Zionist Zealots
On Friday, November 29, 1947, the United Nations debated the issue of partitioning the British mandate for Palestine into two countries—one Arab and one Jewish. R’ Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz (1886–1948) prayed fervently for partition. He had no radio in his house but that Friday, he borrowed one and set it to the news, leaving it on for Shabbos. He waited with such intense anticipation to hear the outcome of the UN vote that he didn’t come to shalosh seudos (“the third Shabbos meal”).
When he heard the UN’s decision to establish a Jewish state, he recited the bracha of hatov v’hameitiv.[1] Without losing sight of the anti-religious nature of the leaders of the state, he still saw the creation of the Jewish state as an act of providence and as a cause for rejoicing. At the very least, there would now be one country in the world whose gates would be open to the thousands of Holocaust survivors still languishing in displaced persons camps in Germany and Austria. R’ Shraga Feivel once said that even though Eretz Yisrael is controlled by non-religious and anti-religious Jews, one must still admit the good that Hashem had done in causing the gates to the Land to be open once again to Jewish immigration.
R’ Shraga Feivel compared the new State of Israel to a breech birth. When a baby is born normally, head-first, the delivery is easiest and safest for the mother and promises the best for the future development of the infant. In the context of the establishment of Jewish political sovereignty in Eretz Yisrael, a “head-first” birth would have been one in which the great Torah leaders—the real heads of the nation—led the way. But even in a breech birth, despite the danger to the infant, one can still hope that it will live and be healthy.[2]
In 1948, R’ Ovadia Yosef was living in Cairo, Egypt. The next year he spoke very optimistically about the possibility that the Jewish people were facing the beginning stages of redemption.[3] However, he tempered this enthusiasm by clarifying that this is not actually the beginning of the redemption but a foreshadowing, a pekida of the coming redemption.[4] As in the exit from Egypt, the way was yet long between the pekida and the redemption itself. He warned against the aggressive secularism that was rampant in Eretz Yisrael.[5] He witnessed religious Jews turn their backs on their traditions once they reached Israel. In such cases R’ Ovadia insisted that it would be better for them to have remained in their home countries.
A response written in 1948 to a Jew in Iraq posits that it definitely is a mitzvah to move to Israel nowadays, as it is full of yeshivos and Torah.[6] Yet he advised that if someone was unsure of which path he would take once arriving in Israel, it’s better to remain a religious Jew in the Diaspora.[7]
Hearing R’ Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz’s criticisms of Zionism, someone once said, “I too hate the Zionists. They should be cursed.” R’ Shraga Feivel retorted, “G-d forbid. To the contrary, they should be blessed, along with all those who are building up our Holy Land. I only pray that they observe mitzvos but G-d forbid to curse or hate them. They are tinokos she’nishbu[8] (people who never received a Jewish education and were led astray).”[9]
R’ Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld[10] (1848–1932) was once asked by Chaim Weitzman (1874–1952), president of the Zionist Organization and who later served as the first president of Israel, how a tzadik could hate the Zionists who are his fellow Jews? R’ Yosef Chaim answered, “I will prove that I love the Zionists. For a loved one, a person wishes only the best. To me, Torah and mitzvos are what’s most precious in the world, and I wish these for every Zionist. I object only to their anti-Torah actions.”
Although R’ Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld was disturbed by the lack of Torah observance on the part of some settlers, he felt it was important to rejoice and praise Hashem for any Jewish settlement. Often R’ Yosef Chaim[11] would hear complaints of those grieved by the fact that many returnees to the land had abandoned the entire Torah except for the mitzvah of rebuilding Eretz Yisrael. He would comfort them by saying, “It is my hope that in the merit of this mitzvah which they fulfill with such sacrifice, they will repent and return fully to the fold of Torah and faith in Hashem.”[12]
[1] In 1948, after the Arabs attacked the new Jewish state and soldiers were dying on the battlefield, some Roshei Yeshiva criticized R’ Shraga Feivel for having recited the bracha. R’ Shraga Feivel turned to R’ Aharon Kotler who agreed with him that the favorable UN resolution was indeed worthy of a bracha.
[2] In the 1930s and 40s, there was virtually no event or simcha in the religious Jewish world that didn’t begin with the playing of the Zionist national anthem, Hatikvah. During its playing, R’ Shraga Feivel would sit fixed in his place. He explained, “their hope (tikva) is not ours because it doesn’t include the Beis Hamikdash or the coming of Moshiach.”
