TORAH JEWS Unbroken Chain

 The Unbroken Chain:

From the First Zionist Congress in 1897 to the present — the chronology of Torah leaders who rejected the project, in their own time, from within their own tradition.

1897

The First Zionist Congress, Basel

Orthodox rabbis across Europe — Galicia, Hungary, Lithuania — publicly reject the political program from its first day.

1917

The Balfour Declaration

Britain promises a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine — but not a Jewish state.

1924

The Eidah Chareidis is founded

Established to unite the Orthodox Jews of the Holy Land against the Zionists and their Chief Rabbinate.

1937

The Peel Commission proposes a Jewish state

At the Agudath Israel convention, Rabbi Aaron Kotler and Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman declare that any such state would be a denial of the Jewish belief in the messiah.

Agudath Israel convention

1946

The Anglo-American Committee reports

Recommending that Palestine be neither a Jewish nor an Arab state, Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl urges Zionists to accept the compromise.

R’ Michael Ber Weissmandl

1947

The UN votes for partition

As the conflict escalates, the Brisker Rav works to prevent the declaration of a state.

R’ Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav

1948

Zionists declare independence

The declaration triggers a war in which thousands of Jews and Arabs lose their lives.

1959

Vayoel Moshe is published

The Satmar Rebbe’s three-treatise work becomes the classic text on the Torah approach to Zionism.

R’ Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe

1967

After the Six-Day War

The Satmar Rebbe answers claims of divine redemption with his book Al HaGeulah V’Al HaTemurah.

R’ Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe

1977

The state offers its support

Under Menachem Begin, the Israeli government begins offering tempting funding to religious schools — even non-Zionist ones that teach only Torah.

1979

Keren Hatzoloh is founded

Anti-Zionist communities establish a rescue fund to sustain the schools that refuse government money.

2003

Torah Jews is established

The Satmar community asks Rabbi Moshe Dovid Katz to carry the Rebbe’s voice into the age of mass media.

Natruna · Torah Jews

We said this before the state existed. We are saying it today: Not in our name — not now, not ever.

Wisdom Across Generations

Wisdom Across Generations

 Great Torah minds united in understanding

 

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21 Kislev - Did Kasztner Really Save The Satmar Rebbe?

On December 11, the Satmar Hasidic community, one of the largest Hasidic communities in the world, will be celebrating the 81st anniversary of the rescue of their founder, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, from the clutches of the Nazis. Rabbi Teitelbaum was a major rabbinic leader in pre-WWII Hungary, and when he stepped onto Swiss soil on December 6, 1944 it gave his followers new hope of rebuilding their lives and their all-but-destroyed world. The rabbi was one of 1,684 Jews who were spared the gas chambers thanks to hefty bribes given by the Jewish community to top S.S. officers in Hungary.

He and his followers soon made Williamsburg, Brooklyn their new home and set to work founding schools, synagogues and other institutions of Hasidic life. From mere a handful in the late forties, the Satmar community has grown to a movement of approximately 150,000 today, with major centers in Williamsburg and Monroe, NY, as well as branches in Montreal, London and Jerusalem.

Rabbi Teitelbaum was famous for his stance on Zionism and the State of Israel. He saw Zionism as idol worship, a nationalist ideology that sought to transform our sacred faith and people into a nationalistic entity versus the Holy People of the Book. The holy Rebbe knew the great dangers Zionism and the State of Israel will pose for Jews in the Holy Land and worldwide. Consequently, Rabbi Teitelbaum spoke out vociferously against the state and encouraged his followers and Orthodox Jews in general to proclaim to the world that they did not support Zionism. His movement became the largest and most famous anti-Zionist Jewish movement in the world, although there are many smaller anti-Zionist sects and in general, most ultra-Orthodox Jews are opposed to Zionism to varying degrees.

The annual celebration of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum's rescue has, over the years, become something like an annual convention for the sect at which tens of thousands gather to hear speeches about their founding principles, including opposition to Zionism. The gathering also serves as a fundraiser for Satmar's system of private schools.

Over the years, True Torah Jews has received many inquiries about the details of the Satmar Rebbe's rescue. Isn't it true, some ask, that his rescue was engineered by the Zionist leader Rudolf Kastner? Why wasn't the Rebbe thankful to the Zionists and to Kastner in particular? 

Further Reading:

  https://torahjews.org/articles/21-kislev---did-kastner-really-save-the-satmar-rebbe