The 130 Year Record of Religious Jewish Opposition to Zionism

Contents

Introduction

The Jews have always been religious people who lived with belief and trust in the Almighty. In their long history, they have gone through many different periods. There were times when they had their own land, sanctioned by the command of the Almighty. At other times, such as in the current era, they have been in exile.

In the course of the two thousand years of this current exile, following the destruction of the Temple, Jews have remained faithful to the Almighty. Knowing that their exile was His will and His decree, they have always accepted it, and have not risen up to fight with other nations or dominate them. They have lived loyally under whatever governments they happened to live.

The past century has seen the rise of the Zionist philosophy, which transforms Judaism from a religion to a nationalism, from spirituality to materialism.

(The word “Zion” was used by the prophets as a name for Jerusalem. The secular nationalists borrowed the name for their movement, whose goal was to take over Jerusalem.) The Zionists convinced a segment of world Jewry to leave behind their faith in the Almighty, not to trust in His security, and to take matters into their own hands. They forced their way out of exile and built a “Jewish” state.

This act in itself was a severe violation of the Torah, which forbids Jews to found their own state before the coming of the messiah.

The act is doubly sinful when we consider that they founded their state in the land already inhabited by the Palestinian people. They cruelly expelled, murdered and persecuted the Palestinians, and stole their land – all terrible crimes in the eyes of the Torah.

Zionism, starting from its founding day in the year 1897, aroused sharp condemnation from all the Rabbis, both in Palestine and around the world. All of religious Jewry was united in its opposition to this dangerous new movement, and fought it fiercely. The result was that Zionism took hold almost exclusively among non-religious Jews. And were it not for the tremendous downfall of Jewry in the Second World War, Zionism could never have conquered any part of religious Jewry.

In the War, which preceded the establishment of the Zionist state by only a few years, the Jewish people was torn to pieces and lost almost all its greatest Rabbinical leaders. Many Jews lost their faith and felt defenseless and vulnerable, and they were taken in by the Zionists' promises to “defend the Jewish people.”

In this publication, we bring some excerpts from words of the Rabbis of past and present generations on Zionism. These are the Rabbis, giants of Judaism, by whose light religious Jews walk to this day. As the reader will see, they were totally opposed to the ideology of Zionism, the existence of the State of “Israel”, the Zionists and all of their acts.

We must note that many of the rabbis quoted here lived before the founding of the Zionist state, and although the Zionists even then had a long record of cruelty and brutality to the Palestinians, their intentions and actions were not widely known. In fact, the Zionists took care to present themselves as a movement to purchase land and settle in Palestine, not as a movement to make wars with other peoples and displace them. Therefore, the rabbis of that period focused their opposition on the Zionists' violations of the Torah and their rebellion against the Almighty's decree of exile.

Even in the period after 1948, the Zionists' crimes against the indigenous people of Palestine received almost no coverage in the international media and thus most of the Rabbis did not know about them. In the State of “Israel” itself, the Zionists understandably did not want to arouse public opinion and therefore their media, for many years, did not report on the plight of the Palestinian people; they forcibly blacked out any coverage of their own atrocities.

It has only been in the last two or three decades, starting approximately with the Lebanon War of 1982, that the Western world has gained an awareness of these issues. This awareness is reflected in the words of the Rabbis of the most recent period.

We hope and wait for the day when the Almighty's glory will be revealed, “the earth will be full of knowledge of the Almighty” (Isaiah 11:9) and “the Almighty will be king over all the earth” (Zachariah 14:9). Then there will be a spiritual revolution in the entire world, and the Almighty will redeem all Peoples, as we say in our prayers, “All the nations will become one organization to do Your will with their whole heart.” And in the words of the Psalms (102:23), “Nations and governments will gather together to serve the Almighty.” May it be soon, in our days, amen.

Interview with Rabbi Abe Finkelstein about Jewish control of the world

This could be the most mind shattering thing you have ever heard of. If this won't blow your mind, nothing will, or you don't have anything to blow, just as ZioNazis openly state it about "goyim" - non-"Jews".

An audio recording of an interview with Chabad Lubavich Rabbi Finkelstein outlining the doctrine of ZioNazis and their "father", Lucifer.

According to Finkelstein, you are nothing but a cattle to be slaughtered and sacrificed to their "god", Lucifer, and milked by "god chosen people" for all you have as long as you last.

This is an outline of what they call the "NWO" nowadays - a ZioNazi Luciferian doctrine of world domination and world takeover. The authority with which rabbi Finkelstein speaks is quite something indeed. He speaks as though he knows it all in and out, down to the last dot and comma.

Basically, it outlines their entire doctrine of evil most profound, world domination, parasitism unlimited, wars and revolutions, puppet governments and how they are controlled, ritual sacrifice of hundreds of thousand of children each year and the rest of it. This is pretty much their entire doctrine. Nothing much to be added to it. And it is pronounced clearly by someone of ultimate authority, pretty much clear on its face value.

Finkelstein is quite casual in this interview and tells it all bluntly, in a semi-humorous manner how "goyim" (non-Jews) are being exploited and destroy each other during all the wars and revolutions staged and managed by "god chosen people".

"Rabbi Finkelstein amazingly gives honest answers about world Jewry's control of banking, media and governments, their creation of communism, their founding of the Jesuits, their holocaust hoax, their human sacrifice rituals and many more jaw-dropping subjects. I find the only things more shocking than Rabbi Finkelstein's blunt admissions are his complete callous disregard and playful disdain for us lowly "goyim." What do you guys think of this?"

https://antimatrix.org/Convert/Books/Rabbi_Abe_Finkelstein_Interview/Rabbi_Abe_Finkelstein_Interview.html - Transcript

Or: Rabbi Abe Finkelstein interview (Audio recording)

https://antimatrix.org/Convert/Books/Audio/Rabbi_Abe_Finkelstein_Interview/Rabbi_Abe_Finkelstein_Interview.mp3

RABBIS BEFORE WWI

Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin,
rabbi of Brisk

Lithuania and later rabbi of Jerusalem (1817-1878)

The greatest rabbis should gather immediately and excommunicate the Zionists. They should exclude them from the Jewish people by forbidding their bread, their wine and intermarriage with them.

(Mara D'ara Yisroel v. 2 p. 43)

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch,
rabbi of Frankfort, Germany

(1808–1888)

During the reign of Hadrian when the uprising led by Bar Kochba proved a disastrous error, it became essential that the Jewish people be reminded for all times of an important, essential fact, namely that (the people of) Israel must never again attempt to restore its national independence by its own power; it was to entrust its future as a nation solely to Divine Providence.

(Commentary on the Prayerbook, p. 703)

We mourn over that which brought about that destruction (of the Temple), we take to heart the harshness we have encountered in our years of wandering as the chastisement of a father, imposed on us for our improvement, and we mourn the lack of observance of Torah which that ruin has brought about...

This destruction obliges us to allow our longing for the far away land to express itself only in mourning, in wishing and hoping; and only through the honest fulfillment of all Jewish duties to await the realization of this hope. But it forbids us to strive for the reunion or possession of the land by any but spiritual means.

(Horeb, p. 461)

Rabbi Yechiel,
Rebbe of Alexander, Poland

(c. 1833 - 1893)

This entire idea of establishing a state is a decree of forced apostasy upon us, G-d spare us. (Oros Rabboseinu p. 16)

Rabbi Yerucham Yehuda Leib Perelmann
of Minsk, Russia (1835-1896)

G-d forbid, a person must not allow himself or his children to join the defiled Zionists, for their feet run to do evil and their place is a place of defilement. (Tzavaas Abba 10:20)

Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam,
Rebbe of Shinova, Galicia (1811-1899)

When a doctor from Yereslav came to him to influence him to support the Zionist movement, he said to him,

(Mishkenos Haro'im p. 198)

Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel Rabinowitz,
Rebbe of Monastritch, Ukraine

He was one of the first of the Chassidic Rebbes of Ukraine to see the danger posed to Torah observance by the ideology and activities of this movement... He took a leading role in explaining to them and others what would be likely to happen as a result of the spreading of Zionism. (Divrei Yehoshua, Biography of the Author)

Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Naftali Zilberberg,
rabbi in Warsaw, Poland

We have already shown that there has never been such a misfortune as Zionism and there never will be again. (Introduction to Daas Harabbanim, 1902, p. 22)

Imagine how it will be if, G-d forbid, the idea of Zionism becomes a reality. Then the sinners will be kings, the troublemakers will be high officials, and the young snakes will be leaders. Then your enemies will rule over you! (Introduction to Daas Harabbanim, 1902)

Rabbi Pinchas Eliyahu Rothenberg,
rabbi of Piltz, Russia (c. 1902)

There is a new group calling itself “Chovevei Tzion” or “Zionists” who entrap many people in their net, who think that their actions are for the sake of Heaven. I therefore find myself obligated to make known and warn all those who have fear of G-d in their hearts to stay as far as possible from them, and to uproot and cleanse away their actions... All the great rabbis of our time have already warned us to keep away from them, and it is a great deed for anyone who has the power to spoil their plans. (Daas Harabbanim, letter 4)

Rabbi Yerachmiel Yishaya Mintzberg,
rabbi of Likova, Russia (c. 1902)

One must not join them in any manner, and it is proper to stay far from them and their people.

Even if His Majesty the Sultan of Turkey, or all the rulers of all the countries, decide to give permission to the people of G-d to go to their land and their inheritance, the land of their fathers, the Holy Land, as the second redemption proceeded in the time of Ezra – we say that if the redemption does not come from the Almighty Redeemer Himself, as in the Exodus from Egypt, then G-d does not desire it, and this is not the path to the true redemption, promised by the prophets.

And I think all Jewish sages who have strong and unshakable faith in the Torah and tradition would say the same thing. We would not even consider such a scenario a temporary redemption or respite from exile. Its negative aspect would outweigh its positive, for the Sages of the Talmud have taught us and foretold to us that the future redemption will not be like the redemption under Ezra, through worldly decisions of rulers.

(Daas Harabbonim, letter 7)

Rabbi Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum,
Rebbe of Sighet, Hungary (1836-1904)

You must know that the sweet will not emerge from the bitter. From these sinners and heretics no good or salvation can come to the Jewish people. I have already been asked about this from many places, and I replied: G-d forbid, G-d forbid to join this group, all of whose leaders are heretics and deniers of the Torah.

