Haredim and Zionism

The relationship between Haredim and Zionism has always been a difficult one. Even before the establishment of the State of Israel, the majority of Haredi Jewry was opposed to Zionism. However, after the de facto creation of the state, each individual movement within Orthodox Judaism charted its own path in their approach to the State of Israel.

History

Ashkenazic religious Jews, both Chasidim and Perushim, started to immigrate to Erets Yisroel in the 18th century, long before the founding of the Zionist movement, and continued to do so in the 19th century. Karliner chasidim had an early foothold, and the Lelover Rebbe settled there in 1850. Tsanz established itself in Tsfas in the 1870s, and Ruzhin had a major presence in Yerusholayim (Jerusalem) at about the same time. During the 19th century there was a vibrant Haredi community in yerushalayim. In 1925 the Imrei Emes of Ger established the Yeshivas Sfas Emes in Yerusholayim.

The advent of secular Zionism, whose goal was to transplant Jews to the Land of Israel in a society devoid of Torah values, was the antithesis of the aims of Jews who were already established there.

After 1918, immigration was controlled by the by the British, who had been given a mandate over Palestine by the League of Nations. They restricted immigration of Jews, and operated a quota by means of certificates. The distribution of these certificates was in the hands of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, a Zionist organization. The allocation of certificates to Haredi Jews was severely restricted so as not to compromise the goal of a secular state.

After World War II

After World War II many Jewish refugees found themeselves in displaced person camps. The Zionists controlled a camp for Jewish refugee children in Tehran where they operated an anti-religious policy in an effort to cut off Haredi children from their spiritual roots. To a large extent they were successful, and many children from Haredi homes were dispatched to irreligious settlements.

Post-1948

Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the first Satmar Rebbe, in his book "VaYoel Moshe," calls the creation of the Israeli state an "act of Satan", blames Zionism for the Holocaust and calls it the greatest form of spiritual impurity in the entire world. Some Orthodox, and some Hasidic groups, have either adopted his approach, or do not oppose it. However, the Satmar approach is one of Hareidi Judaism's approaches.

The Agudat Israel which represents many groups, mainly from the Hasidic groups such as Ger and Belz, has adopted a stance of disregard for the State of Israel, motivated by pragmatism. They attempt to influence the politics of the State of Israel from within, by participating in national elections and sending their representatives to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, but still not taking full part in it by not serving in its military and not celebrating any of the states official holidays. Even the Satmars do take part in municipality elections in some places like in Bnei Brak.

There is also a growing group of Orthodox Jews known as Hardalim. They are formerly Religious Zionists who moved towards Haredi Judaism in their observance of Jewish law. Socially, however, they form a part of the Religious Zionist world and not of the Haredi world.

Background

The Talmud, in Ketubot 111a, mentions that the Jewish people have been bound by three oaths: 1) not to ascend to Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) as a group using force; 2) not to rebel against the nations of the world; and 3) not to delay the coming of Moshiach, the Jewish messiah, through their own sins. Some consider the establishment of the state of Israel to be a violation of these oaths.

This passage of the Talmud is based on a mystical meaning of the verse "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you neither awaken nor arouse the love while it is desirous." This verse is found thrice in Shir HaShirim, (Song of Songs), verses 2:7, 3:5, 8:4.

In Poland and Hungary in 1920s, most Haredi Jewish movements, including almost the entire Hasidic world, were opposed to Zionism. In some cases this opposition was only mild and passive; in other cases it was very strong. The strongest forms of anti-Zionism originated in Hungary, where in 1920 a group of twelve leading rabbis condemned Zionism in very strong words. It was followed by a similar declaration in 1925. These movements opposed the establishment of a State, but were largely not opposed to moving to and living in the physical boundaries of the area known to Jews as Eretz Yisroel, the 'Land of Israel.'

Hareidi groups and peaple actively and publicly opposing Zionism are, amongst others, Satmar, Toldos Aharon, and many others.

Amongst the Orthodox rabbinical leadership, religious Zionists form a minority.

Different Haredi groups on the issue of Zionism

Lithuanian ('Litvish') Haredi Judaism

Main article: Lithuanian Jews

Ponevezh yeshiva on Israel Independence Day

A number of Lithuanian leaders like the Chazon Ish (1878-1953), Rav Shach (1898-2001), and Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, have expressed strongly anti-Zionist views. Examples of this are found in lectures and letters of Rav Shach.

The main newspaper of the Litvish world, the Yated Neeman, regularly publishes articles strongly criticizing Zionism, naming it a 'heretical movement'.

The main Litvish community do vote in order to influence the government policy and to direct its financial resources towards Torah ideals. Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv urges his students to vote for the Degel HaTorah list.

Hardal

Main article: Hardal

The Hardal community is a community of Haredim who support the state of Israel. Hardal itself is an acronym for Haredi Dati Leumi. Hardal itself is an acronym for Haredi Dati Leumi. Dati Leumi refers to religious Jews who are Zionists. The Hardal community is based largely on the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.

