that a court ruling will have little power to end the schism.They say the conduct of Rabbi Aaron’s faction has made any thought of forgiveness and reunification difficult. The insistence of some who have suggested the grand rebbe ought to appear in court to answer questions especially rankles Mr. Deutsch, the editor. In a community that largely endures out of respect for the current grand rebbe and the memory of his predecessors, actions perceived to assault the dignity of the office are not quickly forgotten.“There hasn’t ever been such thing, where people claiming to be followers should ask him to be brought to court,” he said. “Their conduct in this dispute disqualifies them from being leaders in this community when they go against the teachings of the grand rebbe.”But when asked whether he expects the Satmar community to survive the ongoing strife, Mr. Deutsch said: “Everything is possible. We hope and pray every day for the Messiah to come. That is going to solve all the problems.”SATMAR INCORPORATEDTOTAL ASSETS: Unknown, but likely more than $500 million.KNOWN ASSETS:The Williamsburg Congregation of Satmar owns:* In Williamsburg: $339 million in 26 buildings and the land they are on.* One of those 26 buildings is an unfinished 200,000-square-foot synagogue whose building value is $40 million and land value is $15.2 million.* In Ulster County 329 acres of land worth $26 million.* 146 acres in Sullivan County worth $7.3 million.* Other congregations have holdings in Boro Park, Brooklyn, and Kiryas Joel.

Satmar Dispute Over Many Millions To Be Decided by a Secular Court

Satmar Dispute Over Many Millions To Be Decided by a Secular Court

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