(Tel Talpios 5658, p. 84)

Rabbi Yishaya Zilberstein,
rabbi of Veitzen, Hungary

The Zionist movement has spread and established itself even in this country, among Orthodox Jews. I address you, believing Jews: separate yourselves from these people. Do not stand united with them, for not in these does Jacob take his portion, neither has G-d chosen them.

(Tel Talpios, Av 5664)

It is incumbent on the greatest rabbis of the generation to warn to people not to become trapped in the Zionist and Mizrachist movements. I have taken the warning poster published by the rabbis of Chust and shown it to many rabbis in our country, and they agreed to it strongly, saying that no G-d-fearing Jew should join them, maintain relations with them or attend their gatherings. (ibid.)

Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Aishishok,
Lithuania

The root of this movement is also not acceptable to us. In my speeches, I have cited many proofs that the in the general guidance of the Jewish people, and certainly in their redemption, which is the foundation of the world, we are not to do anything on our own, only based on a command from G-d. And although in other matters, such as healing and medicine, we are permitted to make our own efforts, in a great matter such as this, it is forbidden.

(Hapeles 1904, p. 139 letter 10)

Rabbi Aryeh Leib Alter,
Rebbe of Gur Poland and author of Sfas Emes (1847-1905)

The greatest rabbis of the generation, who possess Divine inspiration, have said that this is a sin and an utter mistake.

(Mishkenos Haro'im volume 6)

Rabbi Yitzchok Yaakov Rabinowitz,
Rebbe of Biala, Russia (d. 1905)

The evil group, conspiracy of the wicked, known as the “Zionists” deny the coming of the messiah, the holiness of the Holy Land and all the promises of the holy Torah and prophets who teach us that the future redemption will be supernatural and above human understanding, as it is written, “No eye but Yours, O G-d, saw what You will do for those who wait for You” (Isaiah 64:4).

And they want to take away from the Jewish people their simple faith and give them instead the false contention that everything will happen naturally, G-d forbid, and we need to buy land in Palestine and learn agricultural techniques, in order to be farmers and vine keepers. To them, that is the long-awaited end, and they attempt to teach us the right way to reach it. Anyone with a G-d-fearing heart knows that all their words and lies are against G-d and His holy Torah.

(Hagadah Divrei Binah)

Rabbi Simcha Bunim Sofer,
author of Shevet Sofer,
rabbi of Pressburg (1843-1906)

Regarding the gathering of Zionists calling themselves “Mizrachi”... all G-d-fearing Jews who hold onto the faith of their fathers must keep away from them. He who guards his soul must keep far from them. (Hapeles)

Rabbi Dovid Biderman,
Rebbe of Lelov, Poland (1827-1907)

He said before his passing that the reason of the rabbis who went over to the Satan's side, the Zionists, was the reason why he was leaving the world, for this upset him to his very core. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 266)

Rabbi Amram Blum,
rabbi of Oifalo, Hungary (1834-1907)

The Zionist movement is not a movement of great Torah leaders and upright men, but rather a movement of faithless men; therefore, believing Jews, learn from the rabbis' example. Do not join them and do not take part in their gatherings.

(Tel Talpios, Av 5664)

Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein,
rabbi of Novhardok, Russia (1829-1908)

Woe to us, for our holy Torah is in unimaginable decline, especially now that the hated movement called "Zionism" has spread, to our sorrow. Regarding them it is stated in the prayerbook, "Zion cries bitterly" for they are the ones who extinguished the fire of our holy Torah. (Hapeles 5665, p. 139)

Anyone who fears G-d should flee from the Zionists and Mizrachists as one flees from fire. (ibid.)

Similarly, the court is obligated to make sure that no Jew has any plans of rebellion, even secretly in his heart, against the King, may his glory be exalted, or his ministers. And our Sages have already stated that the G-d make the Jewish people swear not to rebel against the nations (Talmud, Tractate Kesubos 111a).

And it is written (Proverbs 24:21), "Fear G-d, my son, and the king." And our Sages say (Talmud, Tractate Berachos 58a) that a kingdom on the earth is like G-d's kingdom in heaven. (Aruch Hashulchan Choshen Mishpat 2:1)

Rabbi Shmuel Salant,
Chief rabbi of Jerusalem (1816-1909)

Jerusalem greeted Herzl appropriately and, excommunicated and ostracized, he was compelled to sit alone during his entire stay in Jerusalem. This was after a strict warning was issued by the rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shmuel Salant,

Rabbi Yosef Meir Weiss,
Rebbe of Spinka, Hungary (1838-1909)

I ask my brethren: separate yourselves from the tents of the Zionists and do not touch their movement, lest you perish through all their sins.

(Tel Talpios, Av 5665)

Rabbi Eliezer Gordon,
rabbi of Telz, Lithuania (1841-1910)

Almost all the greatest rabbis of our generation are opposed to this idea [of Zionism].

(Marbitzei Torah Umussar v. 1 p. 434)

Rabbi Avraham of Sochatchov,
Poland, author of Avnei Nezer (1839-1910)

I was happy to see that you possess understanding, and even from afar you were able to perceive the bitter poison of the Zionists and Mizrachists in any form or appearance. I have nothing to add to your words. Let G-d be with you to stop the spread of this plague before it becomes common in your country. (Hapeles, Kislev 5665, p. 133)

All the spreaders of sin who have ever arisen in the Jewish people have not succeeded to the degree that the group calling itself “Zionists” has succeeded. They have led the masses away from the faith and made them complete deniers of all principles of Jewish faith. How have they managed to do this? By pretending to be righteous, in order to commit treason against G-d.

People have not hearkened to the voice of the rabbis who warned not to succumb to the Satan's counsel. They have gone from bad to worse, and now many of them are not embarrassed to raise up a hand against the Torah of G-d in public. They deny the fundamentals of our faith and some of them deny G-d Himself. (ibid.)

Rabbi Moshe Greenwald,
rabbi of Chust, Hungary and author of Arugas Habosem (1853-1910)

His son, the Tzehlimer Rav, said: “I never saw my father get angry, except when the conversation concerned Mizrachi and the Zionists.”

To the Jewish people, the believers, I will speak and raise my voice to warn them regarding this. Until now, our country was clean and free of the plague of the Zionist movement. But now we have heard, to the sorrow of all who fear G-d and respect His name, that this heresy has reached here as well, and they have already held a gathering in one of the communities in our country. My heart cries out, lest this poison make a path for itself, since no one realizes how far things have gone.

Therefore, for the sake of Zion I will not be silent and for the sake of the holy Torah I will not cease to cry out in a loud voice, “Be careful not to get caught in this net, which is hidden to entrap the true faith we have received from Sinai!”

Therefore, our Jewish brethren, believers in the true belief give to us by Moses and passed down as an inheritance: Do not go on their way, keep your feet away from their path, for those who join them descend to the depths of Hell; all who go to them will never return and will not achieve life in the World to Come. And whoever listens to me will dwell safely and securely.

(Tel Talpios, Av 5664)

Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Gottlieb,
rabbi of Miskolc, Hungary

This building [of the Holy Land] is nothing but destruction... but such a group is very dangerous to the Jewish people, and we must stay as far as possible from them... Worse than all of the above is Zionism and their shekels that they give to strengthen the sinners in Jerusalem, who anger G-d in His palace and His city.

Satan himself disguises himself at the head of the Zionist organization.

(Mishkenos Haro'im volume 6)

Rabbi Shalom Halprin,
rabbi of Wasloy, Hungary

The rabbi fought a war and spoke out against the defilement and heresy of the Zionists.

The rabbi stood guard over the wall of pure Judaism with all his strength, with zealousness and might. His war against the Maskilim, the Zionists and Zionism was uncompromising.

The concept of “making peace with the situation” was foreign to him, for that would have meant surrendering to the evil powers.

(Mishkenos Haro'im volume 6)

Rabbi Leib Rubinstein,
rabbi of Pressburg, Hungary (c. 1912)

I have warned with a severe warning to separate from the destructive group the “Zionists” lest one be caught in their net and their evil company, G-d forbid. I warn you very strongly, my friends: no foreign influence should mingle with you, and this poisonous root should not draw near to your camp, that is, the false ideals of the aforementioned group. Throw it out like defilement; cast it away, and do not let it in.

(Kol Yehuda, Kol Todah p. 54)

Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Meisel,
rabbi of Lodz, Poland (1821-1912)

Any Jew who throws a penny into the Zionists' collection bag is like one who contributes a stone to the idol Markulis, may G-d spare us.

(Ashrei Ho'ish p. 65)

The damage done by Zionism and Mizrachi in our country is inestimable... we must fear that if, G-d forbid, they succeed in capturing as many more souls as they have captured until now, most of the Jewish people will become, G-d forbid, heretical.

(Hapeles)

Rabbi Simcha Yissachar Ber Halberstam,
Rebbe of Chiashenov, Poland (d. 1914)

The evil of the Zionism lies not in the fact that it is sinners who support it, for the truth is the opposite: Zionism is a dangerous disease in and of itself - heresy and denial of our faith – and that is why these sinners support it.

(Divrei Simcha, letter 3)

In general, we must find a way to expel them from the Jewish people, with permission from the honorable government, in order to save the rest of the Jewish people from destruction.

(Divrei Simcha, letter 1)

I would insert the Zionists into the prayer against heretics, if I had the power to do so.

The young Zionist hotheads once came to the Chiashenover Rebbe and warned that if he did not stop speaking against them, they would shoot him. He opened up his shirt and said, “Shoot! I am not afraid.”

Once there were two candidates in an election: a Mizrachi rabbi and an anti-Semitic gentile. The Rebbe publicly urged everyone to vote for the anti-Semitic gentile, and he had posters hung in the streets to that effect. In the end, the gentile won the election, and the Rebbe was very happy.

Separate yourselves from these deniers of G-d's Torah, who lead the Jewish people astray with their smooth tongues. They have disguised themselves with the language and clothing style of Jerusalem.

