The Satmar Rebbe of Williamsburg Shlita arrived in Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv early Monday evening on schedule. As was reported by YWN-ISRAEL, the rebbe is in Eretz Yisroel for a day to attend the bris of a grandson and to distribute funds in Satmar’s “Shekel Tahor” program.
However, the rebbe did not expect to be detained at the airport for a half hour regarding the contents of his luggage. The rebbe passed through the Masada VIP entrance but officials began probing to determine if the rebbe or members of his entourage were carrying large amounts of cash, chassidim report. Needless to say senior Satmar officials are furious, explaining “the rebbe does not have to be detained for routine inspections”.
Nothing illegal was found and the rebbe and his entourage continued with their visit.
Later Monday night, the rebbe is scheduled to take part in the ‘Vacht Nacht’ (הוואכט-נאכט) of his grandson ahead of the bris.
VIDEO BELOW IS THE MOTORCADE OF THE SATMAR REBBE AS HE LEFT WILLIAMSBURG FOR THE AIRPORT ON SUNDAY NIGHT:
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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17 Responses
That’s too funny.
Why shouldn’t the Rebbe be stopped if they have reason to suspect something? I am not being choshesh the Satmar Rebbe of anything so please don’t start going crazy, but unfortunately nowadays there are rebbeim who have taken advantage of the privileges which they are afforded and think that the law does not apply to them. I do not know specifics of this case, but there is a law in place which states you can’t bring in a certain amount of cash into the country so if the authorities suspected the Rebbe of having too much cash than the law allows then they have every right to inspect his bags.
I don’t see why anybody would be upset about this.
Big deal. It must be a slow news day. Getting delayed at the airport for 25 minutes or so due to a customs inspection is not only routine but is pretty good. Usually it would be much longer.
Mitzvaman613
Their upset for one simple reason…..someone that they look up to and idolize wasn’t treated with the proper respect….I’m sure that you have someone of that stature in your life and if treated like that you would not be ok with it even though it maybe that the search was warranted
BH the Rebbe and his chasidim know to play the Israel socialist game when it comes to bringing money into the m’dina.
Half an hour? What’s the big deal? The Rebbe, shlita, could review the parsha or prepare his vacht nacht drasha during this time. Really, it’s not like he was given a full body search. Chill out!
Two observations:
First, why does Rebbe need a motorcade that is larger than that of the President?? This costs a fortune and these kinds of speeding motorcades also cause all sorts of accident. I’m not suggesting he should call Uber motzi Shabbos but maybe there is something in between.
Second, he definitely SHOULD be subject to immigrations and customs clearance just as should any other VIP….the prior posting noted that these guys are often cutting corners in terms of compliance with the laws on money laundering, taxes etc. and he should be setting an example
one of his close gabbuim told me, that the rebbe had some money with him, to give to all the schnorres (Beggars), who came to the Kablus Punim in Israel, the were promised to get $250 each, if they participate at the reception at the airport, and additional $250 if they came to the satmar shul,and somehow the security at the airport found out about it, so they searched, but they did not know the rebbe did not carry the money himself one of his gabbuim in Israel was there beforehand to arrange it.
What’s with the lights and sirens escorting a rebbe to an airport? Under what authority can such be done? I hope that there was no Police Department involvement in this unnecessary use of lights and sirens.
Don’t forget he has declared himself to be an enemy of the state. Is is amazing they even let him in. If he said the same anti government statements about England they would not have let him in to the country.
Who died and made him G-D. He’s a regular Joe like all of us. Chill out, when i wait in line i pick up a sefer.
I hope he gave his business to & patronized El Al a Shomer Shabbos company, or is he more concerned about his skyMiles on Delta or his mileage plus on United.
The Satmar Rebbe is just as human as the rest of us. He doesn’t deserve any special treatment whatsoever. This sort of gashmiuis is why Mashiach hasn’t come. Mamish such a boosha!
One of the Israeli papers published an inflammatory article against him, suggesting he should be denied entry. Since they couldn’t actually block him, they settled for giving him some trouble… So he’s not getting the same treatment as everybody else – it’s all politics.
No, I am not a chasid of any stripe, and certainly not Satmar. That having been said whoever decided to detain the Rebbe for whatever reason can be classified as a “shoite shebashoitim.”
All those who say he’s a regular Joe etc. should do it when Sheldon Adelson (or anyone–choose your own person) comes to Israel.
There is a concept of kovod you give someone regardless of his name but by dint of his being the head of an important group of people.
Remember how many of his Chassidim actually live in Israel. In addition, if memory serves me correctly, when Satmar built mosdos in Israel, they declined to accept State funding that was offered but invested and built it from their own funds. Given Satmar credit for consistency.
You don’t have to like their politics, but they are miles ahead of most of us when it comes to Chesed and giving Tzedaka.
Hasn’t he basically announced publicly that he’s giving cash to anyone who doesn’t join the army? So…is it legal to bring in huge amounts of cash? At the very least, a reason to raise suspicion, no?
#15 well said, word for word