at NY State Armory Marcy Ave, in Brooklyn. November 23th 2013

Brooklyn, NY – The 21st day of Kislev is celebrated annual by Satmar chasidim worldwide as the day R’ Yoel Teitelbaum Zt’l the founder of Satmar Chasidis in America, escaped from Hungary and this year marks the 69th anniversary of the Grand Rebbe’s escape from the Nazis.

R’ Teitelbaum was among over 1600 people who were transported out of Hungary by train due to the efforts of Rudolf Kastner, one of the leaders of Budapest’s Vaadat Ezra V’Hatzalah, who brokered a deal with Adolph Eichmann to let the passengers leave in exchange for a large sum of money, diamonds and gold. While Eichmann reneged on the deal and had the train sent to Bergen Belsen, the train was finally released after four months of negotiations and the passengers finally obtained their freedom when they arrived in Switzerland.

Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum was the founder and first Grand Rebbe of the Satmar dynasty. A major figure in the postwar renaissance of Hasidism in the United States and around the World