Do not let the destroyer come into your houses! Do not read their words, do not take their shekels, do not join them; for all who go to them will not achieve life in the World to Come. Prevent your sons and daughters from entering their tents and reading their newspapers, which are full of heresy. They have called themselves “Zionists” in order to catch Jewish souls in their nets.

(Divrei Simcha, letter 2)

I have a collection of letters from the greatest rabbis of Russia who cry out bitterly against the Mizrachi, who destroy the vineyard of G-d. The voice of G-d shoots fiery flames to warn the Jewish people with the most severe warning to keep far from them and their ways, for they lie in wait for their blood, plotting to capture their souls.

(Divrei Simcha, letter 3)

I read in the newspaper the terrible news about the Jews of your country, and I became very upset. Woe to us that we are broken! Our eyes flow with incessant tears...

Let us think about this: such a thing has not been heard of for hundreds of years. What has happened recently to bring this about? Certainly the accursed Zionism is the reason behind it. (Divrei Simcha, letter 10)

We have witnessed our own misfortunes, when the Zionists and the Mizrachists arose and said, “We do not want to know Your ways, O G-d.” They cast off the yoke of Torah and mitzvos unabashedly. Our souls and the souls of all the G-d-fearing Jews of Russia cry over this destruction of the Torah. And now you want to renew this evil again? You are supporting evildoers.

(Divrei Simcha, letter 5)

Rabbi Yaakov Emden once wrote (commentary to Avos 2:6) that whoever does not enter the fray to fight against those who go on the wrong path, does not care about the insult of G-d's Torah and is not considered a man. Therefore all great and righteous rabbis of our generation, and anyone who has the spark of Judaism within him, do this [fight against Zionism] in order to save the remainder of the Jewish people.

(Divrei Simcha, letter 3)

Once he entered the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah for the morning prayers. Amazingly he began by cursing the Zionists for about two hours, and only then did he begin to pray.

Rabbi David Friedman,
rabbi of Karlin-Pinsk, Russia (1828-1915)

I am waiting and hoping for the salvation of G-d, who will save us from these destroyers [the Zionists], and brighten our eyes and let us see the shame of our enemies. (Ohr Layesharim)

My opinion about this is known: that Zionism is worse than the rest [of the heretical groups], because it claims that a person can be a Jew without the Torah, and many fell away because of this.

Rabbi Eliezer Deutsch,
rabbi of Bonyhad, Hungary (d. 1850-1916)

I am happy to join anyone who fears G-d, and in particular those who keep away from this group who falsely and slyly call themselves “Zionists”. Zion cries bitterly, for they have stepped away from the Torah of G-d. May G-d protect us from them and their money, and let us be under the banner of the name of G-d.

(Tel Talpios, Av 5664)

I received your letter in which you wrote strong and zealous words against the Zionist organization. All that you wrote is correct, for we have already seen that this organization decided to practice vanity and emptiness. G-d is not in their midst, and they look only to do evil, to uproot the name of Israel, G-d forbid. Their goal is only nationalistic Zionism.

(Responsa Har Hacarmel, p. 23)

Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva Rabinowitz,
rabbi of Poltava, Russia (1861-1917)

He founded the journal “Hapeles” in 1901, chiefly for the purpose of fighting the Zionists.

(Mishkenos Haro'im p. 274)

Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik,
rabbi of Brisk, Poland (1853-1918)

The Zionists do not make Jews heretics in order to have a state, they want a state in order to make Jews into heretics!

(Mishkenos Haro'im, p. 269)

Dear Rabbi Moshe Carpas:

I have also read your words in connection with the sect of the Zionists who are now powerfully banded together. I do not blush to admit that I do not know how to find paths to oppose them, seeing that some of these men are known as evil in their localities, and have already proclaimed their purpose, which is to uproot the fundamentals of our faith and to take over all Jewish communities to aid them in their plan.

It is hardly credible that after the revelations of their arrogant hearts there should still be found right-minded men willing to ally themselves with them. It is greatly astonishing throughout the whole Jewish People that they should be given a place and a voice in public affairs, since it is known they are causing others to sin.

Let the people guard their souls lest they join them in the destruction of our religion and become an obstacle to the House of Israel. (Ohr Layesharim)

If you intend to give a coin to the Jewish National Fund, give it to another idolatry, but not to the Zionists, since this idolatry is worse then any other.

(Mishkenos Haro'im, p. 270)

The Jewish people have suffered many plagues – the Sadducees, Karaites, Hellenisers, Shabbesai Zvi, Haskalah, Reform and many others. But the strongest of them all is Zionism. (ibid. p. 269)

Regarding Zionism and Mizrachism: in our countries they have already ruined a great many of our brethren. I am telling you this in advance so that you might take steps that these movements not take hold in your country. They are poison to all that is vital to the Jewish people. All of their actions since their founding have been against our holy Torah. There is much evil contained in their words and actions. (Hapeles)

Rabbi Shmuel Rosenberg,
rabbi of Unsdorf, Hungary (1841-1919)

There is a difference between a simple wicked man, and those who bear the banner of Zionism. For though the wicked man may commit serious sins, he does them for himself and does not cause others to sin with him; therefore it is not crucial to fight against him with all our strength.

But the Zionists found “Hebrew schools” to entrap good Jewish children in the net of heresy, and we are obligated to fight against them. We must raise our voice like a ram's horn and warn the parents to protect their children. My son, do not go on their way; keep your foot away from their path, that you might not be caught in their trap.

(Toldos Shmuel, p. 61)

RABBIS PRIOR TO WW II

Rabbi Yehuda Greenwald,
rabbi of Satmar, Hungary (1845-1920)

The Zionists have become known in the world, and they are considered like the lowest and the cheapest. Many of them are wicked men, without the yoke of Torah and fear of G-d, men who pursue reform. Many righteous men have already cried out, “Separate from these men!” Whoever joins this group is considered a guilty soul in the eyes of the Torah.

(Tel Talpios, Av 5664)

I humbly join those great rabbis who have preceded me and forbade joining this Zionist organization. One must not join their conspiracy for any purpose.

(Zichron Yehuda v. 1 p. 184)

It should not occur to you that you, by human hands, can build the ruins of Jerusalem, and arouse the end of exile with great love of the Jewish people, to improve their state through this action, as the Zionists hold. Only G-d is the healer of the broken-hearted and the bandager of their pains, and if G-d does not build a house, its builders work in vain.

(Zichron Yehuda 1:187)

Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber Schneersohn,
Rebbe of Lubavitch, Russia (1866-1920)

Since the days of the Tower of Babel, there has been no defilement in the world like the defilement of Zionism. Rabbi Yehuda Greenwald

(Es Nisayon p. 3)

I received your letter, and my soul is very sorry to see that the people are still listening to the wicked speakers who destroy the vineyard of Israel, may G-d spare us, by spreading the poisonous Zionist doctrine. This doctrine contains deadly poison that burns the soul, may G-d spare us. Their shame has already been revealed in public and their heresy and wickedness is already visible to all.

(Igros Kodesh, letter 130)

Their plan to gather the Jewish people together with their own power will never be; and all their strength, their many strategies and efforts will not work or have any success against the will of G-d. (ibid.)

Whoever twists the meaning of the Torah and finds proofs to Zionism from the Torah, and especially from the Hidden Torah, is like one who places an idol in the Temple. G-d will not forgive him. May G-d in His great mercy remove this accursed doctrine from among the Jewish people, and inspire their hearts to repent to Him in truth. (ibid.)

Those who assist these Zionists will pay on the Day of Judgment, for they are abetting those who cause the masses to sin. Therefore, whoever is for G-d and His Torah will not join the evildoers and will not extend his hand to them. On the contrary, he will oppose them as much as possible. And until it is G-d's will to redeem us, we must accept the yoke of exile to atone for our sins.

(Ohr Layesharim, p. 54)

We strongly oppose Zionism for religious reasons and for the sake of peace with our country. In the name of G-d and in the name of the holy Torah, we warn our brethren – all who have the fear of G-d in their hearts – to separate from the doctrine of Zionism entirely and to avoid their company.

(Igros Kodesh p. 222)

Even if these men were loyal to G-d and His Torah, and even if there were a chance that they would achieve their goal, we must not listen to them in this matter, to make our redemption with our own power. Is it not forbidden even to force the end with excessive prayer? All the more so that with power and worldly methods, that is, to leave exile by force, we are not permitted... And this is against our true hope: that G-d will bring us the messiah soon and our redemption will come through G-d Himself.

(Ohr Layesharim, p. 57)

And if the movement takes on this form, to go out of the exile by force and to redeem themselves with their own strength – this is something no believer in Torah and its commandments can ever do on his own, for this runs against the Jewish people's strong faith and hope for their redemption with the coming of the messiah, when they will be redeemed physically and spiritually and will be elevated to the highest degree.

Only with this deeply engrained hope can they find rest, and only with this have they lived during their bitter exile, encouraging themselves through Torah and observance. They will not be satisfied with the promises of Herzl and Nordau, who promise them their own state and a good physical life - even if we would fool ourselves into thinking that they could accomplish this.

(Kuntres Umayan Mibeis Hashem, p. 50)

Rabbi Yisroel Perlow,
Rebbe of Stolin, Russia (1868-1921)

In his testament to his Chassidim he exhorted them to stay united, and to appoint as Rebbe whichever of his sons would “not be among the flatterers and two-faced, who distances himself from falsehood and does not belong to any evil organization, especially the Zionist and Mizrachi, but rather is a friend to those who fear G-d, and does not send his children to modern schools, even those that teach in Hebrew.”

(Beis Aharon)

Rabbi Yitzchok Yerucham Diskin,
rabbi of Jerusalem (d. 1925)

They are not to be called “builders” for they wreak terrible destruction and they damage powerfully. They plot evil against G-d, to completely wipe out all the holy institutions. And now, beloved ones of G-d, seekers of good for your people and peace for your land, whose thoughts are good and pure: Separate yourselves from them and their masses, keep away from their meeting places and take your honor away from their midst... G-d forbid for any Jew to stumble in listening to their evil counsel.

