Friday, October 28, 2005
Judge scolds Hasidim
An Orange County judge has once again read the riot act to rival factions of Satmar Hasidim after an order he issued on Friday touched off a synagogue brawl.
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Stewart Rosenwasser fired off a fax yesterday expressing dismay at the recent "chaos and lawlessness" and demanding lawyers for the two sides explain it when they return to his court on Nov. 30.
"Be advised," he wrote, "that this Court will take any action appropriate in dealing with any party who intentionally misrepresented this Court's ruling."
The case before him stems from a bitter power struggle between two sons of the Satmar grand rebbe, Moses Teitelbaum, and their followers. One son, Aaron Teitelbaum, leads the dominant Kiryas Joel congregation; his brother, Zalman, is chief rabbi in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
Rosenwasser caused an uproar Friday by demanding proof that Aaron ally Berl Friedman had been expelled from the Williamsburg congregation, where he had been president. Both sides read the order as a decisive victory for Aaron's side.
On Tuesday morning, shortly before worship to celebrate the holiday of Simchas Torah, Friedman marched into the Williamsburg synagogue with a crowd of Aaron supporters and security guards.
What came next was a brawl, broken up by police in riot gear. Police returned to the synagogue that night and arrested a couple dozen young men who wouldn't leave.
http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/10/28/ruling28.htm
An Orange County judge has once again read the riot act to rival factions of Satmar Hasidim after an order he issued on Friday touched off a synagogue brawl.
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Stewart Rosenwasser fired off a fax yesterday expressing dismay at the recent "chaos and lawlessness" and demanding lawyers for the two sides explain it when they return to his court on Nov. 30.
"Be advised," he wrote, "that this Court will take any action appropriate in dealing with any party who intentionally misrepresented this Court's ruling."
The case before him stems from a bitter power struggle between two sons of the Satmar grand rebbe, Moses Teitelbaum, and their followers. One son, Aaron Teitelbaum, leads the dominant Kiryas Joel congregation; his brother, Zalman, is chief rabbi in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
Rosenwasser caused an uproar Friday by demanding proof that Aaron ally Berl Friedman had been expelled from the Williamsburg congregation, where he had been president. Both sides read the order as a decisive victory for Aaron's side.
On Tuesday morning, shortly before worship to celebrate the holiday of Simchas Torah, Friedman marched into the Williamsburg synagogue with a crowd of Aaron supporters and security guards.
What came next was a brawl, broken up by police in riot gear. Police returned to the synagogue that night and arrested a couple dozen young men who wouldn't leave.
http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/10/28/ruling28.htm
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