Sephardim

Main article: Sephardim

The vast majority of Sephardi Rabbis were supportive of Sephardim and to date no significant non-Ashkenazi Rabbi has ever had a theological problem with Zionism. As A. Torczyner, an emissary of the World Zionist Organization wrote after a visit to Tunis in 1913,” Opposition, especially of the sort we find here in Europe is non-existent. The G-d-fearing regard our movement with warmth and reverence.” Sephardi Rabbis are generally supportive of Zionism which leads some to postulate that religious anti-Zionism is psychological and social rather than theological..

Hasidim

Main article: Hasidic Judaism

The Vizhnits, Slonim, Klaseburg, Boyan, Ger and Belz and most of all others, only but a selected few minority, of the Hasidic movements have adopted a pragmatic stance of opposing Zionism while still living and growing amongst but separate from the State of Israel, for instance they do not serve in its army and do not celebrate its official holidays, but they do take money from government programs and do use their democratic power in voting for government officials.

Most if not all of those movements have a history of anti-Zionism before the establishment of the State just like that of all other Hasidic movements. Ger is the most influential movement behind the Israeli political party representing the interest of all those Hasidic groups called Agudat Yisrael, which together with the Litvishe Degel HaTorah forms United Torah Judaism.

• Chabad-Lubavitch
  

Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch

The previous generations of Chabad-Lubavitch leadership have been very critical of Zionism. The fifth Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn wrote that "those who assist the Zionists will pay at the Day of Judgment, because they are causing the masses to sin."

Today they are a-political but very involved in the pubic life of its people therefore actively shaping its politics and policy, for instance the last Lubavitcher Rebbe expressed overwhelming support for the State's military endeavors, strongly condemning any transfers of land as against Jewish law. His reasoning, however, was not based on any theological argument. Rather, he argued that the safety of the Jewish people was paramount, and physical presence of so many Jews in one place meant that the borders of that place had to be protected. Nonetheless, he did draw support for his statements from the notion in the Torah that the land of Israel was given to the Jewish people, and that Jewish ownership of the land could not be overcome by mere political interests. Nonetheless, he refused to call the state by name, claiming that the holy land exists independent of any authority that sees itself as sovereign over the land. He further criticized feelings of nationalism connected to the State of Israel, claiming that the only thing that unites Jews is the Torah, not a secular state that happens to be planted on holy land.

Groups which are opposed to the State of Israel

Satmar

Main article: Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)

The Satmar Hasidic movement, whose previous Rebbe, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum wrote in the 1960s an extensive critique of Zionism entitled Vayoel Moshe (see Sefer Vayoel Moshe below), counts more than 100,000 members. This does not include a number of smaller and related anti-Zionist Hungarian Hasidic groups who align themselves with Satmar.

Historically, Satmar has played a major role in Jerusalem's Edah HaChareidis rabbinical council; the last two Satmar Rebbes, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum and Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, succeeded each other as its President, with Rabbi Joel serving from 1953 until his death in 1979, and his nephew and successor Rabbi Moshe leading it from 1979 until his death in 2006. All movements affiliated with the Edah accept Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum's Vayoel Moshe as binding.

Satmar and Neturei Karta are often confused by people not aware of the difference between these movements. While certain elements of Neturei Karta actively cooperate with Arab and Islamic movements calling for the destruction of Israel, Satmar leadership has never openly endorsed this.

The Central Rabbinical Congress or CRC is an American rabbinical organization which consists mainly of Satmar and some smaller but similar Hasidic groups. It is centered in New York's Kiryas Joel, Williamsburg, and Boro Park. In 1986 the CRC publicized the following declaration:

It is our duty to denounce those who invoke the name of the Almighty in vain. It is our holy obligation and our moral responsibility to call on them: Stop using these falsehoods and heresies to justify yourselves and your misdeeds. The Jewish faith, as transmitted by the Almighty to our forefathers has not and will never countenance the zionist and nationalistic doctrines of the state of Israel. These false doctrines are compounded of atheism and anti-religious zionism, ideologies alien to Judaism. Let them not be misrepresented to the world as Jewish.

Edah HaChareidis

Main article: Edah HaChareidis

The Edah HaChareidis is Jerusalem's council of anti-Zionist Haredim. In 1947, Chief Rabbis Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky and Zelig Reuven Bengis delivered a statement to the United Nations in which they declared their opposition to a Jewish state, fearing that "a Jewish state would be a rallying point for anti-Semitism and thus an actual danger to the Jewish people." Since then, the Edah has developed itself as the largest mainstream anti-Zionist body. It includes groups such as the Jerusalem branch of Satmar and Dushinsky. The rebbes of both of these movements have at times been the Chief Rabbis and Presidents of the Edah.

