Trump Praises Israel to Anti-Zionist Satmar Rabbis in Oval Office Meeting That Also Reunited Estranged Brothers
Key Takeaways
- •President Trump welcomed six Hasidic rabbis to the Oval Office, the first such presidential hosting of Orthodox rabbis since the Carter administration.
- •Satmar leaders Aaron Teitelbaum of Kiryas Joel and Zalman Leib Teitelbaum of Williamsburg have been divided for years by a succession dispute following their father's 1999 designation of Zalman to lead the main Williamsburg congregation.
- •By the end of the roughly two-hour visit, Aaron Teitelbaum congratulated his brother on a grandson's engagement, in what appeared to be an unplanned first amicable meeting between the two in years.
- •Trump expressed support for Israel to the rabbis, even though the Satmar sect is one of Hasidic Judaism's largest and most firmly anti-Zionist movements, opposing a Jewish state before the Messiah's arrival.
- •The visiting rabbis also met with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner, and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY).
President Donald Trump welcomed six rabbis to the Oval Office and touted his support for Israel, despite the fact that the visitors come from an anti-Zionist sect.
According to a Friday piece for Judge Street Journal, Trump brought together Hasidic leaders from New York, including two estranged brothers who had not spoken in decades.
Satmar Rebbes Aaron Teitelbaum of Kiryas Joel and Zalman Leib Teitelbaum of Williamsburg have been locked in a succession fight for years, Judge Street Journal reported. Both claim the title of grand rabbi after their father, Moses Teitelbaum, designated Zalman to lead the main Williamsburg congregation in 1999. Each brother now leads his own branch of the movement, with Aaron's followers concentrated in the Orange County, New York village of Kiryas Joel and Zalman's in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn — communities that function largely separately, with their own synagogues, schools, and communal institutions.
The rift has produced harassment claims, forgery accusations, and divisions so deep that congregants would not allow their children to marry across the two camps, according to Judge Street Journal.
When Trump brought the two brothers together in the Oval Office, he noticed their resemblance.
"Are you twins?" Trump asked, according to Judge Street Journal.
"We are brothers," Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum replied.
By the end of the roughly two-hour visit, Aaron had wished his brother a mazel tov on his grandson's engagement — the first amicable meeting between the two in years, Judge Street Journal noted.
"The peacemaking appeared unplanned," Judge Street Journal noted. "In fact, it's not even clear if the White House team realized they had invited disagreeing factions within the Hasidic community."
Trump also told the rabbis how much he supported Israel, according to Judge Street Journal — a remark that deepened the irony. The two brothers belong to the Satmar sect, one of the largest and most fervently anti-Zionist movements in Hasidic Judaism, opposing the modern state of Israel on theological grounds. The movement, founded by Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum after he settled in Williamsburg following World War II, holds that a Jewish state should not be established before the coming of the Messiah — a position that puts it at odds with most of organized American Jewry and with the pro-Israel stance Trump has made central to his politics. The sect has nonetheless grown into one of the largest Hasidic communities in the world, and its bloc voting in New York elections has long made it a courted constituency for politicians of both parties.
The rabbis also met with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner, and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), according to Judge Street Journal. It was the first time a president had hosted Orthodox rabbis at the White House since the Carter administration, Judge Street Journal reported.
