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Haredi anti-Zionism refers to the position of some Haredi Jewish movements in opposition to Zionism. This is a position held by a minority within Judaism: according to a 2005 poll by the Israel Project, 82% of 800 American Jews polled (both religious and secular) said they support Israel, of which 63% indicated "strong" support, however the poll indicated a decline in this support.
While the Religious Zionism has a long traditions, beginning with Rabbis Yehuda Shlomo Alkalai and Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, and the modern movement counts many groups and political parties, the Haredi Jewish response to Zionism was overwhelmingly negative, with several Hasidic groups calling Zionists the personification of Satan, blaming Zionism for the Holocaust, accusing them of being the source of all evil in the world and defiling the entire world with their impurity.
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. Zionism is perceived as a violation of all three, but primarily the first two 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 the entire Hasidic world, remained 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 12 leading rabbis condemned Zionism in very strong words. It was followed by a similar declaration in 1925. Hasidic movements strongly opposing Zionism are, amongst others, Satmar, Bobov, Munkacz, Belz, Vizhnitz, Toldos Aharon, Dushinsky, Pshevorsk, Tosh and many others. Satmar is the biggest Hasidic movement in the world today, with a membership estimated between 100,000 and 125,000 persons; Belz numbers circa 50,000 people.
Regardless of their position, almost none of these groups and rabbis opposes the idea of Jews as individuals emigrating to Israel, but rather oppose the notion of Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel, either in its current form, or sometimes in any form at all.
Famous Haredi anti-Zionist movements
Neturei Karta
A fringe but vocal group holding this ideology is Neturei Karta, which has only a few hundred followers, mainly in Jerusalem and New York, and has been condemned by other anti-Zionist Haredim for their alliance with the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat and their contacts with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran and Hamas.
Satmar
Slightly more moderate anti-Zionist Haredim, however, number in the hundreds of thousands. The Satmar Hassidic movement, whose previous Rebbe, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum wrote an extensive refutation of Zionism entitled Vayoel Moshe, counts more than 100,000 members alone. Other extreme anti-Zionist Hassidic groups include Dushinsky and Toldos Aharon, both having many thousands of adherents mainly in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum of Satmar, whose movement counts more than 100,000 followers, wrote in his book Vayoel Moshe, written during the 1960s, that the Holocaust came to pass only because of the Zionists, that the Zionists made sure that fleeing Jews were refused entry to western nations, and that the Zionists have intentionally caused a huge rise in antisemitism around the world. He held that all of Israel's wars were against Jewish law, that Zionism is the greatest spiritual impurity in the entire world, and that it is the duty of every God-fearing Jew to oppose the Zionists as much as he can.
Satmar plays a major role in Jerusalem's Edah HaChareidis rabbinical council.
Dushinsky
In July 1947, less than a year before the actual founding of the state, the Ashkenazi Haredi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, of the Edah HaChareidis rabbinical council, went to New York to deliver a personal statement to the United Nations, declaring his "definite opposition to a Jewish state in any part of Palestine."
Lithuanian ('Litvish') Haredi Judaism
The Litvish Haredi world, led in recent years by the Chazon Ish (1878-1953), Rav Shach (1898-2001), and Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, is also strongly opposed to Zionism. 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'.
Ger and Belz Hasidism
The Ger and Belz Hasidic movements have adopted a pragmatically supportive stance towards the state of Israel, Ger slightly more so than Belz. While both movements have a history of anti-Zionism just like that of all other Hassidic movements, in modern times their positions have changed. Like all other Haredim, they do not say prayers for the State of Israel nor do they serve in the Israeli military. However, they do vote, and Ger mildly opposes withdrawals from the occupied territories.
The book 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 is not allowed to ascend to Eretz Yisrael by force, that the Jewish people is 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.
The book is held in high regard by many Haredim, especially Hassidim. It has been accepted as binding by all movements affiliated with the Edah HaChareidis.
Involvement with the State
Among Haredi anti-Zionist movements, opinions differ on the attitude to take now that the state exists. Some movements remained actively anti-Zionist, others lowered their voice; some refuse to vote, while others do vote; some accept money from the government, while others do it.
The most extreme example of refusal to acknowledge the state is found in Neturei Karta, which not only organizes active demonstrations calling on others not to vote on election days, some of whose members even refrain from using Israeli government-subsidized buses, since bus tickets are partially subsidized by the government as in most western countries. They also prefer not to touch Israeli money, and do not acknowledge the authority of the Israeli police in any matter, including criminal affairs. Some of those who affiliate with Neturei Karta are so extreme as to physically attack those rabbis who hold that it is permissable to vote.
A slightly less extreme example is found in the communities associated with the Edah HaChareidis rabbinical council of Jerusalem. These 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. Nevertheless, the Edah HaChareidis and its affiliated movements do recognize the authority of the Israeli police in criminal matters.
The main Litvish community does vote, as per the instructions of the Brisker Rov and the Chazon Ish. It votes mainly for the Degel HaTorah list, as one massive bloc.
See also
References
- Support of Israel Declining Among Young Jewish Americans, Poll Says by Alec Magnet, NY Sun. December 2, 2005
- US Jews Support Israel, dont speak up by Nathan Guttman Jerusalem Post December 1, 2005 (at http://www.standwithus.com)
- Religious Zionism:
- Religious Zionism And Modern Orthodoxy by Rav Yosef Blau. June 20, 2004 (http://www.mizrachi.org)
- A Historical Look at Religious Zionism by Prof. Dan Michman, Department of Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University
- Religious Zionism: Between Openness and Closedness, Prof. Avi Saguy
- Mafdal, National Religious Party in Israel
- Orthodox Zionism, Prof. Eliezer Segal
- Religious Zionism, Compromise or Ideal? (hagshama.org.il)
- "Kipa - House of Religious Zionism" - an Israeli Jewish portal for Judaism, Religious Zionism and Torah studies.
- Sefer Vayoel Moshe, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum (translated excerpts)
- 1920 declaration of 12 Hungarian rabbis opposing Zionism
- 1925 declaration by Chief Rabbis of Kaszica, Hungary, opposing Zionism
- Jews Against Zionism