Satmar Rabbi Calls for His Followers to leave Williamsburg and move to "Uganda"

 DIN: Satmar's complaints against the great R' Binyomin Zev Herzl z"l were that R' Herzl initially supported a British initiative for Jews to have their own State in Uganda, Ethiopia! Satmar continues to mock and ridicule this proposal, which Herzl himself ultimately rejected and pushed for Jews to settle in Eretz Yisrael, a dream that came to fruition and is now the home for the majority of the Jewish people! 

The late Satmar Rebbe R' Yoel Teitelbaum z"l then stole this very "Uganda" idea that he mocked and established an Uganda in Monroe, New York! In the very country that he screamed for decades, was the "treifene medina" and discouraged his followers from emigrating there! 

But now it's kosher, and Herzl z"l is laughing in his grave in Yerushalayim Ir Ha'koidesh! Now Israel the land that Satmar mentions in every single tefilla, including Bentching and Al Hamechye is the  "treifene medina"  the very country that has the most Torah learned than anywhere in the entire world! 

Go figure! 

In a rare and pointed address, Satmar Rebbe Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum didn’t mince words: the days of Williamsburg as the heart of the chassidic community may be coming to a close.

Citing skyrocketing rent and what he described as a deteriorating spiritual atmosphere, the Rebbe urged families to begin thinking seriously about relocating to communities more suited to raising children in accordance with Torah values

“The prices are out of control, the influences from the street are creeping in, and it’s becoming harder and harder to live a Yiddishe life the way we want for our kinder.”

The comments were not offhand. Sources close to the Rebbe say he has been expressing concern for past year, but this was the first time he addressed the issue publicly and unequivocally.

“The gashmius (materialism) is choking the ruchnius (spiritual life),” he said. “When a young couple can’t even dream of affording a one-bedroom in the neighborhood they grew up in, and when the streets no longer reflect the kedushah (holiness) we expect — it’s time to consider alternatives.”

While he did not name specific communities, many in attendance took it as a tacit endorsement of established and growing chassidic enclaves like Kiryas Joel, Bloomingburg, and parts of Rockland and Orange counties, where housing remains more affordable and community infrastructure is built around Torah life.