(JNi.media) Shortly before Shabbat it was reported that one of the Satmar dynasty’s major supporters, billionaire Rabbi Yeshaya Wolf Lev, passed away at 88, after a long period of feeling very weak.
Lev served as head of the Satmar community in London and was one of the biggest supporters of Satmar institutions around the world and in London. The Satmar Rebbe stayed with Lev on his visits to London over the years.
The deceased was one of the richest Satmar Chasidism, his value estimated at $2.3 billion. “He spread his wealth to the poor with kindness,” a source in Satmar told Kikar HaShabbat. The source added that Lev gained his reputation in the movement “when he took upon himself the construction of the Satmar institutions in London and paid out of his pocket their monthly operation costs. He also built the Talmud Torah school in the city and paid for everything, from purchasing the land to construction and to buying the furniture.”