(Mara D'ara Yisroel, v. 2 p. 68)

Rabbi Yaakov Koppel Kraus,
rabbi of Serdaheli, Hungary

All truly faithful Orthodox Jews do not join the Zionists or listen to their advice. (Shesilei Zeisim, p. 105)

Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Freund,
Rebbe of Nassod, Hungary

Once before the Neila prayer on Yom Kippur he said:

In the year 1925, before the Kol Nidrei prayer, he cried out in a loud voice, “May the name of the Zionists be eradicated!”

Once he announced on Rosh Hashanah before the blowing of the ram's horn [Shofer]: The bread and wine of the Zionists is forbidden and one may not intermarry with them!

(Mishkenos Haro'im volume p. 434)

Rabbi Moshe Hager,
Rebbe of Kossov, Hungary (1860-1926)

The enemy has wrapped itself in a cloak of “love of Zion” in order to fool the Jewish soul and entrap in its net of destruction even those who tremble at the word of G-d. There is no greater heresy than this, and it comes from the Satanic forces.

(Leket Ani, Vayechi)

Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum,
Rebbe of Sighet, Hungary (1880-1926)

The plague of Zionism has begun to spread even in our areas. This is no time for us to be silent, for they are not silent, but rather as noisy as the ocean, casting their net for the Jewish youth. Therefore we must gird ourselves with strength and stand up to them forcefully so that they cannot make their catch by trickery. In my opinion, it would be correct to forbid joining them, G-d forbid, or teaching Hebrew in the schools. In this way we will foil their plans.

(Olas Hachodesh, Shvat 5741)

Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach,
Rebbe of Belza, Poland (1854-1926)

Every Jew, when saying the prayer against heretics, must have in mind the Zionists and Mizrachists.

(Michtav Hisorerus, p. 118)

On the night after every festival in Belz, they announced that no one should join the Zionists, the Mizrachi or the Agudah. (ibid.)

They are sinners and cause the masses to sin. (Kuntres 22 Cheshvan, p. 106)

Once on the night of Yom Kippur, as thousands of Chassidim squeezed into his synagogue and prepared for the Kol Nidrei prayers, a holy atmosphere pervaded the synagogue. No one made a sound, and all were waiting to hear the Rebbe's uplifting sermon for the Day of Judgment. He went up on the platform and called out in a loud voice,

That was all; that was the entire sermon before Kol Nidrei. (Kol Yisroel, 8 Sivan 5686)

Our brethren, believing Jews, be strong and stand up for our people and our Torah, not by might nor by power. We should not debate or argue with the Zionists and the Mizrachists, but rather we should fight by standing strong in our beliefs and not allowing the destroyer, the doctrine of Zionism and Mizrachi, to enter our homes.

Zionism itself is founded on denial of G-d's providence, reward and punishment and the coming of the redeemer. Nationalism is built only on the ruins of the holy Torah, belief in G-d, His prophets, and the Talmudic Sages. Therefore, even if the movement were led by G-d-fearing, righteous men with the best of intentions, it would be impossible for it not to destroy faith and Torah.

(Kuntres 22 Cheshvan, p. 108)

But it could be that before the arrival of the messiah, the Satan's efforts will succeed and the wicked will get a state in the Land of Israel. Therefore it is an obligation on every Jew who must leave his home to move to America or somewhere else, but not to the Land of Israel under the state of these wicked men, because their state would be a great danger to every Jew's body and soul.

(Om Ani Chomah v. 6 13 Adar I 5717)

All his life, the Rebbe fought against Zionists of all types, using the same weapons that his father and other rabbis used against the Reform. He led a tough struggle against Zionism while it was still a budding movement, standing strong just as his father had stood in his time against the secularists, not giving them access to any leadership role.

(Admoirei Belze p. 251).

Rabbi Meir Simcha Hakohein,
rabbi of Dvinsk, Latvia (1843-1926)

He stood up like a wall and fought a battle against the secularist Jews of Russia. He also drew his sword against the Zionists. (Melitzei Eish)

May G-d cry out from His holy habitation and give forth His voice, for there have arisen new rebels and traitors, thinking to establish a State... and have promised to deliver Israel from all its troubles in the Exile.

I cannot utter with my lips nor write down what is in my heart concerning these unstable people.... We should pay no attention to Herzl, because this Zionist vision is driving - G-d forbid - Israel to destruction.

It is our duty to preserve ourselves from being captured and confused by the empty utterances of Herzl and Nordau and their lies.

I am astonished that the Mizrachi rabbis venture to dispute the words of our teachers and, instead of doing their duty by uniting with all those who have taken upon themselves to weaken the Zionist traitors, they uphold them and will finally pursue and revile all those opposed to this abominable movement as if in truth – G-d forbid – the only hope remaining to Israel springs from the Zionists who reject our holy Torah.

(The Transformation, p. 184)

Rabbi Eliezer David Greenwald,
rabbi of Satmar, Hungary (1868-1928)

We see it as a holy obligation to speak out among Jews regarding the Zionist movement, which has begun to spread in our country. We must warn those Jews whose hearts are faithful to G-d and His Torah to keep far from them and their masses... We have therefore come to warn Jews of our province to keep as far as possible away from them.

(Keren Ledavid, Likutim)

Rabbi Moshe Yosef Hoffman,
dayan of Pupa, Hungary

It became clear to us that the “panel of delegates” to the Land of Israel want to blackmail the yeshiva scholars to enter the Zionist organization, which all the greatest rabbis have rejected from the religious community, and against which you especially fight with all strength, since their intents and plans have become known.

(Mara D'ara Yisroel, v. 2 p. 90)

Rabbi Shlomo Eliezer Alfandari,
rabbi of the Sephardic community in Jerusalem (1826-1930)

I hereby make known that it is forbidden for any Jew whose forefathers stood at Mount Sinai and has a portion in the G-d of Israel and His Torah, to remain a member in the Nationalist Council, which has lifted up its hand against the Torah of Moses and desecrates the laws of the Torah brazenly. G-d forbid for any good Jew to be in their company, let alone to aid and abet these sinners in any way, shape or form.

And since the honourable [British Mandate] government has given permission to opt out of the Nationalist Council, it is a holy obligation upon all observant Jews to go as soon as possible and to opt out from the Nationalist Council while it is still possible. (Responsa Saba Kadisha 1:32)

Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld,
chief rabbi of Jerusalem (1848-1932)

The position of Rabbi Zonenfeld, who worked all his life for the good of the Jewish residents of the Holy Land and its building, was to strongly oppose the founding of a Jewish government in the Land.

(Kuntres Hasbarah, p. 40)

Once a student asked him, “Would you really prefer a gentile government in the Land of Israel to a Zionist government?” He replied in amazement, “You have any doubt about that??!”

(Mara D'ara Yisroel, v. 1 p. 149)

The following is the English translation of the Arabic memorandum submitted in 1924 to King Hussein of the Hejaz, by Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld and Dr. Yackov Yisroel DeHaan, together with a delegation that visited the monarch upon his visit to his son Emir Abdullah in Transjordan.

Rabbi Yisroel Meir Hakohein,
author of Chofetz Chaim (1839-1933)

G-d forbid to send your children to the Tarbuth (Zionist) and Yiddishist schools, for their main studies are heresy, and they inculcate falsehood into little children. They make light of the words of the Torah, prophets and thus raise up a stiff-necked and twisted generation who scoff at all that is holy. Whoever sends his children to these schools should be considered as if he gave them over to real idol worship.

(Writings of the Chofetz Chaim, Chapter 12)

Therefore, every man whose heart fears G-d must exhort all Jews not to give their children to the Molech. (ibid. Chapter 53)

The Zionists are dead limbs of our people, which cause the entire body to rot. (Omer Ani Maasai Lamelech, paragraph 16)

Who are these fellow Jews of ours? They are Hellenizers, not Jews at all. They do all in their power to estrange themselves from us and hate us. (ibid. paragraph 17)

Our pain is great upon hearing the news from the Holy Land: that there are settlements there that have turned away from the path of G-d, losing all faith. The fundamentals of Torah have become worthless to them, G-d forbid. They transgress them with impunity. Non-religious Jewish education is growing there from day to day. Woe to the eyes that see this and woe to the ears that hear this! Woe to us for what has happened to us in these times! (Writings of the Chofetz Chaim, Chapter 48)

Better a third of Torah learning should stop, rather than join them. (Kovetz Maamarim V'igros, p. 154)

The Torah teaches us not to resist the nations even when they fight against us. We must follow in the footsteps of the patriarch Jacob in his encounter with his brother Esau... All that happened between Jacob and Esau happens to us constantly with Esau's children. We must adopt the methods of the righteous Jacob, to make the three preparations that he made: prayer, a gift, and escape through war, that is, to flee to safety.

As long as we walked on that well-tread path, G-d saved us from their hands. But since we have strayed from the path and new leaders have arisen who chose new methods, leaving behind our ancestors' weapons and adopting the methods of our enemies, we have fared worse and worse, and great travails have befallen us.

(Chofetz Chaim Al Hatorah, Devarim)

Rabbi Yechezkel Fish,
Rebbe of Hadas, Hungary

He fought at his own personal risk against the doctrine of Zionism and its religious supporters. He was very particular that none of his followers belong to any of the Zionist parties.

(Mishke nos Haro'im volume 6)

Rabbi Chaim Shaul Douek,
leader of Sephardic Kabbalists of Jerusalem

This is how the Zionists succeed in capturing the religious: by means of the Mizrachi, who disguise themselves as rescuers [of the Torah], when in truth it is they who are the destroyers and damagers of the path of Torah. May G-d spare us from them.

(Om Ani Chomah, 22 Tamuz 5711)

Rabbi Shimon Zelichover,
rabbi of Lublin, Poland ( - 1939)

One student asked the rabbi's opinion as to whether a Zionist state would arise in the Land of Israel. The rabbi replied that even if it would arise, such a state would never last. Another student asked, “Would such a state, a new phenomenon in this long exile, be a salvation for the Jewish people?” The rabbi replied in a strong voice, “Even if they pave the entire Land of Israel with asphalt, it has no connection with Jews, G-d forbid.”

The Jabotinskys and Weizzmans cause the name of G-d to be hated in Jewish hearts. In the end, they will be punished, as it says,

Rabbi Aryeh Leibush Halberstam,
rabbi of Tsanz, Poland (d. 1934)

The rabbi was strongly opposed to all the new movements that were founded then, and he fought especially against the Zionist movement, which was then in its budding years.

