Closed in by corona, Rav Aharon Teitelbaum of Satmar still leads his flock
Reb Hillel Weiss has seen much over the past 70 years, but even a lifetime in the shadow of the rebbes of Satmar couldn’t prepare him for this sight. The Satmar Rebbe stood in the long, empty corridor, broke down, and cried.
It was Wednesday, the 22nd of Adar. The shuls and batei medrash in Kiryas Joel had all been closed that morning, and aside from a few confirmed procrastinators hurriedly packing their tefillin bags and talleisim at the urging of the gabbaim, the huge main shul was completely empty.
Several shuls had already closed the night before, when a call came directly from the White House, asking the Rebbe, Rav Aharon Teitelbaum, to set an example, knowing that if he would close his shul, hundreds of other shuls would follow.
A White House source perceived that the Rebbe would have to act decisively for the myriad satellite institutions and businesses — schools, slaughterhouses, the kimpeturin home, all of it — to take the ruling seriously.
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