This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Daniel575 (talk | contribs) at 08:45, 26 October 2006 (→Satmar). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 08:45, 26 October 2006 by Daniel575 (talk | contribs) (→Satmar)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Haredi anti-Zionism refers to the position of some Haredi Jewish movements in opposition to Zionism.
Before the Holocaust, 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. After the Holocaust, some Haredi groups, such as Ger and Chabad-Lubavitch, became strong supporters of the State of Israel, while others, most notable the Satmar Hasidic movement remained strongly opposed to it.
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.
Also, the vast majority of anti-Zionist Haredim will support Israel to the outside world. Very few of them actively cooperate with non-Jewish anti-Zionist movements, due to the perceived anti-Semetic nature of many of these groups.
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; 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.