• Dushinsky
  

Main article: Dushinsky (Hasidic dynasty)

In July 1947, less than a year before the actual founding of the state, Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, who was both the leader of the Dushinsky movement and the Ashkenazi Haredi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, of the Edah HaChareidis rabbinical council, delivered a personal statement on behalf of the Edah HaChareidis to the United Nations, declaring his "definite opposition to a Jewish state in any part of Palestine." In 2002, Grand Rabbi Yisroel Moshe Dushinsky, son of Rabbi Yosef Tzvi, wrote a praising letter of recommendation to a new edition of the Satmar Rebbe's book Vayoel Moshe.

Neturei Karta

Main article: Neturei Karta

A small ad hoc group holding this ideology is Neturei Karta, with bases mainly in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and New York. An extreme faction of Neturei Karta which openly display support for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and the Palestine Liberation Organization as well as Hamas has been condemned by nearly all other anti-Zionist Haredim, including Satmar and the Edah HaChareidis, as well as moderates within the Neturei Karta itself.

Haredi books about Zionism

Several books on the issue of Zionism were written by different rabbis.

Sefer Vayoel Moshe

Vayoel Moshe was written by the Satmar Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum (1887-1979). It consists of three parts: Maamar Shalosh Shevuos (three oaths), Maamar Yishuv Eretz Yisroel (settling the Land of Israel), and Maamar Loshon HaKodesh (the holy tongue). The first part, which is the main part of the book, discusses the three oaths mentioned in Ketubot 111a - that the Jewish people are not allowed to ascend to Eretz Yisrael by force, that the Jewish people are not allowed to rebel against the nations of the world, and that the Jewish people may not by their sins delay the coming of Moshiach, the Jewish messiah. It is primarily a book of Halacha, Jewish law. In the book, Rabbi Teitelbaum refers to religious Zionism as a major desecration of G-d's name, blames Zionism for the Holocaust, and refers to Zionist leaders such as Theodor Herzl as 'heretics'.

Kuntres Al HaGeulah VeAl HaTemurah

Also written by the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, this small book consists of inspirational polemics against Zionism. He wrote it in 1967 as a rebuttal to those who said that the Six Day War was a divine miracle that showed God's support for the Zionist State, saying instead it was a test from God to see whether we would follow the Torah or be lead astray by miracles which seemed to support Zionism in the eyes of the masses. He compared this to the miracles that are often done by idolators in support of their religions, inasmuch as Judaism is not based on miracles, but rather the national revelation on Sinai.

Eim HaBanim Semeicha

Eim HaBanim Semeicha was written by Rabbi Shlomo Teichtal, and published in 1943. Teichtal grew up as a staunch anti-Zionist Chasid of the Munkatsher Rebbe. However, during the Holocaust, Rabbi Teichtal changed his position from the one he espoused in his youth. The physical product of that introspection is the book, Eim HaBanim Semeicha, in which he specifically retracts his previous viewpoints, and argues that the true redemption can only come if the Jewish people unite and rebuild the land of Israel. Many of his coreligionists viewed the book with skepticism, some going so far as to ban Rabbi Teichtal from their synagogues. [4]

In the book, Rabbi Teichtal strongly criticizes the Haredim for not supporting the Zionist movement. When it was written, it was a scathing criticism of the Jewish Orthodox establishment, and Agudas Israel in particular.

He writes:

It is clear that he who prepares prior to the Sabbath will eat on the Sabbath (Avodah Zarah, 3a), and since the Haredim did not toil, they have absolutely no influence in the Land (of Israel). Those who toil and build have the influence, and they are the masters of the Land. It is, therefore, no wonder that they are in control... Now, what will the Haredim say? I do not know if they will ever be able to vindicate themselves before the heavenly court for not participating in the movement to rebuild the Land. (p. 23)

Involvement with the State

Among Haredi anti-Zionist movements, opinions differ on what attitude to take now that de facto a state exists. Some movements remained actively anti-Zionist, while others lowered their voice; some refuse to vote, while others do vote; some accept money from the government, while others will not.

Many Chassidic Rebbes with followers in the land of Israel, including the Gerer Rebbe, the Belzer Rebbe, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and others have encouraged their followers to vote in Israeli elections. Lubavitcher Chassidim are encouraged to join the Israeli Defense Forces, in order to ensure the state's security (inasmuch as the State's security is inextricably entwined with the safety of the Jewish people who live within its borders).

Meanwhile the Edah HaChareidis rabbinical council of Jerusalem and its associated communities, including Satmar, Dushinsky, Toldos Aharon and Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok, do not vote and do not accept government money. Around election days, posters by the Edah HaChareidis are posted throughout Haredi neighborhoods of Jerusalem proclaiming that it is forbidden to vote in the elections, and that doing so is a grave sin. The Edah HaChareidis and its affiliated movements do recognize the authority of the Israeli police in criminal matters. [5]

Newspapers

The main haredi newspapers, Hamodia, HaMachne HaHaredi and Yated Neeman, regularly publish articles strongly criticizing Zionism, naming it a 'heretical movement'.

See also

• Zionism
• Religious Zionism
• Anti-Zionism
• Neturei Karta
• Haredi Judaism
• Hasidic Judaism