I take issue with the kol korei (public proclamation) concerning the upcoming World Zionist Organization elections that has been issued by Agudath Israel of America. While I believe that the Jewish community owes a large debt of gratitude to the Agudah for its work on behalf of the klal, this proclamation constitutes a massive overreach.
To supply background: I had been unaware of the opposition to participation in the WZO elections until I was shown an article written in the fall 2022 edition of Dialogue magazine. The article, by Rav Aharon Feldman, rosh yeshiva of Ner Israel, appears to supply the data that has now been used by the Agudah. (I am doubly sure of this because Rav Feldman recently spoke at a Lakewood symposium to reiterate his stance.) And so I will begin by examining the article.
Early in the piece, Rav Feldman writes: “Since the inception of the Zionist movement at the turn of the 20th century, the leading gedolei Torah of each successive generation had rejected any identification with Zionism.” Rav Feldman has spent decades in service of Torah Judaism; however, in this instance he is mistaken.
Here are just some of the gedolim who have aligned with Zionism over the past century- plus. The foundation stone of religious Zionism (labeled heresy by the Agudah!) was Rav Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, who predated the official Zionist movement by a quarter century (he died in 1874). Rav Kalischer, one of his era’s preeminent Torah figures, believed in Jewish resettlement of the Holy Land. I don’t know if he specifically advocated for a Jewish state, but he did call for the forming of a Jewish military.
Then there is Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook, among the twentieth century’s foremost Torah scholars. Respected among all segments of Jewry (he was a close friend of the fiercely anti-Zionist Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld), he believed that the secularists who mostly led the Zionist cause were part of G-d’s plan for the founding of a Jewish state.
The list of Zionist gedolim is extensive, and I will note just a few. Most, if not all, of Israel’s chief rabbis, both Sefardic and Ashkenazic, have identified as Zionists, as have leading Israeli and American roshei yeshivah and rabbis. These include: Rav Yitzchak Herzog; Rav Ovadia Yosef (founder of the Shas Olami slate, a participant in the WZO elections); Rav Shlomo Goren; Rav Yitzchak Nissim; Rav Yehuda Amital; Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik; Rav Aaron Soloveichik; Rav Hershel Schachter; Rav Aharon Lichtenstein; Rav Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel; Rav Isser Yehuda Unterman; Rav Shlomo Yosef Zevin; Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook; Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlop, and so many more. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky was also positively disposed toward a Jewish state. And Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz made a beracha (Hatov V’hameitiv) when the United Nations voted to partition Palestine! Upon being criticized for making the blessing, Rav Shraga Feivel consulted Rav Aharon Kotler, who agreed that it was proper to recite Hatov V’hameitiv.
And so Rav Feldman’s assertion that “the leaders” of Torah Jewry are all anti-Zionist is groundless. Indeed, I number my own rosh yeshiva, Rav Yechiel Yitzchok Perr, among the Zionists (a view he expressed to me privately and which he repeatedly hinted at in his lectures).
This brings me to the Agudah. It is interesting that its kol korei was not signed, and I think I know why. Rav Yosef Harari-Raful, who is a member of Agudah’s Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, is on one of the WZO slates! And while I have not heard whether Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky has taken a stance this year, in 2020 he stated that people should vote. Rav Shmuel is considered the senior American gadol and is also a member of the Moetzes. I suspect that the reason the Agudah kol korei was unsigned is because not all the Moetzes rabbanim would have signed it.
As for the letter’s content, it starts by stating: “The Zionist movement was founded 125 years ago with the purpose of uprooting the foundations of Judaism.” This is not accurate. Zionism was founded to provide a haven for Jews in their historic homeland. Were there atheists among the Zionist leaders? Assuredly yes. However, there were also among the “secular” Zionist leaders men of faith, even if these individuals were not fully Torah-observant. They include Labor Party stalwarts such as Shimon Peres and Pinchas Sapir. Moreover, among the signatories to Israel’s Declaration of Independence were numerous shomrei Torah u’mitzvos, including Rav Yitzchak Meir Levin, a son-in-law of Rav Avraham Mordechai, the Gerrer Rebbe. To paint Zionism with one broad brushstroke betrays a lack of knowledge concerning the facts.
The letter pays lip service to religious Zionists, stating: “We do not intend to impugn the honor of the many distinguished rabbis who ruled that it is permitted” to vote. Yet the letter does exactly that. It continues: “There is a massive chillul Hashem in declaring acceptance of the heretical ideas of the WZO.” And so disclaimer notwithstanding, the Agudah letter does indeed impugn the many rabbanim who are Zionists and who have encouraged voting in the election.
In his Dialogue article, Rav Feldman writes that during the Holocaust, the Chazon Ish forbade religious groups from partnering with the WZO, even if Jewish lives would be saved via the partnership. If true (Rav Feldman cites an oral source, not a written one), I cannot fathom how the Chazon Ish arrived at this conclusion. However, it is notable that Rav Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rav, was rescued from the Nazi grasp by the Zionist Jewish Agency. Rav Teitelbaum was allotted space on the famous Kasztner train that rescued over 1,600 Jews. Despite his role at the helm of anti-Zionism, the Satmar Rav accepted life-saving help from the Zionist movement. I am certain that despite his anti-Zionist stance, the Satmar Rav would have expressed his thanks to the Jewish Agency.
Rav Feldman notes that collaboration with the WZO has meant that Orthodox groups are working together with Conservative and Reform ones. This is true, but so what? Orthodox participants are well aware of the theological matters that divide us from other sects. This should not impede us from working on behalf of Orthodox concerns.
There is one matter, however, of which voters should be aware. To participate, one must affirm the Jerusalem Program, which is the ideological underpinning of the WZO. There are program planks with which potential voters may disagree (such as the encouragement of national service for those who do not enlist in the Israel Defense Forces). If someone does not subscribe to any part of the Jerusalem Program, there may be a halachic impediment to voting. Obviously one would address this issue with his or her rabbi.
If one is able to genuinely affirm and add their name to the complete statement, there are several Orthodox groups running in the WZO elections. While I voted for the Mizrachi line, there are other frum slates from which to choose, including Eretz Hakodesh and Shas Olami. I pray that readers will take a few minutes to participate in this vital process, thereby ensuring that Orthodox institutions will benefit from the monies that the WZO disburses and, in general, assuring that our voice becomes a powerful one.
