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Hasidim honor late grand rebbe



Thousands of Hasidim gathered in this village's cemetery yesterday despite a chilling rain to commemorate Moses Teitelbaum on the first anniversary of his death.

The event marked the first time that Satmar Hasidim would visit Kiryas Joel twice in the same year for the anniversary of a grand rebbe's death. The celebration of Satmar founder Joel Teitelbaum, who died in 1979 and is also buried in Kiryas Joel, will be held at the end of the summer.

That anniversary usually draws between 10,000 and 90,000 people, according to some estimates. Yesterday's event for Moses, who died on April 24 at the age of 91, was expected to draw far fewer, partly because of the weather, but also because of a dispute over who would be his successor.

The anniversary of Moses' death fell on Saturday, according to the Hasidic calendar. But Jewish law does not allow worshippers to go to cemeteries on the sabbath, which starts just before sundown Friday and ends just after sundown Saturday.

So many supporters waited until Saturday night to begin their remembrances. About 10,000 Satmar were expected to come to the event, but the forecast of rain and possible flooding kept away many from out of town, organizers said.

Worshippers began gathering just after dark Saturday at a Kiryas Joel village synagogue to celebrate with Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum, the eldest son of the late grand rebbe and leader of the Kiryas Joel congregation. In June, Aron lost a bitter legal battle with his younger brother, Zalman Teitelbaum of Brooklyn, for control of the 120,000 Satmar Jews here and around the world.

Many of those living in Kiryas Joel, however, still consider Aron the rightful heir to the leadership.

Tensions between the two factions heated to a boil just before and after the grand rebbe's death but have since cooled, a state police official said yesterday. "The two sides chose to disagree," said the official, a liaison to Kiryas Joel who asked that his name not be used.

Zalman and 200-300 of his supporters visited the mausoleum at 2 a.m. yesterday morning and left before sunrise, the official said. Village organizers of the event claim that about 6,000 of Aron's supporters visited the mausoleum during the same time period, although state police could not verify that figure.

Aron himself did not visit the mausoleum until yesterday afternoon, followed by an estimated attendance of several thousand of his followers, mostly from Kiryas Joel. A line of Satmar men and boys, hats and head gear covered with plastic shopping bags or rain visors, began filing up the path to the cemetery off Schunnemunk Road around noon.

Many offered money to charity groups who solicited from them along the way.

A lone vendor tried selling Kosher hot dogs and hamburgers to the passers-by.

The owner of the business, Nathan Lichtenstein of Monsey, was having little luck, thanks to the rain.

"It's going to be (better) later," Lichtenstein said of his business prospects for the day. "You never know."

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/NEWS/704160329