One of the hot button issues in Israel these days is the national universal draft, being spoken about in the guise of "shivyon b'netel" (equality of burden). Having never been in the army, nor having a clue as to the real ideas fueling both sides (who knows what is in the hearts of men?), I havent said anything about this until now.
Then the Satmar movement staged a rally in Manhattan, and I found myself being quite mad.
(For those of you who follow me on twitter [@tzvizucker], you are well aware of my basic disagreements with the "Torah True Jews" and my attempts to combat their propaganda spreading. But, to me, it was a "milchamto shel torah", a difference in views within the guise of determining the Halacha [literally, the Way or the Path] we are to take. I never doubted their sincerity, nor their bona fides as Bnei Yisrael Saba. Until now...)
Ostensibly, the protest was a way to voice disagreement with the current draft policy of the Israeli government. In reality, Satmar decided to go all in and make the issue the existence of Israel. Their speakers compared Zionists to Amalek, asserting the existence of Israel is itself a rebellion against HaShem. The closing speaker, Rabbi Yaakov Weiss (principal of Satmar yeshiva in Kiryas Yoel) warned: “Hear, O’ Israel. We are close today in a war against the enemies of religion. Today’s protest is not ending tonight. Today’s protest is only the start of an outright war against our enemies, the haters of religion.” (-YWN)
His is a telling statement - the enemy, to this group, are those opposed to religion; not to Jews, but to Judaism. And that is a perversion of the highest order. There are shiv'im panim laTorah, but I am willing to go to battle on the assertion that this is NOT one of them. And I will explain why.
The basic question of "Who is a Jew" is perhaps the most dynamic, well-discussed debate across world history. That we are "the People of The Book" is taken for granted, that we are the seed of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov not as widely held in its literal sense, that we are the Chosen Nation by G-d a matter of raging debate (and indeed rage). This is a question we have not entirely satisfactorily answered for ourselves - are we a people, a nation, a religion, a movement, an "ethnoreligious" tribe? All? None? There is one universal understanding, however, and that is that the identity of a Jew is one that supersedes his ritual observance - whether this assertion in made by Hitler, YS'V, or by Journeys ("...and the pintele Yid will never disappear"), or anyone in between. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew - there are none whose Jewishness is held to be defective, or lacking, or considered inferior.
Until recent times. There has been a growing push within the Orthodox/Haredi circles to begin judging Jews by their observance of Halacha (and usually the Halacha of the poskim of the movement doing the judging). There has been a new intellectual insanity that has been taught to a generation of us now, the one of "True Judaism".
Even within this development/phenomenon, there are levels of tolerance and respect for "dissident" viewpoints. Some communities are more open to accepting that there may be other views, other opinions, other possibilities, than others.
And the least among them all is Satmar.
Carried into the United States by Rav Yoyl Teitelbaum, Satmar Chassidus is one of extremes. An eyewitness, holocaust survivor once told me how they were practically Amish - they refused to use electricity or modern technology, claiming the right way to live life was that of their ancestors. (In this sense, Rav Yoyl was a moderate, encouraging them to live as modern humans do, and to this end he started newspapers and encouraged people to go work.) There is no compromise, no room for ambiguity, no ability to tolerate ambivalence in their worldview or attitudes. This is a movement so far off its rails that it no longer has a direction. There are two mirror Rebbes, themselves the children of a Rebbe that most of the community did not accept. Their followers fight each other in the streets over which Rebbe is the "real one" ( http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=19871 ), insisting that was is "right" matters more than anything else; they are willing destroy families, and children, on the altar of "proper Mitzva observance" ( http://www.unpious.com/2013/05/ex-hasidic-mother-loses-custody-of-children/ ) and worse (see all the links regarding Nechamia Weberman further down).
And their singlehanded crusade to end the State of Israel is an example of this attitude in action.
Anyone who has had the painful experience of talking to one of the charlatan "Torah True Jews" quickly learns their intellectual semantic argument that "Zionism is not Judaism". Never mind the obvious stupidity and logical fallacy to such an assertion, as the entire Torah and a good portion of the Siddur talks about our longing to return to Eretz Yisrael, or that our peoplehood is predicated on HaShem's Giving that Land to our forefathers. And forget the insanity of denying the open miracle of the State's creation on the ashes of Churban Europe. This argument is the best ammunition one can give to those trying to kill Jews - it removes the antisemitic label from their actions. "I dont hate Jews, I only hate political Zionism!" I have seen many use this artificial and arbitrary distinction as their excuse for their advocacy that Israel be dismantled, attacked, or destroyed. That they can point to "authentic looking Jews" who claim the Torah is the source of this argument only makes it so much stronger.
That they think the Torah promotes (literal) sin'at chinam, and that actions which promote division and discord within Klal Yisrael are, to them, optimal and desirable, speaks volumes to their warped views of Torah. That they believe they have the right to decide who is considered a "True Jew" and who is not, and flatly ignore and denigrate all those who disagree with their opinions and dogma is a clear indication that is they who have been Poresh Min HaKlal.
(I am particularly referring to their treatment of Rav Shteinman, shlitah, of whom they have referred to as "Shteinman, the editor of the Yated newspaper" - here are a few links:
This worldview that they promote as "Torah" is one that can despise and seek to destroy a victim of abuse, while supporting (financially and emotionally/reputationally) an abuser of such horrific proportions that his victims carry literal and figurative scars years later.
(I refer to the now infamous Weberman case. Here are a few varied links:
This worldview is one that believes the ends justify the means, so much so that they shamelessly propagandize the "true torah view" on the internet, and Twitter, while simultaneously declaring that the Internet is assur (and ignoring their own Rabbonim who continue to insist they not use it), they have an organized intimidation squad to enforce their (draconian) understanding of tzni'ut ( http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new-york-news/weberman-abuse-case-exposes-role-shadowy-modesty-committees ) and they create forged letters from Litvish Gedolim in an effort to convince their followers to attend their anti-Israel rallies and lend the legitimacy of numbers and presence to their agenda.
And it is this worldview that cannot be accepted, cannot be given legitimacy by the Jewish world at large, cannot be shrugged off as a "political disagreement" or some other halfhearted refusal to see things for what they are. A war has been declared, one dedicated to eradicating the Shem Yisrael of all those who have it save themselves; it is a war being waged by de-legitimizing the safety and security of millions of Acheinu Bnei Yisrael in the name of one Sefer of a Daas Yachid's understanding of an agadeta Gemara being the only Truth that should be accepted by all.
I am reminded of the recounting in Sefer Melachim (perek chaf) of Achav's fatal battle, that he goes to war against hopeless odds because Ben Hadad asked for the Sefer Torah he wrote. This is Achav, he who told Eliyahu haNavi he didnt keep ANYTHING in the Torah - and he had already accepted Ben Hadad's demands for his wives, children, and treasury. But when it came to the honor of the Torah, that he NEVER KEPT, he was willing to battle and die. Today's Israel is probably more comparable to Achav's Israel than, lets say, Yoshiyahu's Yehuda. But, like Achav, it does stand for Torah, identifies itself with Torah, and BY the Torah. And is very much part of the Klal of Yisrael.
And when there is a war, waged by those who pretend to be "brothers", trying to destroy the flimsy and nascent Klal we have and have been rebuilding for 70 years, how can you sit there and not join the battle?
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