(Kovetz Bnei Torah Tsanz)

For my heart is very sorrowful when I see the low condition of our Torah, which has dropped tremendously due to the evil Zionists, who have come out to swallow up the holy, to lure Jews away from their faith in G-d.

(Kovetz Bnei Torah Tsanz)

Rabbi Moshe Kliers,
rabbi of Tiberias, Palestine (1874-1934)

Rabbi Yosef Rosen,
rabbi of Dvinsk, Latvia (1858-1936)

Someone from the Land of Israel visited the rabbi from Rogatchov and asked him, “Do you plan on emigrating to the Land of Israel?” The rabbi replied, “I am not a tolerant person. I cannot see and be silent. But I am afraid to see and speak out, because I fear they will kill me, and according to Torah one may not place himself in danger.”

(Kol Yisroel, Adar 5695)

These wicked men offend the angels of G-d, distort the promises of the prophets and despise the warnings of Chazal not to force the end, and to wait for the coming of the righteous redeemer. They turn after their hearts and after their eyes. In vain do they profess to burn with the love of Israel and love of the Holy Land. They think that they can be wiser than their predecessors.

The entire project is in the hands of irresponsible people who live a life of carelessness. They elevate themselves over all the greatest rabbis of the generation, who have already come out with a severe prohibition on their activities. It is a holy obligation to open our eyes and understand what will be the result of the Zionists' slander.

Heaven forbid that we should throw off the yoke of exile from upon our necks through violence, hard work, entreaties or plans. We must pay attention and understand the extent of the folly of these men who are wise in evil, to whom it has not occurred that if we conquer the Land before the coming of the king of peace, grievous wars will follow and one people will gore another...

I will therefore take my life in my hand and proclaim that until the promised messiah comes and the Holy One, blessed is He, blows the great trumpet to proclaim our freedom, we have no right to rule in the Land, and that Zionism's aspiration for governmental power is a rebellion against the peoples who dwell in the Land. Heaven forbid that we should test Hashem and fight with Him concerning the length of the exile, and come as masters into the Land.

Because of the Zionists, the exile will be prolonged and there will arise – Heaven forbid – many calamities. There can be no harm greater than to arouse conflicts with the nations, and to make Israel feared as a source of revolt since [the Zionists portray us as] a people bitter of heart on account of its exile.

To those who share these Zionist views but profess to be believers, whose lips drip with Torah and piety, I have this to say: Do you not know that Zionism and self-rule are vanity and pursuit of emptiness and imitation? Why do you despise the Torah and stretch out your hand to transgressors tainted with heresy, and why do you not consider in whose company you go?

How long will the Zionists be permitted to lead us into a trap? One need not fear contention and discord with them, since they have already brought it about. In the book “Gates of Repentance” paragraph 59, we find “He who does not enter into conflict with those who stand on a bad path is punished for their transgressions and all their sins.”

I have already written letters to those who ask whether there is any substance in the books of the Mizrachi rabbis Rabinovitz and Reines. I have replied that according to Jewish Law the works of the two above-mentioned rabbis are an abomination and desolation, according to the Torah.

May the day come when we are not subjugated and oppressed by heretics originating from the Jewish people – especially seeing that they spread evil tidings about us.

(The Transformation, p. 196)

Rabbi Yisroel Hager,
Rebbe of Vizhnitz, Romania (1860-1936)

Satan is constantly changing his disguise and sending his agents to entrap the Jewish masses in his net, so that they throw the yoke of the Torah off their necks. The names of these agents change every few generations. Today, they are called “Zionists”.

(Kedosh Yisroel ch. 16, p. 276)

Once he met a Zionist on the anniversary of Herzl's death. The Zionist said, “In honor of this day it is proper to have a feast.” The Rebbe replied, “Certainly, for when the wicked perish there is joy.”

(ibid. v. 2 ch. 24, p. 619)

In last week's newspaper I saw things written in my name that I did not ever say or think of. I therefore request of you that you honor your newspaper's principles and issue a correction. It claims that I said that “the Zionist idea is a lofty idea and no good Jew who follows the path of Judaism and clings to the commandments of G-d and His Torah should oppose this great idea”. This is a complete lie, for I never spoke such words. (ibid.)

I would very much like to travel to the Holy City of Jerusalem, but due to the “Zionists” I will not go, even if I would lock myself in my room and avoid any contact with them. (ibid. ch. 18 p. 300)

The Rebbe did not give everyone permission to go to the Holy Land, especially young people without their parents, lest they fall under the influence of the “Zionist” movement.

I am turning to you urgently to draw your attention to the holy obligation upon you to join the united religious kehillah (the Eidah Chareidis of Jerusalem), built on holy foundations, and not, G-d forbid, the kehillah of the Nationalist Council, which is not founded on the Torah of G-d. (ibid. ch. 24, letter 35)

Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapiro,
Rebbe of Munkacz Hungary (1872-1937)

The Holy Land never experienced such an exile as now, when deniers of G-d are waving their hands over Jewish dwellings to destroy Jewish holiness, to trample on our faith, which rejects redemption of the body without redemption of the soul.

(Toras Alef, v. 4 letter 36)

In the summer of 1934 there was a dangerous illness going around Munkacz, and many Jews died. The rabbi and his court declared a day of fasting and prayer. On that day the rabbi delivered a fiery sermon before thousands of Jews against the Zionists and their heretical center, the Hebrew Gymnasium, in which they burned Jewish souls with the poison of heresy. The rabbi declared that it was due to this sin that the present tragedy had befallen them.

Then he turned his face to the Holy Ark and cried out a warning of death and destruction in this world and the next for any fathers and mothers who would send their children to that gymnasium. They would be held responsible for the spilling of innocent blood.

He cursed them with a rabbinic curse which cannot be reversed, and warned them not to come crying to him afterwards when tragedy struck. He said that we must put our lives on the line in order to uproot this idolatry from our country.

(Toldos Rabbeinu, 184)

The Zionists, who say that they are nationalists but not believers or religious, are like a body without a soul. They are dead bodies, and this is what our Sages meant when they said that the wicked even during their lives are called dead. They defile whoever comes in contact with them, for they are the ultimate source of defilement.

(Shaar Yissachar, Chag Habikurim, paragraph 52)

The Rebbe used to speak out strongly against emigration to the Holy Land in his time.

(Toras Alef, v. 4 letter 29)

We watch these colonists with tears in our eyes, for unfortunately they are fulfilling the verse, "And you came and defiled My land." They are destroying the Holy Land and causing those who live there to sin. If we had the power, we would make prohibitions and pass decrees to get rid of these sinners, for they embitter the spirit of all who are righteous and G-d-fearing, both in the Holy Land and elsewhere.

(Responsa Minchas Elazar 2:70)

When I visited the Land of Israel in the year 1930 I went to the Western Wall...with so much defilement spread by the Zionists, who knows if the Divine Presence is still there?

(Toras Alef, v. 4 letter 24)

Rabbi Chaim Avraham Dov Ber Levine,
the “Malach”, New York (d. 1938)

I wanted to express my admiration for your action to keep Jews away from the domains of evil, the Zionists and the Mizrachists. May they and their supporters be uprooted soon, and then G-d will rejoice in His creations and Israel will rejoice in their Maker.

(Otzar Igros Kodesh, letter 89)

The problem confronting the Jewish people is the rotten apostates, the Mizrachists and Zionists. (ibid. letter 88)

Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz,
head of the yeshiva of Kamenitz, Lithuania (1870-1939)

If you throw a coin into the Zionist “Jewish National Fund” collection box, you become a threat to the Jewish people. You bring misfortune upon the Jewish people.

He would speak angrily about the Zionists. His voice actually changed when he spoke about them. Many times in the yeshiva, he spoke while he went for a walk to rest from the work of the day, or on his way home. Every time he spoke about them, he was angry and said with a groan, “Those wicked ones!” Many times in the middle of the study hall of the yeshiva, he would call over several students and cry out before them regarding the Zionists. He would let out his pain, and then he would rest and continue his studies.

In his last years, several activists decided to found a “Tarbuth” Zionist school in Kamenitz. Immediately, Rabbi Boruch Ber gathered the townspeople in the town synagogue and cried out with a tearful voice, “Woe to me that such has happened to me in my old age!

They are bringing an idol into Kamenitz. What will I answer on the Day of Judgment when they ask me why such a thing happened in my city?”

At the end of his speech, he took off his shoes as a sign of mourning, and he sat down on the floor. The spectacle shook up all those present, and because of the impression he made on the people, the Zionists were not able to carry out their plan.

(Mishkenos Haro'im p. 617-618)

Rabbi Avraham Shalom Halberstam,
Rebbe of Stropkov, Hungary (1856-1940)

Everyone must accept upon himself not to join them at all. (Divrei Shalom, p. 171)

Once the Zionists tried to organize gatherings in his city, Stropkov. But he would not allow it under any circumstances. In the end the plan failed.

(Mishkenos Haro'im volume 6)

Rabbi Avraham Yosef Greenwald,
rabbi of Ungvar, Ukraine (d. 1940)

The plague began, unfortunately, with the false beliefs of the Zionism. In all who lean toward them, one can recognize a bit of heresy. Therefore, for G-d's sake, keep yourselves and your children far away from their path. Guard your footsteps from contact with them, for they are poisonous; heresy is hidden in their doctrine.

(Avnei Shoham, p. 229)

Rabbi Shmuel Engel,
rabbi of Radomishla v, Galicia (- 1935)

I was asked to express my opinion whether according to Torah law one is permitted to join the Zionist organization. I must say that according to Torah, G-d forbid for any Jew who walks in the paths of Torah and fear of G-d to join this group.

We must come up with a plan to prevent the Zionists from, G-d forbid, ruling over our fellow Jews. Unfortunately, they have much power among the nations, and they are planning to destroy our holy Torah. I know them for many years, and I can testify that all their thoughts are only to destroy our holy Torah.

