"Dependencies of Chassidic Groups", Part 1 - Satmar

B"H

The Satmarer Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum survived the Holocaust due to the fact that his name was on the list of the Kasztner Train. Together with 1368 people, he was rescued and sent to Switzerland.

The chassidic majority of Eastern and Central Europe vanished during the Holocaust. In March 1944, the Germans invaded Hungary and at the time, over 450.000 Jews were living in the country. Seventy per cent of Hungarian Jewry were deported and murdered by the Germans.
Three million (90 % of Polish Jewry) were killed in the Holocaust. Fewer than 300.000 Polish Jews survived.

Rebbe Teitelbaum reached New York in 1947. He then was 61 years old and anxious building up a new community in New York.
Those Chassidim getting to New York after the war saw their common goal in recreating a chassidic world as it had been before the Holocaust. Was there any time at all to mourn for friends and family members ?

Slowly slowly, new communities were built, including Mikwaot, Synagogues, Yeshivot and even the dress codes changed. Eastern European Chassidim brought with them their own fashion. Long beards and kaftans, even a Shatnez institution was established.

But the New World in America brought further new challenges. The first change was that in New York, no one can isolate himself but is forced, in one way or the other, to deal with society. With Gentiles, secular Jews, unemployment and other social issues, housing and health.
Thus, a new level of leadership was required and Rebbe Teitelbaum with his Torah knowledge and piety wasn't able to face all the modern challenges in a different world. Therefore, the Rebbe appointed Rabbi Lipa Friedman, a former bank director from Czechoslovakia, as a community president. From 1948 - 1972, Rabbi Friedman was running the Satmar court.

How could Chassidim find a job in New York ? In a modern society with radios and TV sets. With cinemas, a world where the English language dominates. Chassidim who hardly new the language and lacked secular education and knowledge. Most Chassidim worked as teachers, Kashrut supervisors, tailors or electricians. In 1966, a young Satmarer Chassid, Irving Goldstein, started his career with his first camera store, grew bigger and bigger and thus, provided jobs.

Rebbe Teitelbaum, and not only him but any other Rebbe around as well, was into study and prayer and, in their earlier life, had never been confronted with job training, arranging loans, fundraising, negotiating with politicians, etc. Of course, then the Satmarer Rebbe appointed Rabbi Friedman as a middleman but the funds had to come from somewhere. Re - establishing a chassidic community costs large sums of money and hardly any Chassid brought money with him. Chassidic groups suddenly depended on rich donors; American Jews who tried to help setting up new communities.

And with these kinds of donations, another problem came up. How far can a wealthy donor influence the group ? Let's assume that there is a rich charismatic donor who doesn't just want to hand over a check but demands a position within the group. Even an invisible position but where he still decides certain issues usually the Rebbe is taking care of.
Who then started really ruling the groups ? Still the Rebbe (and I am not talking only about Satmar but about any other chassidic group settling in New York) or the donor who is not a part of the group at all; let alone a Rabbi but a businessman.

Was a chassidic Rebbe able of holding his position or did he become a donor puppet ? And how about today, as donations have to keep on floating; otherwise most chassidic groups would be bankrupt.
Before the Holocaust, a Rebbe was everything but after the war, everything changed and more and more other people came to power. Important Rabbis within the group, donors from the outside, maybe even the American government or senators.

How depended is a chassidic Rebbe today ?
I once had a discussion with someone on FACEBOOK about the topic and found it quite interesting. I had never thought about it and maybe you haven't either. However, I think it is important to mention it and I wonder if the group members themselves are aware of it as well.
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Source:

"Hasidic People" by Jerome R. Mintz