Chof Alef Kislev is a special day in Satmar. It marks the day that Hagon HaRav Yoel Teitelbaum ZATZAL, the founder of Satmar Chassidus in America, escaped from the Nazis YM”S during the Holocaust in 1944.
The day is usually marked with celebrations held around the world. In New York, there are two massive annual events each attended by thousands upon thousands of people – led by each of the Satmar Rebbes.
This year, Hagaon HaRav Aharon Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe from Kiryas Yoel has just announced that the event will be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event is not only a day of celebration, but is the annual fundraiser for the Mosdos.
The Satmar Rebbe, known as the Divrei Yoel, was among over 1600 people who were transported out of Hungary by train due to the efforts of Rudolf Kastner, one of the leaders of Budapest’s Vaadat Ezra V’Hatzalah, who brokered a deal with Adolph Eichmann to let the passengers leave in exchange for a large sum of money, diamonds and gold. While Eichmann reneged on the deal and had the train sent to Bergen Belsen, the train was finally released after four months of negotiations and the passengers finally obtained their freedom when they arrived in Switzerland.
It should be noted that this announcement was made on a Twitter account @SatmarLive that sources tell YWN are an actual official media outlet used b y the Mosdos, unlike fake accounts using the name Satmar.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT:
Following gov’t regulations due to COVID, Satmar will not host the annual 21 Kislev gathering this year as is customary tradition for over a half century. pic.twitter.com/Y5ZxK6GJIp— Satmar Live (@SatmarLive) November 27, 2020
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
6 Responses
If this is a fundraiser:- Why aren’t they having a virtual event? Are you telling me that these Satmars are too holy to possess computers for this?
This entire cancellation s nothing short of being a discrete way of admitting that several thousand people who attended that secret wedding have since tested positive for Corona, so they were simply left with no choice but to cancel.
Is the other Satmar group (under Rabbi Zalman Leib) also canceling?
Why cancel this event?
Smart decision since this fundraising event would have occurred right in the middle of what many fear will be a forthcoming spike in the number of cases and hospitalizations. I suspect the governor would have called out the national guard if necessary to protect both the Satmar from themselves as well as the larger community. Hopefully, Cuomo will keep his mouth shut and not take a victory lap for the cancellation. It was the responsible thing to to after the chilul hashem of that mega-wedding several weeks ago. i
lol to even think for one second that the event will really be cancelled