Will there be arbitration? • Satmar in a sharp attack: "A cult of rioters and violence""

June 11, 2020   

The police decided today (Thursday) to issue a closure order for the large synagogue in Shikun. Satmar In Bnei Brak, for thirty days. This is after the failure of negotiations to appoint a team of arbitrators agreed upon by both sides. The Beit Midrash is at the center of a violent conflict between Satmar Hasidim loyal to the Rebbe, and the students of the Rosh Yeshiva, who has been dismissed from all his positions., The Mayslish Brigade, when last Saturday the violence between the parties reached its peak. Among the names raised was the name of the eminent Rabbi Yitzhak Zilberstein, as the one who would be the third and decisive arbitrator. However, according to the Satmar Hasidim, the students of the Grachtz Meislich refused all offers - and as a result, the Beit Midrash will be closed. Rabbi Meislish's students responded: "The words are fundamentally false. We are ready to go to court. We have not received any invitation to litigate. We are waiting to receive an invitation to litigate in Torah law. As soon as we receive an invitation to litigate, we will request to litigate in the court of the Haredi Eda in Jerusalem, just as we always go after the defendant.".  Rosh Yeshiva, The Grand Master of the Order of the Mayslich. Photo: Shuki Lerer In a scathing letter sent this evening by the Satmar Supreme Council, they write against the conduct of the yeshiva's students and write: "The institution's management has done everything in their power, within the bounds of law, to settle the matter peacefully, and according to our instructions, they have already signed to go to arbitration, as befits those who fear God, and even agreed to the proposal of Rabbi Yitzhak Zilberstein, may God be pleased with him, to be the third." However, according to the Supreme Council, on the other hand, "the aforementioned sect of perpetrators of riots and violence is a time of great trouble. They have avoided signing any type of arbitration, which would be possible with various and strange excuses and pretexts, and with the clear goal of achieving results through their corrupt and indecent actions, and in doing so they are causing the quarantine to be carried out by the 'police'." They add: "Our firm hope is to instill peace and rest through the knowledge of Torah, for we are brothers and sisters, and to denounce from the camp those thugs who destroy, those who commit riots and violence, who corrupt the souls of our children and desecrate the honor of Heaven and the honor of our community.".