Thursday, June 10, 2004
Satmar defends its position with the Yemenite families
Satmar had promised the Naharis and other Yemenites idyllic conditions in the United States but kept them in tight, crude quarters and took away their passports, according to the Yemenite Jewish Federation of America and the Jewish Agency. In some cases, they even forced Yemenite women to marry Satmar men who were disabled or unappealing, and exploited them for fund-raising, said various members of the federation. Rabbi Chaim Freund, who said he brought the Naharis from Yemen to the community in Monsey, N.Y., vehemently rejected all charges against the Satmars and said he knew all along about the family's plan to visit an ailing relative in Israel. ''Never have Satmars taken any passport from any Yemenite Jew or any other Jew," he said. Furthermore, he said the Yemenite Jewish Federation does not represent the Yemenites in the Satmar community. ''Yemenites in Monsey have no connection with any Reform Jews which don't observe the Shabbos and kosher," he said. Moshe Friedman, secretary to the Satmar rebbe, Moshe Teitelbaum, said the charge that the Nahari family was held against its will was ''ridiculous." ''I'm certain there's no such thing," he said. It's ''all political business." The Jewish Agency made up the story out of pique that some Yemenites elected to come to the United States rather than Israel, he told JTA.
Satmar had promised the Naharis and other Yemenites idyllic conditions in the United States but kept them in tight, crude quarters and took away their passports, according to the Yemenite Jewish Federation of America and the Jewish Agency. In some cases, they even forced Yemenite women to marry Satmar men who were disabled or unappealing, and exploited them for fund-raising, said various members of the federation. Rabbi Chaim Freund, who said he brought the Naharis from Yemen to the community in Monsey, N.Y., vehemently rejected all charges against the Satmars and said he knew all along about the family's plan to visit an ailing relative in Israel. ''Never have Satmars taken any passport from any Yemenite Jew or any other Jew," he said. Furthermore, he said the Yemenite Jewish Federation does not represent the Yemenites in the Satmar community. ''Yemenites in Monsey have no connection with any Reform Jews which don't observe the Shabbos and kosher," he said. Moshe Friedman, secretary to the Satmar rebbe, Moshe Teitelbaum, said the charge that the Nahari family was held against its will was ''ridiculous." ''I'm certain there's no such thing," he said. It's ''all political business." The Jewish Agency made up the story out of pique that some Yemenites elected to come to the United States rather than Israel, he told JTA.
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