Update: Oreo, Dog Thrown Off Building, Was Euthanized
People Wait For Tomorrow's UWS Apple Store Opening
Cheap Chicken Wing Deal Ruined by Gunslinging Teens
FIT Students Busted For Drug Dealing Get Probation
Views From Your Windows
The NYPD just put out a radio alert that Moses Teitelbaum, Grand Rebbe of the Satmar sect of Hasidism, died at Mount Sinai Hospital. Teitelbaum was 91, and had been suffering from spinal cancer. He had been the head of the sect since 1979. Thousands of people are expected to throng the streets of Williamsburg once this announcement gets out-- and things could turn violent, as Teitelbaum's two sons are feuding over who will succeed him, and their followers have gotten physical a number of times in the past year.
Some info on the Satmar sect: with 100,000 followers, they are thought to be the largest branch of Hasidism. They own about $500m worth of property in Brooklyn and upstate-- their base in Ulster County is called Kiryas Joel. The sect originated in the Hungarian town of Satu Mare (now part of Romania.) According to Wikipedia, "The Satmar Hasidic movement has become known for its social isolation from all forms of secular culture and for its opposition to all forms of religious, secular, and political Zionism."
If anyone is down in Williamsburg tonight or tomorrow, take some pictures and send them in! The Satmars dominate the area in South Williamsburg around Lee and Bedford, down to Flushing Avenue.
UPDATE: the funeral for the Grand Rebbe is going to start at 10pm on the corner of Rodney and Bedford-- that's about five blocks south of the Williamsburg Bridge. From there, the Rebbe's body will travel upstate to Kiryas Joel for the burial.
UPDATE: the story has hit the wires-- WNBC has the first MSM story. We're going to go down there and try to get some shots of the crowds.
UPDATE: [Jen] Jake sent in this cameraphone picture-- check out the huge crowd.
UPDATE: Tien's got some photos from Williamsburg.
UPDATE: The crowd was totally peaceful while we were there-- many people talked to us about the Satmars and the Rebbe. The women were all pushed off to the side, and Rodney Street was insanely thronged with people. All the newsvans were on the block, but cameras weren't being allowed into the main synagogue. Lots of helicopters overhead the whole time. Tons of police-- they erected barricades along all of the sidewalks, and were maintaining fairly strict crowd control. When one of the Rebbe's sons arrived in a black Suburban, there was a moment of excitement-- but other than that, just thousands of people milling around, waiting. We uploaded a whole set of pictures to Flickr, so you can get a sense of the scene. Here's one last crowd shot:
UPDATE: The Times has the official obituary.
UPDATE: JCN put up his set of pictures, and here are some more from Flaming City.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Kiryas Joel is actually in Orange County, NY.
there were 3 choppers patrolling the hasidic area already.
ברוך דיו האמת. I hope his sons don't make a bigger chillul hashem than already. Maybe they should split the Chassidus into Satmar and Sigheter.
I take it both sons have a sense of enteitelment?
Oh Snap! Holy Jew War! This is gonna be awesome. They will kill each other with killer bagels and dreidels. The Hasids got it made. I love walking down flushing avenue and seeing all the women line up behind the men carrying the kids. That's how it should be.
There are like a gajillion choppers in the South Williamsburg sky right now. I thought we were under attack!
There will be a lot of street action; the Hasidim have a strong sense of community, and expressing emotion in the streets is common. The rebbe will be buried tomorrow in a plain pine box -- the quick, simple burial is dictated by Jewish law. The choppers are likely there for two reasons: to control the street action AND to make sure no anti-Semetic twits make this an occasion for racist attacks.
One thing you won't see: the Israeli flag. The Satmar consider the modern state of Israel a blasphemy, since the Torah states that only God can restore Jewish rule to the land of Judah.
So its been an hour or so after this newsflash, so I ask ... why hasn’t the Riot Police and Joe's House of Bagels been mobilized???
Why are you posting this, who cares?
Never even heard of this dude.
Why are you posting this, who cares?
Never even heard of this dude.
[9] Posted by: John
****************
Well, then he must not have been important.
"enteitelment?"
[4] Posted by: Parade of Horribles
***************************
Jewish spelling?
Well I just wanna thank you dear Gothamist for taking me out of my paranoid ignorance, I live right at the epicenter of the breaking news, Just arrived home and was followed by helicopters, and once I made inside me house, sirens, and street noise kept me in fear, Now I must say here that I have started to read the book Underground about the 1995 Tokyo Gas attack, so I don't need a psychologist! I just need Gothamist! Sense I seldom turn to news, and TV.
I will take some incognito pictures tomorrow for you....
I sorta dig their interpretation of the Torah. I only wish that the American followers of Jesus and Paul would take a similar stance and get out of politics.
I just went over to the Hasidic part of Williamsburg to check out the proceedings. It's pretty intense over there. definitely a very heavy police presence all over the neighborhood, with cops on every corner and vans and more cops at all the neighborhood "border" streets. Also, as has been noted by other posters lots of choppers. It is very quiet on the streets, with Satmar Hasids of every age and description out and about. Quite a sight to see so many people out on the streets in that neighborhood at midnight... Also the streets surrounding what I assume to be the shul where they are holding the funeral service were blocked off with riotfencing and completely jammed with people for several blocks. By and large women are on one side and men on the other. They are broadcasting the service out onto the streets over loudspeakers, mostly what you hear is distraught wailing. Most of the people in the streets (and again, there are literally thousands) are just standing there silently. Some people, mostly older people are crying. Definitely a very unusual energy in the air. Some of the men seem to be hurrying to their cars. Maybe to make sure they get to join the funeral procession upstate? Also a very long line of tour buses is parked and ready to go over by the projects close to teh BQE. Anybody who is curious should definitely head over there to check it out (be respectful though) it is pretty amazing. Very very intense to see so many people, so devoted all gathered at once.
Holycow! I'm staying off the road today, tomorrow and day after! 100,000 of the worst drivers in the world driving AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
perfect opportunity for al qaeda to take out a bunch of their favorite people.
i don't like the tone of your article. Stop treating these people as some kind of side-show attraction. And moreover, PLEASE STOP USING WIKIPEDIA as some kind of a legitimate authority. At the heart of your "sensational story" is a community in mourning. Please show them the respect and privacy they deserve instead of this "if anybody has photos please send them in" nonsense.
I have a couple of photos up from last night on flickr. I am going to clean them up tonight or this weekend if I have time. Feel free to click over to them.
I put the link in the url section and it didn't show up. Here it is again. http://www.flickr.com/photos/flamingcity/sets/72057594116451059/
I agree jennifer. Thank you.
As Diane Keaton said, that's a real Jew.
Here's one for me (swigs 40), and one for my rebbe's (pours 40).
and 17, you're annoying.
I thought Gothamist had a policy of taking down anti-Semitic, racist, or homophobic comments? There are at least a couple on here that are pushing it.
Yes, drivers ed...100,000 bad drivers all in the same area, most of them quadruple parked on the side too!
wow, when did gothamist start attracting so many crackpots and socially frustrated twelve year olds to the comment boards?
"wow, when did gothamist start attracting so many crackpots and socially frustrated twelve year olds to the comment boards?"
About the same time they started posting anything related to Judaism in New York.
"wow, when did gothamist start attracting so many crackpots and socially frustrated twelve year olds to the comment boards?"
About the same time they started employing crackpots and socially frustrated twelve year olds as "reporters"
some pics
vosiznies pics
@17 Jennifer: since when has a massive gathering of thousands of people involving the cordoning off of streets, multiple television helicopters and police barricades qualify as a "side show attraction" in need of "privacy" ?