Joel Teitelbaum (Yiddish: יואל טייטלבוים, romanized: Yoyl Teytlboym, IPA: [jɔɪl ˈtɛɪtl̩bɔɪm]; 13 January 1887 – 19 August 1979) was the founder and first Grand Rebbe of the Satmar dynasty.

A major figure in the post-war renaissance of Hasidism, he espoused a strictly conservative and isolationist line, rejecting modernity.

He forbade any contact with Zionists, including the religious Mizrachim, and supported Chaim Elazar Spira, the Rebbe of Munkacs, in his opposition to World Agudath Israel.

When the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved under the terms of the Treaty of Trianon (1920) following the war, Satu Mare, Partium, and Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Romania.

Several of Teitelbaum's supporters advanced his name as a possible candidate for the vacant office, but he was opposed by the non-Hasidic Ashkenazi majority, modernists, and Zionists in the community (not to mention by many other Hasidim).

Yekusiel Judah Gross of Berbești was brought to serve as his tutor and de facto chief rabbi of Sighet.

When he grew older, Yekusiel established a following of his own from among his father's loyal supporters, but his influence as rebbe never exceeded the city's limits.

An election committee established by the Orthodox community's board chose him for the post on June 11, with nineteen members in favor, five against, and two abstentions.

Chaim Freund, the community's president, and several other members of the board were close supporters of the rabbi, and his opponents accused them of rigging the vote throughout the election process by various means, including granting and withdrawing the right to participate according to criteria which benefited their candidate.

The parties presented their claims in lengthy pamphlets printed in 1929: Freund's faction issued a book under the name Milkhemes Mitzve haKhudosh ("The New Commanded War"), and the other one published Sfas Emes ("Words of Truth").

Finally, following the continued refusal of many to accept Teitelbaum, his supporters established their own independent community on 10 December 1929, where he could serve as a rabbi.

When the king approached the stage, he surveyed all the people who stood on it and started walking toward Teitelbaum, who was holding his rabbinical stick in one hand and his hat in the other.

Several days later, the king was asked why he approached the Orthodox rabbi first, and he responded: "Immediately when I walked toward the stage, I surveyed all those who were standing on it.

Prior to the Holocaust, Teitelbaum ignored the threats to the Jews of Transylvania and failed to engage in the preparation of rescue and aid plans.

As the situation of Hungarian Jews became dangerous, Teitelbaum equipped himself and his closest circle with certificates or visas that would facilitate their escape to Mandatory Palestine or the United States.

[6] Teitelbaum's attempts to leave Hungary were part of a broader general phenomenon, which attracted criticism, even then, of rabbis and other public figures fleeing the country.

When the Germans invaded Hungary, Teitelbaum's closest associates sought a safer way to smuggle him out by bribing two junior officers, drivers of a Red Cross ambulance, who agreed to drive a group of Jews to Kolozsvár (today Cluj-Napoca) in return for money.

Faced with harsh living conditions, he asked his followers to try to transfer him to Budapest or back to the ghetto of Satmar, where Jews were housed in residential buildings, but they were unable to fulfill his requests.

Baron Fülöp von Freudiger, director of the Orthodox congregation in Budapest, selected eighty rabbis and other prominent figures and paid for their inclusion in the passengers' list of the Kastner train, which was to depart the state for a neutral country.

On 30 June 1944, once negotiations with the Germans had been concluded, the passengers boarded a freight train that was planned to proceed to Switzerland but was eventually diverted to Bergen Belsen.

With the help of Kasztner and SS officer Herman Krumey, the final arrangements were made, and Teitelbaum was transferred to Switzerland with some Jews from the group.

[7] In late April 1948, the Satmar Hasidim established "Congregation Yetev Lev", named after his grandfather, which was registered as a religious corporation.

The community's regulations, accepted in April 1952, decreed that Teitelbaum was not a salaried officeholder but the supreme spiritual authority over the members.

In 1951, although not a resident of Israel, Teitelbaum was appointed to the ceremonial office of President of the anti-Zionist Edah HaChareidis (Congregation of God-Fearers) in Jerusalem.

After the death of Zelig Reuven Bengis on 21 May 1953, he also succeeded him as the Chief Rabbi and Grand Patriarch of Edah HaChareidis Rabbinical Court.

[3] In the early hours of 19 August 1979, he complained of aches and was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he suffered a myocardial infarction and died at approximately 8 am.

[11] The core citations from classical Judaic sources cited by Teitelbaum in his arguments against Zionism are based on a passage in the Talmud.

")[12][13] Teitelbaum, however, was openly opposed to the views of Agudath Israel, and, until the present time, Satmar Hasidim refused to become members of the organization.

Teitelbaum was strongly opposed to the use of a tube for metzitzah during circumcision of a baby boy and felt that this change in the procedure would spiritually lead to more promiscuity.

He was a strong proponent of the Hungarian Hasidic custom for married women to shave their heads every month before immersion in the mikveh (ritual bath).