Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar is a large

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism ( Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of conte ...

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...

located at Kent Avenue and Hooper Street in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. As of the 2020 United ...

. Its building was constructed in 2006 by followers of Aaron Teitelbaum, as a result of a feud with followers of

Zalman Teitelbaum Yekusiel Yehuda III Teitelbaum, known by the Yiddish colloquial name Rav Zalman Leib (born 23 December 1951),Arye Ehrlich. Malkhut shel Khesed'. Mishpacha, 13 December 2012 (p. 28). is one of two Grand Rebbes of Satmar, and the son of Grand ...

(both sons of the deceased Satmar ''

rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritu ...

Moshe Teitelbaum Moshe Teitelbaum may refer to: * Moshe Teitelbaum (Ujhel) (1759–1841), Hasidic Rebbe * Moshe Teitelbaum (Satmar) Moshe (Moses) Teitelbaum (Yiddish: משה טײטלבױם; November 1, 1914 – April 24, 2006) was a Hasidic rebbe and the w ...

). It has been dubbed the "miracle synagogue" because it was constructed in just 14 business days.Goldstein, Joseph
"Splintering of Satmar Community Leads to a 'Miracle' Synagogue"
''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'', September 27, 2006.Dabush, Keren, and Sederstrom, Jotham
"Satmar 'miracle' temple up in 14 days"
''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...

'', September 30, 2006.

Background

In 1984, Satmar

Rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritu ...

placed his oldest son,

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

, in charge of the Satmar community in

Kiryas Joel, New York Kiryas Joel ( yi, קרית יואל, Kiryas Yoyel, ; often locally abbreviated as KJ) is a village coterminous with the Town of Palm Tree in Orange County, New York, United States. The village shares one government with the Town. The vast major ...

, but in 1999, he appointed his third son,

Zalman Zalman Tech Co. (usually simplified as ZALMAN) is a South Korean company that develops and provides aftermarket desktop computer products with primary focus on cooling enhancement. Zalman has done considerable product development since its foun ...

, as his successor. Since then, the two sons and their respective followers have been feuding over who is the rightful successor of Moshe, with the followers of Aaron attempting to gain control of approximately $372 million (today $ million) worth of Satmar buildings and land (including its synagogues) in Williamsburg, and elsewhere.McKenna, Chris
"In Brooklyn, Hasidim build shul in a flash"
''

Times Herald-Record The ''Times Herald-Record'', often referred to as ''The Record'' or ''Middletown Record'' in its coverage area, is a daily newspaper published in Middletown, New York, covering the northwest suburbs of New York City. It covers Orange, Sulliva ...

'', October 3, 2006. Following his death in April 2006, Moshe's will supported Zalman, as did a Satmar

rabbinical court A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

, though supporters of Aaron dispute the validity of both. After a

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...

court ruled in July that the dispute was outside of its jurisdiction, followers of Aaron, who, in previous years, had been excluded from main Satmar institutions—including the main Satmar synagogue on Rodney Street—and celebrated the

High Holy Days The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe") #strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jewi ...

in a large tent, started plans to build an alternative main synagogue.

Construction

In 2006, the synagogue was built in 14 days by a team of over 200 workers, including 125 employees and 80 volunteers.Gallague, Patrick
"It's a House of 'Gosh!'"
''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'', October 2, 2006. Workers worked 18-hour days, in order to have the building ready in time for the Jewish New Year, pausing only on the Sabbath. As a result of the rapid pace of construction, a number of the city's Department of Buildings rules were violated, including "working without a sidewalk shed" and "straying from approved plans". The department did not take action after two reports of unsafe working conditions, but issued a stop-work order after a worker fell about 20 feet from a metal structure on September 15. Nevertheless, work continued; according to the ''

'', Jennifer Givner, a department spokesperson "could not rule out the possibility that the department had given the go-ahead to resume work", and the congregation denied that it broke any rules.

Building

The 13,000 or 18,000 square foot

steel frame Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The developm ...

structure has

cinder block A concrete masonry unit (CMU) is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction. CMUs are some of the most versatile building products available because of the wide variety of appearances that can be achieved using them. Tho ...

walls, and is covered in

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

. The interior was not fully finished in time for the New Year, and it was planned that the concrete floors would be covered with wood and the walls with marble in time for the ''

Simchat Torah Simchat Torah or Simhat Torah (, lit., "Rejoicing with/of the Torah", Ashkenazi: ''Simchas Torah'') is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simch ...

'' holiday three weeks later. The structure seats between 2,300 and 4,350, and has a total capacity of 7,000 people. The building was named after Aaron's great-great-grandfather, Rabbi Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum, known as "The Yetev Lev", after the name of a book of

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

commentary he published. Zalman's supporters derisively referred to the synagogue as "

the Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

shul".

Subsequent events

In 2016, Rabbi Isaac (or Isack) Rosenberg—synagogue president, and one of the driving forces behind (and financial backers of) the construction of the synagogue—died, after being caught in a rip tide off the coast of Florida.Hogan, Gwynne and Fisher, Janon
"Prominent Hasidic Rabbi and Williamsburg Developer Drowns in Florida"
, ''

DNAinfo ''DNAinfo'' was an online newspaper that focused on neighborhood news in New York City and Chicago. It was closed down by CEO and owner Joe Ricketts in November 2017 after writers in its New York branch voted to unionize, a move to which Rickett ...

'', May 17, 2016.Katz, Andy
"Nearly 1,000 fill Williamsburg street to mourn Isaac Rosenberg"
''

Brooklyn Daily Eagle :''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently'' The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...

'', May 19, 2016."Community mourns Hasidic leaders who drowned"
''

News 12 Networks The News 12 Networks are a group of regional cable news television channels in the New York metropolitan area that are owned by Altice USA. All channels provide rolling news coverage 24 hours a day, focusing primarily on regions of the me ...

'', May 19, 2016.Stulberg, Ariel and Doles, Kyna
"A look at Isaac Rosenberg’s real estate portfolio"
'' The Deal Deal'', May 18, 2016. The funeral took place on Hooper Street, in front of the synagogue, which was filled with nearly 1000 mourners.

Notes

External links

Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar of Kiryas Joel Inc. v. Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar Inc.
''

New York Law Journal The ''New York Law Journal'', founded in 1888, is a legal periodical covering the legal profession in New York, United States. Background The newspaper, published Monday through Friday, provides daily coverage of civil and criminal cases fr ...

'', February 9, 2006.
Matter of Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar, Inc. v Kahana
Appellate Division, Second Department, 2006 NYSlipOp 05627, ''New York State Law Reporting Bureau'', July 11, 2006.
"Synagogue bandit stole $400 from donation box: cops"
''

'', July 27, 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Yetev Lev 2006 establishments in New York City Hasidic Judaism in New York City Hasidic synagogues Orthodox synagogues in New York City Jewish organizations established in 2006 Satmar (Hasidic dynasty) Synagogues completed in 2006 Synagogues in Brooklyn Williamsburg, Brooklyn Yiddish culture in New York City