Satmar Rav - Rav Yoel Teitelbaum (1)

Rav Yoel Teitelbaum (January 13, 1887 - August 19, 1979), best known as the Satmar Rav, was the founder and first Rebbe of Satmar Chasidus. Not only was the Satmar Rav the architect of Chasidish life in post-war America, but he was one of the generation's greatest Torah scholars and poskim.

The Satmar Rav was renowned for his intellectual capacities from a young age. At his Bar Mitzvah, he delivered a sermon of several hours that was the big news the next day in the local newspapers. He was stringent in matters regarding ritual purity, and would lengthily prepare for prayer by meticulously cleaning himself. Even before his wedding, he received letters of ordination from eight prominent rabbis. In a practice that lasted through his life, the Satmar Rav often did not sleep in a bed, instead learning through the night by forcing himself awake by placing his feet in bucket of freezing cold water.

We also have available one other picture of the Satmar Rav: