Aaron

Aaron, the eldest son of the Satmar Rebbe, is a claimant in a bitter struggle over the leadership of the Satmar dynasty. In the cited episode he remains offstage, but the faction organized around him intrudes into the narrator’s arranged match, making him a force in her life before she has met her prospective husband.

Identity and Faction

Aaron is identified as the rabbi’s eldest son and the figure followed by the Aroinies. His younger brother Zalman Leib, the rabbi’s third son, is backed by the narrator’s family, who regard him as the true successor. The divided loyalties reach beyond a dispute over family rank: a follower’s plotchik, a broad, flat velvet hat, allows the narrator to recognize Aaron’s faction in the prospective groom’s family.

The Succession Dispute

The contest between Aaron and Zalman Leib has moved into secular courts. The narrator’s grandfather, Zeidy, condemns the public litigation as a religious embarrassment, fearing that the struggle will leave Satmar disgraced whichever claimant prevails. He disapproves of Aaron and what he regards as his extreme ways, although the family avoids discussing the dispute openly at his table. The conflict is therefore both publicly visible and privately suppressed.

Influence on the Narrator’s Match

At the family meeting, the narrator recognizes the groom’s family as Aroinies and is startled that her grandfather has arranged a match across the political divide. The family comes from Kiryas Joel, where she believes ninety percent of residents support Aaron. Her shock turns the factional sign into a personal question: she wants to discover whether Eli holds his own views or merely repeats those around him. The episode makes Aaron’s influence tangible without placing him in the room; his contested claim determines how the narrator reads the match and sharpens her awareness of how little say she has in it.