Southern Sanctuary  

When Rebbe Aharon of Satmar paid a visit to the Satmar kehillah in Argentina last week, he met a burgeoning community that defied the odds. How was it that a handful of Hungarian Holocaust refugees, all of whom eventually left this South American haven for other shores, planted the seeds of a chassidic enclave that would incorporate Halabi tradition and Sephardi mesorah with shtreimels and beketshes?

The scene at Buenos Aires International Airport last week was one of bewilderment and curiosity.

Argentina, a nation of nearly 50 million people, has a Jewish population of around 30,000 — less than 0.01 percent. And while many locals have surely encountered religious Jews, the chassidic variety is still a rare sight. Imagine, then, the airport staff’s surprise at the throngs of chassidim awaiting the arrival of Rebbe Aharon Teitelbaum of Satmar last week, and then escorting him to the central headquarters of Satmar Argentina. There, hundreds of followers — many donning festive shtreimels, as the day was declared a veritable Yom Tov — assembled to give their leader a royal reception.

Initially, Argentina wasn’t even on the Rebbe’s South American itinerary. His target destination was neighboring Uruguay, to the slaughterhouses supplying glatt kosher meat to Satmar communities worldwide. The Rebbe, considered a world-renowned expert in shechitah, intended to personally inspect the facilities to ensure they met Satmar’s rigorous kashrus standards, especially as plans are underway to increase meat exports to the United States.

Yet when the news reached Argentina that the Rebbe would be just across the river, the Satmar community there didn’t waste any time. They enlisted the help of the New York–based sons of Rav Faivel Sofer, the decades-long av beis din of Satmar Argentina, to formally invite the Rebbe — and he agreed.