[3] Meor Yisrael, Drushim. R’ Ovadia Yosef responded to questions posed by Sefardic chief rabbis, heads of batei dinim all over Israel and the globe, to chassidim, kabbalists and Lithuanian rabbis. He answered questions from politicians, his own teachers and rabbis, his students and his sons. He had a good relationship with Chassidish Rebbes and quotes Likutei Moharan (see for example Chazon Ovadia, Yom Tov, p. 362), the Klausenberger Rebbe (Yabia Omer 9, Orach Chaim, 105), various Lubavitcher Rebbes (Yabia Omer 7, Yoreh Deah 20 and Yabia Omer 10, Even Ha’ezer 25), the Kotzker Rebbe (Shu”t Chazon Ovadia, Volume 2, p. 531) and the Satmar Rebbe (Yabia Omer 10, Even Ha’ezer 25). He sent the Lubavitcher Rebbe a letter on his 80th birthday, and another commending the Rambam learning program that the Rebbe instituted. He described a meeting with the Tchebiner Rav as “meeting the Divine Presence” (Yechave Daas, Volume 3, p. 10, footnote). He exchanged letters with the great R’ Menashe Klein, author of Mishna Halachos, who called him “Rabbi of Rabbis, Gaon of Gaonim” (Chazon Ovadia, Pesach, Volume 2, p. 53). Some of R’ Ovadia Yosef’s international correspondence were with… the Chevra Kadisha of Mexico City (Yabia Omer 7, Yoreh Deah 30), the head of the Chevra Kadisha of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Yabia Omer 7, Yoreh Deah 32), a rav and posek in Tehran, Iran (Yabia Omer 7, Orach Chaim 25), an av beis din of Glasgow, Scotland (Yabia Omer 7, Yoreh Deah 33), the Chief Rabbi of Argentina (Yabia Omer 7, Yoreh Deah 35), a rav and av beis din of Mexico City (Yabia Omer 7, Yoreh Deah 1), the chief shochet of Mexico City (Yabia Omer, 7 , Yoreh Deah 2), the Chief Rabbi of Morocco (Yabia Omer 7 , Yoreh Deah 4), an av beis din of Marseille, France (Yabia Omer 7, Yoreh Deah 9), the Chief Rabbi and av beis din of Zurich, Switzerland (Yabia Omer 7, Even Ha’ezer 4 and Yabia Omer, Even Ha’ezer 8), an av beis din of London (Yabia Omer 7 , Even Ha’ezer 7), an av beis din of Leon, France (Yabia Omer 7, Even Ha’ezer 16), the Chief Rabbi and rosh av beis din of Vienna, Austria (Yabia Omer 8, Orach Chaim 16), a rav in Los Angeles (Yabia Omer 8, Orach Chaim 28), an av beis din of Johannesburg, South Africa (Yabia Omer 8, Even Ha’ezer 7), a rav in Brooklyn, New York (Yabia Omer 9, Orach Chaim 61), the rav of Madrid, Spain (Yabia Omer 9, Yoreh Deah 5), “Rabbis of America” (Yabia Omer 10, Even Ha’ezer 18) and the assistant head of the Jewish community in Singapore (Chazon Ovadia, Availus, Volume 3, p 245).
[4] When the State of Israel was founded, a letter from Friday, the 20th of Teves, 1948 begins, “We thank Hashem that we merited in his abundant mercy and kindness to see the beginning of the redemption (ischalta d’geula) with the establishment of the State of Israel.” This letter has the name of around 200 rabbanim including R’ Tzvi Pesach Frank, R’ Yechezkel Sarna, R’ Zalman Sorotskin, R’ Yechiel Michel Tucazinsky and R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.
[5] On October 20, 1952, David Ben Gurion (1886–1973), the Prime Minister of Israel, requested a meeting with the Chazon Ish (1878–1953). During the 40-minute conversation, Ben Gurion said, “I came to ask how religious and non-religious Jews will live together in this land? Jews come from many countries, thousands, with different traditions, from different cultures, and different worldviews. There are religious, and there are non-religious and the State confronts the external danger of the Arabs who still wish to destroy us. There is a great danger that we will explode from within. In addition to all the differences of cultures and worldviews, there is a fundamental problem here: these are Jews and those are Jews. How will they live together?” The Chazon Ish told him that in Jewish law when two camels come facing each other, and there is a narrow path in which there is room for only one camel, then the camel that is carrying a load is given the right of way, and the camel that has no load must make way for him. We, religious people, have the heavy load of Torah study, observance of Jewish laws. We bear the load of thousands of years of Jewish tradition and teachings. The religious community should be given the right of way and the values the religious community has been carrying for so long should be respected.
