Iconic Williamsburg: The Big Satmar Shul on Rodney Street

The address of 152 Rodney Street in Williamsburg strikes a chord for tens of thousands of Satmar chassidim as the spiritual home of the Divrei Yoel and the Beirach Moshe—a place where they invested their entire selves into their avodah, and where they shared Divrei Torah and hashkafah to with their thousands of chassidim. 

Today, we revisit the history of this iconic shul. 

Preceding Satmar 

In truth, the history of 152 Rodney Street goes back long before the Satmar chassidim came to use it in 1969. Close to one hundred years ago, a chassidishe Rebbe came to Williamsburg from Europe, and resided at this very address. 

The Chernbyler Rebbe, Rav Shlomo Benzion Twersky, zt”l, was the son of Rav Yeshaya Meshulam Zusia, a son of Rebbe Aaron of Chernobyl, who was a son of the Chernobyler Maggid. Rav Shlomo Benzion lived in Kiev, Ukraine, and in the year 1926, he set out for America for a lengthy visit. 

On the ship as he was crossing the Atlantic, the Rebbe encountered a Yid by the name of Reb Liber Buchman, and they spent time together, sharing words of Torah and chassidus. Reb Liber offered the Rebbe his home in Williamsburg, and the Rebbe accepted the invitation. He remained there for a number of months, until the chassidim found him a more permanent residence. 

The home at 152 Rodney Street turned into a center for Torah and chassidus. The Rebbe conducted tefillos and tischen in the home, and strengthened his fellow Yidden who were living in the darkness of America. 

A Spiritual Home for the Satmar Chassidus

Fast forward about fifty years, and the Satmar kehillah of Williamsburg, who were then in the “Knapp Mansion” at 550 Bedford Avenue, was seeking to build a shul which could accommodate the large crowd that gathered every single Shabbos. The previous home the kehillah was at the nostalgic address of 500 Bedford Avenue, where a beis medrash still exists, until they purchased the iconic Knapp Mansion. 

In 1968, the Divrei Yoel of Satmar called together the askonim of the kehillah and asked them to see about building a large Shul. The placed an eye on the four homes that stood between Lee Avenue and Bedford Avenue, including 152 Rodney. 

While the askonim worked on the construction plans—which encountered a number of roadblocks—the Satmar Rebbe suffered a stroke. This set back the plans even more. But by Pesach of that year, the actual construction begun on the new building. 

The First Yomim Nora’im 

As the holy days of that year approached, the shell of the building was ready… but the structure didn’t even have a roof! Nevertheless, the entire chodesh Tishrei was held in the building which was covered by a tarp. The Rebbe, who had not appeared in public since his stroke, came out for shalosh seudos before selichos of that year. 

After the Yamim Nora’im, the building was once again closed, and construction resumed. The kehillah returned to the Bedford Avenue location. After a few months, the construction was completed and a formal chanukas habayis was held. 

The Rebbe’s Apartment 

As we have noted, the Rebbe was ill by the time the construction ensued, and so an apartment was built into the building, along with a private mikvah, where the Rebbe stayed on Shabbosim and Yomim Tovim. 

For ten years—until his passing in 1979—the Rebbe conducted his avodas hakodesh from this holy center on Rodney Street, an edifice that remains a spiritual nerve center for thousands of Satmar chassidim to this day.