Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum’s appointment as Rabbi of Satmar was accompanied by a polemic lasting over six years. Only in 1934 did the dispute subside, after which the Rebbe came to the city and began to serve as Rabbi (see below at length). The present booklet, Sefat Emet, was printed at the beginning of that period by the party opposing the Rebbe’s appointment.

[9], 2-76, [8] leaves. Approx. 21 cm. Good condition. Creases and light wear. Inscriptions and stamps. Signatures of R. “Alter Baruch HaKohen Schoenbrunn”. New leather binding.

Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum’s Appointment to the Satmar Rabbinate

In summer 1928, shortly after the passing of the Rabbi of Satmar R. Eliezer David Grünwald, elections were held to appoint a new rabbi. One of the candidates suggested to replace him was Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum (who served at the time as Av Beit Din of Carei). Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum won the elections by majority vote, but the win was sharply contested by some community members who did not accept the results and appealed the election’s validity to the heads of the Central Orthodox Bureau, claiming there were severe cases of fraud and seeking to disqualify Rebbe Yoel’s victory. The controversy over the election lasted for six years, during which several repeated elections were conducted. During this period, polemical writings were published by both sides supporting their respective claims. These writings included, among other things, letters and responsa by the great Rebbes and other rabbis of the time in Hungary and Galicia.

The dispute subsided only six years later, when both sides finally agreed to accept Rebbe Yoel’s appointment as rabbi of the city. In 1934 Rebbe Yoel moved from Carei to Satmar, the city by which he is known as the Rebbe of Satmar.

The present book, Sefat Emet, was printed at the first stages of that dispute, and it presents the position of the opponents of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum’s appointment as Av Beit Din of Satmar. The author lays out his version of the events and accuses the other side of such things as election fraud, bribery, violence and appeal to secular authorities. The book includes approbations and responsa from some of the great authorities of the generation and various Beit Dins that dealt with the episode, including the Minchat Elazar of Munkacs, who gives permission to publish his opinion “about one who had a majority while many doubt whether there ever was a majority… by contrivances, multiplying slander and lies, whether this one can act to strengthen Torah religion…”; the Levushei Mordechai of Mád, who writes of “the scandal in Satmar”; R. Shalom Eliezer Halberstam of Ratzfert, who writes, “I have seen how the troublemakers are oppressing you, and how their whole aim is to make faction in your city… now I cannot contain myself from going the extra step to ask, beg and warn…”; R. David Sperber of Brașov; R. Yechiel Natan Halberstam, Av Beit Din of Bardejov.