[6] Meor Yisrael, Volume 1, p. 99.
[7] In 1977, R’ Ovadia Yosef was asked whether the time has come to change the formula of the tefilla of Nachem that is recited on Tisha B’av, especially that which we say about Yerushalayim, ha’ir ha’availah v’hachareivah v’habezuya v’hashomaimah (“the city that is mournful, that is ruined, that is scorned and that is desolate”). It seems incongruent with the way Yerushalayim is today, as it is developed and built up with many thousands of Jews. People come from all over the world to the Kosel (Yechave Daas, Volume 1, siman 43). So, should the formula of the tefilla of Nachem be changed? In response, R’ Ovadia described the low spiritual state of Yerushalayim today, touching on the moral and ethical depravity on the streets of Yerushalayim. Although he marked Yom Yerushalayim with emotional speeches and tearful gratitude for the return of the old city, it was by no means time to trade in the tefilla for a truly rebuilt Yerushalayim.
[8] When there were Israeli soldiers killed one day, R’ Dovid Soloveitchik, who surely wasn’t a Zionist, rebuked someone by saying, “How could you eat breakfast this morning when Jews were killed?”
[9] R’ Moshe Blau related the following incident. “Once on Tu B’shvat as R’ Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld and I were leaving Shaarei Tzedek hospital, I noticed in the distance a large parade of schoolchildren, from secular schools, coming towards us. These boys and girls of all ages were marching together with the flag used by the Zionists as their voices filled the air with the sound of Hebrew songs. Since they were marching four abreast, their ranks filled the narrow street and forced the crowd of onlookers up onto the sidewalk. Figuring that the sight of several thousand irreligious boys and girls in such a parade would cause R’ Yosef Chaim anguish, I told him that a parade of schoolchildren are coming towards us. Perhaps the rav would like to return to the hospital building? His reply was no. ‘They are Jewish children. Aren’t they?’ He supported himself on my shoulder as we, together with the rest of the crowd were pushed to the side of the street. I heard R’ Yosef Chaim murmur the words (Tehillim 115:14–15), yoseif Hashem aleichem aleichem v’al benaichem b’ruchim atem l’Hashem osai shamayim va’aretz (“may Hashem increase upon you and your children, you are blessed of Hashem, Maker of heaven and earth”). He repeated these pesukim over and over until the last child in that long procession had passed.”
[10] During the winter of 1884–5, R’ Chaim Zonnenfeld contracted a serious case of pneumonia, which in those days was often fatal. After the doctors had despaired of his life, R’ Yehoshua Leib Diskin added the name Yosef making it Yosef Chaim (literally, “may he have added life”). Soon after the change of name, his condition took a sudden turn for the better and after several weeks, he was completely cured. The following Purim immediately after shacharis, R’ Zonnenfeld hurried to bring mishloach manos to R’ Yehoshua Leib, who was surprised to see him bringing it at such an early hour. He therefore cheerfully commented, “you are a zariz (a quick and energetic person).” R’ Zonnenfeld replied, “you made me a zariz, as the gematria of zariz equals that of Yosef Chaim, 224.”
[11] The many shailos addressed to R’ Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld that are still extant cover the entire spectrum of Torah laws and practice. Due to the exorbitant cost of paper and his great modesty, he rarely made copies of the responsa that he sent to Europe and the originals were mostly destroyed in the Holocaust. Still, because he never failed to reply to any question, several thousand short responsa do remain. These responsa give concise, clear rulings with references to sources.
[12] The Netziv (1816–1893) declares that it is Hashem’s will that Eretz Yisrael be settled over time by Jews of all kinds—religious and non-religious, “from the far reaches of the earth.” He writes, “We must awaken to the voice of the will of Hashem…in every place in the world where our brothers—Jews of every kind—are to be found…to do everything within their power…to make aliyah, to go up and settle the land and build it up.” (Ha’Netziv Mi’Volozhin B’ma’aracha L’maan Yishuv Eretz Yisrael U’kedusha, Volume 11, part 1)
Rabbi Yehoshua Alt
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