In perhaps the most surprising news to come out of US President Donald Trump’s meeting with US haredi (ultra-Orthodox) leaders, two Satmar rebbes shook hands and spoke face to face for what is likely the first time in several decades.
Rabbi Aharon Teitelbaum and Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum are brothers. Their father, Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, had appointed Zalman Leib to lead New York’s Williamsburg community and, according to his will, designated him as his successor.
Aharon Teitelbaum’s supporters disputed this, arguing that as the elder son, he should succeed their father. When the father died in 2006, both brothers were proclaimed “rebbe” by their respective followers, creating the two factions.
Zalman Leib leads the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, faction of Satmar, while Aharon Teitelbaum leads the faction centered on Kiryas Joel in New York.
News of the meeting has sent shock waves through the haredi community.
During the gathering, Aharon Teitelbaum reportedly congratulated his estranged brother on his grandson’s recent engagement.
First meeting of its kind in over half a century
Aside from the fraternal reunion, the meeting was significant for other reasons. For one, it marked the first meeting of its kind in the Oval Office in over 50 years.
Participants included leaders from the Satmar, Skver, Bobov, and Vizhnitz hassidic dynasties, as well as leaders of the Beth Medrash Govoha yeshiva in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Both Satmar rabbis are explicitly anti-Zionist, as is David Twersky, the Skverer rebbe, who was represented in the meeting by his son, Aron Mendel Twersky.
The Vizhnitzer rebbe of Monsey, Yisroel Hager, is best described as a traditional haredi non-Zionist, while Benzion Halberstam, the Bobov rebbe, can be best described as non-Zionist yet non-hostile in his stance.
Haredi political strategist Yossi Gestetner accompanied the rabbis to the White House. He told reporters afterward that “today was an opportunity for the first time in over 50 years for the president of the US to meet with the grand rabbis of the largest hassidic sects, visibly Jewish people such as myself.
The group “had an opportunity to thank the president for everything he does for the United States,” Gestetner added.
On Sunday, The Jerusalem Post reported that some members of the delegation were expected to discuss various key issues affecting the ultra-Orthodox community with Trump, such as the haredi draft into the IDF.
However, Belaaz News reported after the meeting that the rabbis had agreed beforehand not to raise the IDF draft-arrest crisis or any other internal Israeli politics with Trump.
US Vice President JD Vance and US special envoy Jared Kushner were in attendance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is understood to have greeted the attendees.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.