Rabbi Yoel settled in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with a small group of followers, and set out to re-establish his sect, which was destroyed in the Holocaust. His arrival in America allowed him to fully implement his views: The separation of religion and state enabled the Satmar dynasty, as well as numerous other Jewish groups, to establish independent communities, unlike the state-regulated structures in Central Europe. In April 1948, his adherents founded "Congregation Yetev Lev", which was registered as a religious corporation. Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum appointed Leopold Friedman (1904–1972), a former bank director, as the congregation's president, while he was declared supreme spiritual authority. After his death, Friedman was replaced by Leopold Lefkowitz (1920–1998). The Grand Rebbe's policy was to maintain complete independence by refusing to affiliate with, or receive financial aid from, any other Jewish group; his Hasidim established a network of businesses that provided an economic base for the community's own social institutions.