(Pri Temarim v. 3, Shvat 5741, p. 158)

Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman,
head of the yeshiva of Baranovitch, Poland (1875-1940)

The Torah teaches here that the war against Amalek exists in all generations until the coming of the messiah. However, the "Amalek" is not always the same. In the olden days when the Jewish people was ruled only by Torah, the enemies were the descendants of Amalek in the gentile world. But ever since we have thrown off the yoke of the Torah, the seed of Amalek thrives in our midst.

We now have many who violate the Torah out of spite, such as the Yevsekses – Jewish Communists – who live not only in the Soviet Union but in all of the world, wherever there are Jews, and also in Palestine. The Hellenizers there are the same Yevsekses – there is no difference between them, except that these write in Yiddish and those write in modern Hebrew...

People are so ignorant today, that a large percentage of Jews support them with money, so that they might be bigger and stronger. They do not know or understand the word of Hashem, "When the wicked blossom like grass, when all sinners flower, it is in order to destroy them forever." (Tehillim 92:8) And when that time comes, woe to those who support them or flatter them!

And it is as clear as the sun that the Land will vomit them out, for it is the King's palace and it does not support sinners, much less those who sin out of spite. (I am not coming here to curse or to bless, but since these things are written in the Torah we must admit that they will come true.)

We must not err and think that all those who follow the Zionists are from the seed of Amalek.

G-d forbid to say so; we are talking here only about their heads and leaders, teachers and guides, writers and speakers – these are from the seed of Amalek, standing at the front of their armies to do battle with the Holy One, blessed is He. But all the multitudes of Jews who join them are merely following like a herd of animals.

(Omer Ani Maasai Lemelech, paragraphs 5-6)

The misfortune of the Jewish state will be the biggest misfortune of all.

(Speech at the Agudath Israel Convention, Marienbad 1937)

This is not building the Land of Israel but destroying it. “These are not the guardians of the city but the destroyers of the city.” This is the worst destruction of the Land of Israel, much worse than past destructions [of the Temple].

(Ikvesa Demeshicha, paragraph 40)

"What are the methods of the Torah [during exile]? G-d made the Jewish people swear three oaths... One of the three oaths is: Jews must not be revolutionaries. (ibid. paragraph 27)

Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzensky,
rabbi of Vilna, Lithuania (1863-1940)

Your honor must know that on the matter of the Zionists and the Mizrachi, I am in correspondence with the greatest rabbis of this generation, and all of them have decided that Zionism is the work of Satan with all his seductions and incitements, for the purpose of turning the Jewish people from the good path.

They have warned that a great danger arises from it for the entire Jewish people, G-d forbid, and that all those who venture to defend the Zionists are no better than they.

To our shame, some rabbis in our country have joined the Zionists and have founded an organization under the name of Mizrachi. They have rejected all the rebukes of the rabbis, and they pretend to be men with respect for the word of G-d.

They have founded committees and it is likely that they will turn to your honor. I am therefore informing your honor that all the greatest rabbis in our land are perplexed at the matter. In the books of the Jewish legal authorities there is no suggestion that it is our duty to found a kingdom.

On the contrary, our Talmudic sages have expressly forbidden this. These rabbis of the Mizrachi have no faith, and do not trust in the salvation of G-d. Their minds have become deranged into believing that in a state founded by the hands of man there will be peace for us.”

(The Transformation, pp 186-187)

Rabbi Chuna Halberstam,
Rebbe of Kalashitz, Poland (d. 1940)

The plain truth is that there is no difference between the three groups: the Zionists, the Mizrachists and the Agudists, also known as Shlumei Emunei Yisroel. The ways of all of these are abominable to religious Jews.

(Tikun Olam, ch. 56)

The Rebbe persecuted the poisonous root, the heretics, the deniers – the Zionist group – relentlessly, pouring hot water on them at every opportunity, in order to uproot and clean out this idolatry from amidst the Jewish people.

When someone asked the Rebbe if he should go to the Land of Israel, he replied, “When I was young I had a desire and yearning to go to the Land of the Israel, to the point that I contemplated leaving my father and mother and going there on foot. But now that the Zionists have settled there, I say that it is forbidden to settle there, for the place is prepared for punishment.”

Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam,
Bobover Rebbe (1874-1940)

Unfortunately, a new group has arisen who throw off from themselves the yoke of Torah and the commandments. They ascend to the Land of Israel in order to live a permissive lifestyle, and some go for their own pleasure. Obviously, such an ascent is really a descent.

(Kedushas Tzion, Moadim p. 87)

For behold, in our times there have arisen irresponsible men, who throw off the yoke of Torah and mitzvos and convince the Jewish people to be like all the nations, to build themselves an independent government - and they pretend that this is the ultimate redemption. But it is obvious and known that they speak falsely, and that their way is the complete antithesis of the Torah.

(Kedushas Tzion, Moadim p. 92)

Rabbi Shaul Brach,
rabbi of Kasho, Hungary (1865-1940)

Anyone who believes in the Torah of Moses should keep very far from the Zionists and Mizrachists. He should avoid eating and drinking together with them. It would really be proper to expel them from the Jewish people, as our forefathers did to the Sadducees and the Karaites.

Every person should guard his soul and avoid intermarriage with them. They have sent heretics and rebels to the Holy Land to anger G-d in His palace.

It is especially important to keep away from them in our country, where all the greatest rabbis have unanimously forbade joining them. One should not debate with them, but rather keep as far as possible from them. (Avos Al Banim, introduction p. 24)

The Zionist movement has publicly denied G-d and His Torah, and they intentionally anger G-d. There is no nation or ethnic group in the world that has such a heretical and wild group as the Zionists and their pioneer followers.

As if it were not enough that they are complete heretics, they have a poisonous hatred to all observant Jews. Is that called "settlement of the land'? Such a destruction of the land never took place in history. (ibid. p. 13)

We have long ago been foresworn by the holy prophets not to force the end and not to enter the Land of Israel by force of arms. But these wayward sons say that with their strong arms and money they will save Israel. They say openly, “G-d has forgotten us and we will save ourselves.” (Givas Shaul, 386)

The rabbi came out strongly against the latest movement, Zionism, whose entire purpose is to destroy everything good in our people and our holy Torah. He saw that the danger of Zionism was much more than that posed by the Maskilim and Neologists, for the Zionists were members of the Orthodox kehillos and were attempting to destroy everything from within. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 591)

Allow me to alert my brethren, to save them from this trap, that they not fall victim to the Zionists who lead them astray to take part in what they call the redemption of the land. (Avos Al Banim, p. 9)

The worst are those who transgress the oath that we were made to swear: not to go up as a wall to the Land. They think they have power to fight against the [British] government's officers, and they lead the Jewish youth like sheep to slaughter to fight in the Land of Israel against the government and against the Arabs. (Kuntres Shomer Emunim)

Since the dawn of the Zionist movement, suffering has not ceased to exist in the world. All the warnings of the Torah have been fulfilled in their details among our people all over the world. For a believer it is no surprise that the Zionists are the same as the heretics at the time of the Destruction of the Temple. Divine judgment has been unleashed on the entire world. (Avos Al Banim, p. 14)

As far as our brethren in America who support the Zionist heresy in the Holy Land are concerned, if they do not recognize the truth, even in free America they will quickly feel the effects of the verse, “With anger poured out will I rule over you” (Ezekiel 20:33). May G-d have mercy. (Avos Al Banim)

Rabbinical Court of the Orthodox Community of Kasho, Hungary

Rabbi Shmuel Shlomo Leiner,
Rebbe of Radzin, Poland (d. 1942)

Regarding the fund for the Zionists and the preparatory farming schools and other such things, I did not find it necessary to warn about them at the time, because it is obvious to any thinking person who has learned a little Torah that they are completely forbidden according to Torah law. (Sod Yesharim)

Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Perlow,
Rebbe of Karlin, Russia (1892-1943)

Zionists and Mizrachists – there's nothing to talk about. They are the Satan himself! (Birkas Aharon, p. 193)

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Tannenbaum,
(1849-1944)

May you be privileged to wake up our Jewish brethren to separate from the Zionist and Mizrachist groups. It is an obligation upon every Jew whose soul stood at Sinai to pray from the downfall of Zionism while saying the prayer “Velamalshinim.” (Introduction to Masos Moshe)

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich,
rabbi of Simlau, Hungary (1863-1944)

G-d forbid to accept the position of the Zionist heretics, who want to take the Holy Land by force and rebel against the government, for it will be bitter for them in the end. They hate the Torah and it is like a thorn in their eye. G-d forbid to support them with money, for they are not Jews. Without Torah, one is neither a Jew nor a gentile, and they have no right to speak in the name of the Jewish people.

Who appointed them for this mission? We have no portion with them. (Lechem Shlomo, Drasha 120, Shavuos 5699)

G-d forbid to support the Zionists, for they have brought all this upon us. They want to achieve a government there. G-d forbid! For it is better for us to be in exile under the nations of the world than to be in spiritual exile under them. And I adjure you: G-d forbid to donate even one penny to those heretics and wicked Jews, by whose hands many innocent souls have been killed. (Lechem Shlomo, Drasha 144)

Now heresy has increased in the world, with the group calling itself “Zionists” and other names. They are heretics and deniers, and the holy Torah is like a thorn in their eye. (Tiul Bapardes v. 1 Shin, 9)

We do not agree to join the wicked people who are called Zionists, for there is no heavier or worse exile that what they wish to achieve when they rule over us, may G-d protect us from them and their masses. (Avnei Hamakom, Even Hoezer p. 55)

Therefore, my friends, listen to me and your soul will live. Do not aid the heretics even with one penny, for if you do you will be helping to uproot the Jewish people and the holy Torah. This is not the building of the Land of Israel, but its destruction, for they will fill the Land of Israel with licentiousness and heresy. When their pork-eating emissaries come here from Temeshvar, do not listen to them and do not give them anything. (Lechem Shlomo, Drasha 76, p. 144)

But these organization do not build, they destroy; they lay to the ground the Holy Land and the Holy City of Jerusalem. All the tragedies from which we suffer today are due to them and their actions. G-d forbid to support them with money, and whoever gives to them is strengthening the hands of heretics and bringing misfortunes upon the Jewish people; their sin is too great to bear. This is as clear as the sun to anyone whose eyes are not pasted over. (Tiul Bapardes v. 1 Lamed, 15)

Not only did the Zionists cause us to suffer great tragedies in all the countries of Europe; their wickedness goes even further. For if the filthy Zionists had not roared with a great voice, “The Land is ours” and requested that they be given the Land in order to make a Jewish state, the Arabs would not have done any harm to us.

