Today, Sunday, marks the 44th yahrtzeit of the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Yoel Teitelbaum zt”l, who served as rebbe for decades, amassing a vast following of chasidim that continues to grow – including rapidly in the Lakewood region.
Rav Yoel zt”l was born on January 13, 1887, the second son of the Sighet Rebbe, Rav Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum zt”l, and his second wife, Chana Ashkenazi a”h. A child prodigy, the future rebbe delivered a drasha for several hours at his bar mitzvah, and was receiving rabbinic accolades before he even as a teenager.
In September 1905, the rebbe’s family settled in Szatmárnémeti, or Satmar in Yiddish. Despite his youth, town residents opened a bais medrash for him and he gradually began to attract a local following. It was at this time that he began being referred to as the Satmar Rebbe.
Following his miraculous survival of the Holocaust, the Rebbe arrived in the U.S. on the second day of Rosh Hashana 1946. He settled in Williamsburg, where he led a small group of chasidim. In 1948, Khal Yetev Lev was established. The rest, as they say, is history.
Thousands of chasidim have already visited his kever in Kiryas Yoel last night and this morning, with many thousands more expected to daven there today. The attendance at the kever is expected to be especially high this year due to the yahrtzeit falling out on a Sunday and many Chasidim returning from the Catskills.