he Satmar Rebbe of the Williamsburg faction, Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum (formally Rabbi Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum), begins his day at four each morning, arriving at the Beis Medrash HaGadol on Rodney Street to learn Torah before the rest of the community rises.

The Rodney Street beis medrash is the historic center of Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar, the kehilla founded by the chassidus's rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, after he rebuilt Satmar in Williamsburg following the Second World War with a small group of roughly seventy followers. The community grew rapidly in the following decades, with more than 10,000 registered men counted in the kehilla by the mid-1980s.

Rabbi Zalman Leib took the helm of the Williamsburg faction following the passing of his father, Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, in 2006, after years of internal succession tension with his older brother, Rabbi Aharon Teitelbaum, who leads the rival Satmar faction based in Kiryas Joel. Chassidim of Rabbi Zalman Leib's court are commonly referred to as "Zali's." Rabbi Zalman Leib has been known to take firm public positions, including sharply condemning joint protests between Neturei Karta and Hamas supporters during the recent war as a chillul Hashem.

His early-morning practice at the Rodney Street beis medrash reflects a broader emphasis within his court on restoring the character and atmosphere that prevailed under the chassidus's founding Rebbe.