<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Rabbi Yehuda {Leonard} Blank MS, BCC
Vice President of Professional Development and External Affairs
Chair of the Chaplaincy Commission
Rabbinical Alliance of America/Igud HaRabbonim
917-446-2126  rablenblank@gmail.com
**January 15, 2026, 26, Teves, 5786**
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Some might wonder if I belong to any specific Chasidic group, Yeshiva, Synagogue or other Orthodox Jewish groups since I have quoted many in my previous articles. I recently wrote in an article dedicated to my father, Tzvi Aryeh HaLevi Zt”l, how he would bring me to various shuls to listen to divrei Torah by the Rabbonim and various Chasidik Rebbe’s on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and Williamsburg, Brooklyn to watch them daven and to receive brachos from them. I was impressed by all those who my father would bring me to witness how special they all were and from all of their different unique affiliation and that special appreciation of the diversity of Torah and love of H . I continued to receive that special appreciation through my Roshei Yeshiva learning in the Beis Medrash of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem where talmidim came from many Litvish, Chasidik, Sephadik and other backgrounds.  

In my recent article, I included my experience at the Ohel with Jewish men, women and children of diverse backgrounds. There is a large building alongside of the cemetery where one can prepare one’s spirituality through prayers, tables to write their k’vitles, refreshments, siddurim, Tehillim’s, other sefarim and books of interest. Most of all, men, women and children wore non Chasidic clothing, speaking many different languages. What tremendous achdus can be felt under that roof even before entering the cemetery leading to the Ohel. 

Below is an article about what was deemed a historic event with the heads of Lubavitch and Satmar coming together. This was on the Yeshiva World News online, January 13, 2026 where you can find this event.

HISTORIC: Chabad Rabbinic Delegation Received at the Home of the Satmar Rebbe in Williamsburg.

On the night of 24 Teves, the yahrtzeit of the Alter Rebbe, the Baal HaTanya and Shulchan Aruch, a delegation of rabbonim and mashpi’im from Chabad-Lubavitch was received at the residence of the Satmar Rebbe of Williamsburg, HaRav Zalman Leib Teitelbaum.

The visit took place on the day marking the Yartzheit of the Alter Rebbe, to whom the Satmar Rebbe is a direct descendant, generation after generation. During his divrei kodesh this past Shabbos, the Rebbe referenced teachings brought by the Yismach Moshe in the name of the holy Tanya.

In his youth, the Satmar Rebbe merited participating in several farbrengens with the Rebbe during the years 5724 and 5725. The Rebbe’s chief gabbai, Reb Moshe Friedman, has related on multiple occasions that the Rebbe studies regularly the works of his great-grandfather as well as Sefer HaTanya, Likkutei Torah, and Torah Or.

The Satmar Rebbe expressed great admiration upon hearing that during the five-week period between Yud-Tes Kislev, the Chag HaGeulah, and the yahrtzeit of 24 Teves, nearly twenty thousand copies of HaTanya HaShalem were sold in Williamsburg, Boro Park, Monroe, Monsey, and surrounding communities. This is in addition to approximately sixty thousand copies of HaTanya HaShalem that have been sold worldwide since its publication.

Also present at the gathering was the Rebbe’s son, HaRav Yaakov Ber Teitelbaum, Av Beis Din of Siget in Boro Park, son-in-law of HaRav Tzvi Hirsch Meislish, Av Beis Din of Shophron Williamsburg, one of the foremost talmidim of the Satmar Rebbe, HaRav Yoel Teitelbaum, author of the Divrei Yoel. He was entrusted by the Rebbe with serving as the primary writer and editor of the Rebbe’s divrei Torah.

Members of the Chabad delegation included:

HaRav Yaakov Leib Alttein, among the writers and arrangers of the Rebbe’s sichos, a member of the Vaad LeHafatzas Sichos, editor of volumes in the Likkutei Sichos series, a member of the Vaad Hanachos HaTemimim, founder of the Heichal Menachem institutions in Boro Park, Rav and mara d’asra of Kehillas Beis Menachem in Boro Park, editor-in-chief of the publications BaOr HaChassidus and Heichal HaBaal Shem Tov, editor-in-chief of the Chassidus Mevo’eres Institute, and publisher of the annotated Tanya, including the Tanya Mahadura Kama prepared under the Rebbe’s directive;

HaRav Dovid Moshe Meislish, editor-in-chief of the expanded editions of the seforim and responsa of the Tzemach Tzedek published by Kehos, Av Beis Din of Shophron Boro Park, rosh kollelim dedicated to the study of Chassidus, Rav and mashpia at Heichal Menachem Boro Park, and a member of the Chassidus Mevo’eres Institute;

HaRav Chaim Shaul Brook, director of the Vaad Hanachos B’Lashon HaKodesh and head of the HaTanya HaShalem Institute for the past twenty years; HaRav Yisroel Shimon Klamenson, among the writers and arrangers of the Rebbe’s teachings and one of the senior editors of the Vaad Hanachos B’Lashon HaKodesh; and HaRav Yisroel Yonasan Zilberstrom, a member of the editorial staff of the Vaad Hanachos B’Lashon HaKodesh and the HaTanya HaShalem Institute.”

We see from this event that included the meeting of Jews from different paths, Satmer and Lubavitch, that there can be achdus in Klal Yisroel. 

We pray that more meetings such as the one above which displays love and appreciation between Yidden will awaken H rachamin and bring a complete yishuah bimhaira with the coming of Mashiach in our days.

Sincerely, Rabbi Yehuda Blank