On the contrary, the Holy Land would now be a haven for Jewish refugees from Europe. The Arab people were always kind to the Jews living in Palestine; Jews could walk alone in the streets at night without fear. For many years they did not do any harm to Jews.

It would not have occurred to them not to accept them or to do them any harm. But since the Arabs saw the Zionists saying, “The Land is mine” and wishing to be masters there, they were aroused to persecute us. If so, all the evil and misfortunes are the fault of the Zionists. (ibid.)

Rabbi Shimon Sofer,
rabbi of Erlau, Hungary (1850-1944)

It is well-known that the Zionists are complete deniers of the Torah, and they themselves say so openly. Whoever still has a spark of Judaism in his heart hates them and cannot bear to join them. (Tikun Olam, ch. 51)

Rabbi Meir Klein,
rabbi of Ujhel, Hungary (b. 1885)

רבי מאיר קליין זצ " ל - מאוהעל

Such is the way of the accursed group of the Zionists, to disguise all their lusts and abominations in our holy language, sinning in it and causing the masses to sin.

They trap unsuspecting Jews in their evil net. Woe to us that this has happened in our time! The efforts of Satan have been successful and they have spread around the Holy Land.

They have come and defiled the Holy Land with foreign abominations that our forefathers could never have imagined. Both of the ears of whoever hears about it will ring, and the hair of his flesh will stand on end. (Toldos Shmuel, v. 3 p. 142)

RABBIS WW II AND LATER

Rabbi Dovid Baharan of Jerusalem,
(d. 1946)

We must separate completely from the Nationalist Council, from the Zionists and from their organizations and institutions. We must not join forces with them in any way, for then we would be destroying the holy Torah, G-d forbid.

Fight hard and be strong in the battle against the Zionists and the Nationalist Council, which has risen up against us and against the holy Torah. We must especially fight their latest sins, in which they take precious souls, refugee children from Poland or Yemen, orphaned of both father and mother, and force them to abandon their faith. Wage a bold war with them, and G-d forbid to come to an agreement with them. (Hachomah, 1 Sivan 5704)

Rabbi Ahron Roth,
Shomer Emunim Rebbe (1894-1946)

A festive meal was held to celebrate the completion of a Torah scroll in memory of the Jews killed in the Holocaust. All the Chassidic rebbes and heads of yeshivas attended, including the Rebbe. He sat down at the table opposite the Zionist chief rabbi [Herzog]. He asked others who this man was, and they replied that it was the Zionist chief rabbi. The Rebbe immediately stood up from his place and left the hall.

On the way home, he said, “I did not want to sit at the meal together with him.” One of the Chassidim commented that this chief rabbi was somewhat better than his predecessor, but the Rebbe said angrily, “I don't want to hear any praises of him. If he is with them, it is forbidden to speak positively of him.”

Once the Rebbe was taking a walk in the field and his Chassidim wanted to bring him a chair to sit on and rest. But the Rebbe refused, preferring to sit down on a rock. “I don't want to sit on something that the wicked Zionists made,” he said. “I would like to sit on a place that these wicked people did not yet touch and defile.”

He scrupulously avoided any words that came from the Zionist language, modern Hebrew. Once he was at an engagement meal and was honored with reading the engagement contract aloud. The contract said that the bride's side promised to give "rehitim" (furniture). When the Rebbe reached this word, he stopped reading and said, "This is a Zionist word! Although we find the word used in the Bible (Song of Songs 1:17), it has not been used for a long time, and so whoever uses it today is using it because of the influence of modern Hebrew!" (Furthermore, the original meaning of the word was beams or bolts, not furniture).

Then he tore up the document and told them to rewrite it. "But what word should we use for 'furniture'?" they asked. He replied that they should use the Yiddish word "mebbel." (Mishkenos Haro'im, p. 743)

It is a temporary settlement that will not be successful in the end, for soon we will see the fulfilment of “to dump the wicked out of the land”. (Az Nidberu, p. 77)

The Rebbe always spoke strongly against coming close to the wicked, saying that we must have no connection with them and stay as far from them as possible. At the end of his life he said often that it is a miracle that these wicked people do not command us to put on tefillin, for if they were to pass such a law, it would almost be forbidden to put on tefillin, since we must always do the opposite of what they do. (Preface to Shomer Emunim)

Rabbi Ben Zion Chazan,
Sephardic rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem

רבי בן ציון חזן זצ"ל ירושלים

On May 28, 1948, during the Zionist war of independence, as the battle in and around Jerusalem raged, the two rabbis of the Old City, Ashkenazic Rabbi Velvel Mintzberg and Sephardic Rabbi Ben Zion Chazan boldly went out to the Jordanian army carrying the white flag, showing that the true Jewish people were surrendering to them.

When the Zionists saw this act, which they saw as treachery and denial of their doctrine of fighting their way out of exile, they wanted to kill the rabbis, and they fired at them with their guns.

Thank G-d, they missed. Later they considered putting the rabbis on trial, but seeing that such a trial would bring no honor to Zionism, they abandoned the idea. (Kol Demei Achicha Tzoakim, issue 6 p. 4)

Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter,
Rebbe of Gur, Poland (1866-1948)

When I walked in the streets of Jerusalem, in places where Arabs with their camels walked about, in almost every place I came they cleared the way for me respectfully. If only we were treated half as well by the gentiles in all the lands where Jews live! It is my opinion that we can remain on good terms with them and live there peacefully and safely. (Letter written in 1921)

Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky,
rabbi of Jerusalem (1867-1948)

In the year 1902 the greatest rabbis of our country [Hungary] saw the damage caused by the heretical views of the Zionists, and they forbade any Jew in the country to join them or the Mizrachists. (Responsa Maharitz 1:93)

Orthodox Jewry has not the slightest intention of subjugating any section of the population of the Holy Land. We merely ask that the gates of Palestine be opened to all those Jews who have no home and enable them to live here Jewish lives in accordance with the commandments of the L-rd.

However in order to avoid the continuation of the untenable position as set out in the last paragraph of section 4 we suggest that the keys of Jewish immigration be placed into the hands of the Government of this country...

We furthermore wish to express our definite opposition to a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. (Declaration before the United Nations, July 16, 1947)

The Jewish Orthodox community (Eidah Hacharedis) of Jerusalem, comprising 60,000 souls, objects to the idea of including Jerusalem in the Jewish state and/or its residents automatically becoming citizens of the Jewish state.

Our community requests that Jerusalem be an international zone, under your protection, with full autonomy, and its residents be free citizens of the international zone of Jerusalem.

Chief Rabbi J. Z. Dushinsky in the name of the Ashkenazic Community (Letter to the United Nations, November 18, 1947)

Unfortunately, we have already seen what the Zionists do... in particular, it is well-known that all their activities are against the wishes of the government officials, under whom we live in peace. If we are silent now, we will have sinned. We have always fulfilled the words of the prophet,

Therefore we call out to you, our Jewish brethren: G-d forbid for you to join them! Stay united and then all will live in peace. (Announcement poster, 1924)

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn,
Lubavitcher Rebbe (1880-1950)

The straight-thinking Jew looks on in astonishment, thinking: what do these rebels against G-d and His Torah have to do with the Land of Israel? (Mishmeres Chomoseinu 20 Shvat 5716)

I hereby join with the honored rabbis who oppose and protest against Mizrachi and the like. They do not walk in the spirit of the Torah. I wish to convey in writing that the Jewish people should separate themselves from this terrible desecration. Let the defiled leave the face of the Holy Land! (Om Ani Chomah, 5709 ch. 4 p. 400)

It is forbidden for us to join the Zionists (Open letter to the Agudah, Tikun Olam ch. 34)

Rabbi Yaakov Yechezkel Greenwald,
Rebbe of Pupa, Hungary

Even in the Holy Land, we see the fulfilment of the verse,

For the group calling itself “Zionists” has become powerful there, a group that our rabbis of blessed memory warned us to keep as far as possible away from, for their foundation is heresy.

The most bitter exile is when we are in exile under heretical Jews who deny the holy Torah, as we see in this generation under the group called “Zionists”. (Vayaged Yaakov, p. 441)

Rabbi Zelig Reuven Bengis,
rabbi of Jerusalem (d. 1953)

We have already spoken about these nationalists. They are a recently-founded group with the purpose of fooling the people and leading the masses astray, thinking that they can settle the Holy Land by natural means and attain sovereignty over it.

They are mistaken and they are swindlers, and their plan will not succeed. (Liflagos Reuven, Drashos, Chanukah 5672, p. 331)

Rabbi Amram Blau refused to hold Zionist coins, and Rabbi Zelig Reuven Bengis spat on Zionist currency. (Gilyon Ho'emunah, Bamidbar, Sivan 5742, issue 6)

Rabbi Avraham Yishaya Karelitz,
author of Chazon Ish (1878-1953)

When news of the destruction of European Jewry arrived, and it seemed that it might be possible to save some Jews by working together with the Zionist Agency, the foremost religious rescue workers asked the Chazon Ish what to do. He responded, “The reason we save lives is because that is G-d's command.

If we neglect an opportunity to save lives, we will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment. But in this case, if they ask you on the Day of Judgment why you did not save lives and you reply that it would not have been possible except by working together with the Zionists, and one may not work together with the Zionists – I am certain that they will accept your answer!” (Om Ani Chomah, 23 Menachem Av 5723)

On Zionist independence day in the last year of the Chazon Ish's life, he was honored to officiate at three different ritual circumcision ceremonies. Still, he requested that the Tachanun (a prayer that is omitted on festive occasions) be said, lest someone come later on and testify, "The Chazon Ish did not say Tachanun on independence day," without revealing the circumstances. He once said, "It would have been proper to declare the fifth of Iyar a public fast day." (Safah Ha'ivris, p. 20)

He once said: "One clear day they will open the windows and they will see 'no more State'." (ibid.)

He did not obtain a State Identification Card. And when the regime took a census, he refused to register, saying, "I am from the people of Jerusalem" (meaning the observant Jews of Jerusalem who refused to be counted). (ibid.)

At the beginning of the State, the municipality of Bnei Brak wanted to hang a Zionist flag on his house and he refused. When he was told he would have to pay a fine because of his refusal, he answered, "It's worth it, it's worth it." (ibid.)

Rabbi Mordechai Chaim Slonimer,
Slonimer Rebbe of Tiberias, Palestine

After the declaration of the state, a number of the greatest rabbis met to discuss the situation. In his speech, the Rebbe told everyone: Whoever is on G-d's side, come to us! Whoever does not want to be killed physically and spiritually, whoever does not want to be drawn after heresy, whoever recognizes and knows that the state itself is a fundamental uprooting of the Torah, besides the laws and decrees they pass against Torah law – let him be inscribed in the list of those who refuse to recognize their state.

By registering everyone in a list, the power of G-d and His Torah will be strengthened. People of faith will be gathered, one by one, and they will with G-d's help become a strong force. (Teshuah Beyisroel, p. 32)

The Zionists, who induce others to sin, are careful never to mention the name of G-d in their official papers. Regarding them Scripture says,

They hired for themselves rabbis who speak about the subject of the Land of Israel, and their entire goal is to found a new government which would deny the Torah of Israel. (Om Ani Chomah, 26 Elul 5711)

Let not your kindness and tolerance lead you to forget the acts of these wicked people, who have already done so much harm. This is why the Torah warns us to erase the memory of Amalek and not to forget what Amalek did. There is no better example of Amalek's deeds than this: a community that rebels against G-d's kingdom, and now they make efforts to capture an earthly kingdom. What more do they have to do?

Therefore I do not simply tell you to desist [from joining the Zionists], but to take action using any ways and means available, as you would do if enemies attacked you with the sword. We must make known to the government that the Zionists are not the representatives of the Jews.

We must also publicize among the Jews their evil deeds, such as murder and immoral behavior. May G-d give us wisdom and sagacity in finding the right way to separate from them, and this will spell their end...

All this lengthy writing was for the purpose of proving the great importance of the fighting and opposition that we must encourage. (Mara D'ara Yisroel, end of v. 2)

This [Knesset] building is a house of sinful lawmaking. To our great pain, it has become a place of horrifying blasphemy. They stand up against G-d and his messiah. Just to hear it makes our soul weep. Our Sages have said (Talmud, Tractate Shabbath 116b),

Truly, at a time like this we must sanctify G-d's name whenever we can, and at least protest against these sinners. We must show the whole world that the Jewish people is faithful to its G-d, and we have nothing to do with these who conspire against the King of the World and uproot his Torah.

May G-d repair our breaches and the breaches of His people with mercy, so that we not stumble or be caught in their trap, G-d protect us. Signed: Mordechai Chaim Slonim, Avraham Yitzchok Kahn, Mordechai Harris.

Rabbi Yosef Shmuel Rabinow,
rabbi of London, England

It is forbidden to join efforts with the wicked in any way. The state is a true catastrophe. (Om Ani Chomah, 11 Menachem Av 5713)

Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch,
head of the yeshiva of Telz, Cleveland, USA (d. 1955)

The blood of our father [Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch] flows in our arteries – blood that he spilled for all of his life for the sake of his battle against the idol of Zionism... The Torah position and the clear law is that we must not support Zionism or recognize the idolatry...

No yeshiva has yet produced students who were truly G-d-fearing unless its leaders were sharply and staunchly opposed to recognizing the wicked and the wickedness of the Zionists. Thank G-d, among all the staff of the yeshivos of Poland and Lithuania, there was not even one rabbi who supported the Mizrachi.

We must also remember this: that the Yeshiva, wherever it may be, is the life work of my father of righteous memory. If any influential person here disagrees with my father's ruling that “Zionism is a disease, and anyone who is drawn after it will not escape punishment” (Shiurei Daas) then it is an insult to my father's honor.

In the place where that righteous man dedicated his life to battle against Zionism, we will not allow anyone of a foreign spirit who disagrees with him to draw near. (Letter)

Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl,
head of the yeshiva of Nitra, New York (1903-1957)

The only solution is:

• a) to raise a public call to unseat the [Zionist] statesmen from their positions of leadership and
• b) to give up on the demand for a Jewish state.

We must pray to G-d to remove the bitter Zionist heresy from the world.

Let it be clearly understood that never in Jewish history (even in the time of Jeroboam or Achav) have such hostile atheists stood at the helm of the Jewish people as today.

How can we plead to the Almighty for mercy while we tolerate these vile, wicked leaders as spokesmen! Beloved brothers - let us cleanse our ranks and cleanse our midst. Let us cast out any Zionist influence from our heads. Let us entreat the Almighty through prayer, repentance, and fulfillment of mitzvos that He alone redeem us, immediately. (Poster, 1948)

At the time of the establishment of the Zionist state in 1948, Rabbi Weissmandl travelled several times to Washington to express his opposition to it.

These men with their plans have insulted and angered and embittered the Arabs, who had lived peacefully and quietly with the Jews for many generations. (Mi Nosson Yisroel Levozezim)

Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik,
rabbi of Brisk, Poland (1887-1959)

All his life he was an enemy of the Zionists. While he was rabbi in the city of Brisk, he persecuted the Zionists forcefully, and at times he suffered from their hatred of him. When he crossed the border into Palestine and the officials handed him some papers to sign, he noticed at the top of one of the papers the heading, “The Jewish Agency”.

He refused to sign that paper. This was at the height of World War II, and he had come to Palestine to save his life. Normally people are not so particular about what they do at such times, as long as their life is secure – but the rabbi of Brisk refused to sign. (Om Ani Chomah 5719, p. 331)

Once someone told the Brisker Rabbi that some yeshiva student had gone to watch the Zionist independence day parade. He became angry and said, "If the Nazi S. S. officers had a parade, would they go to watch that too? Don't our Sages say that one who causes another to sin is worse than one who kills him?" (Uvdos Vehanhagos Leveis Brisk, v. 4 p. 210)

Maimonides writes that the messiah will bring the Jewish people out from under the rule of the nations. Whoever believes there can be a redemption from the rule of the nations without the messiah, is lacking complete faith in the coming of the messiah. (Yalkut Divrei Torah)

During the siege of Jerusalem in 1948, when food and water were limited, the Neturei Karta held its famous protest calling for a ceasefire (which the Zionist writers dubbed “the white flag parade”). Needless to say, the Brisker Rabbi was the man who urged the heads of the religious community to undertake this protest. He wanted thousands of men, women and children to participate, but unfortunately only the men of Neturei Karta hearkened to his voice.

Later, when the heads of several yeshivas came to discuss the difficult situation, which was worsening every day, he spoke to them sharply and said, “Where were you when the Neturei Karta put out their first posters?” He was referring to the poster against a Jewish state, published after the United Nations decision in November 1947. (Om Ani Chomah, 5619, p. 331)

Rabbi Shimon Yisroel Posen,
Rebbe of Shopron, Hungary

I am happy to see that you understand well that we must distance ourselves from the entire mistake that has, unfortunately, become prevalent since the day that, unfortunately, the defiled Zionist state was founded. It is truly idolatry and complete heresy. (Toras Alef, v. 4 ch. 30)

Whoever believes in or admires this state of heretics even the slightest bit, is a heretic like them. Anyone who wants it to continue existing, even in the inner chambers of his heart, even if he does not make this known to others, or derives secret pleasure from the existence of this state, is a believer in idolatry.

This should definitely be spoken of in public all the time, so that the masses who do not understand this on their own should not forget about it. We must not allow them to become dull with time, G-d forbid, and be drawn after all the noise made by the priests of this idolatry. (Toras Alef, v. 4 ch. 31 par. 7)

Rabbi Yishaya Asher Zelig Margolios,
Jerusalem

Unfortunately, Satan was victorious and he founded a state of hell. (Or Zarua Latzadik, p. 19)

As a young man, Rabbi Margolios lived in an apartment in the Knesses neighborhood. Outside his window was a wheat field owned by an Arab named Abbad, who lived nearby. He was on good terms with the religious Jewish residents, and served as their “Sabbath gentile”: when the Jews needed to warm up milk for a sick person on the Sabbath, Abbad would warm it up.

[Note: since it is forbidden for religious Jews to do any work or cook on Sabbath, they utilize the "Sabbath gentile”, or “Sabbath Goy" (Shabes Goy) - non-Jew to do any work that needs to be done.]

When the light went out in their kerosene lamp, the Jews would call Abbad, and he knew what to do; no one had to tell him. After the Sabbath they would give him a small loaf of challah bread as a gift of appreciation.

One Sabbath in 1929, the Zionist settlers attacked Abbad's house. They knocked on his door, planning to murder him and his wife. The Zionist mob called Rabbi Margolios to help them. Rabbi Margolios knocked on Abbad's door, and as soon as he opened it he threw his Hasidic fur hat and caftan on the Arab and walked with him to the synagogue. The Zionists, not knowing which was the Arab and which was the Jew, abandoned the area. (Azamer Bishvachin, p. 11)

Rabbi Chaim Yosef Dinkels

Before the War, the rabbi once had to spend Simchas Torah in a town in which the custom was that every person who was called up to say the blessing over the Torah donated money to the Zionist “Jewish National Fund”. So he did not go to the synagogue at all.

He prayed privately and did not dance with the Torah, so that he should have no partnership with Satan. (Gilyon Ho'emunah Menachem Av 5777, issue 16)

Rabbi Avraham Kalmanovitz,
founder of Mir Yeshiva of Brooklyn, USA (1891-1961)

It is forbidden to participate at all in the Zionist government, whether in the coalition or the opposition. (Kulmus Halev, p. 202)

Rabbi Pinchas Epstein,
rabbi of Jerusalem (d. 1970)

Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Twersky,
Skverer Rebbe, New York (1900-1968)

He would fast on the day the Zionist state was established. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 858)

Rabbi Yechezkel Mertz
New York (d. 1970)

His opposition to the accursed Zionism was well-known. His opposition to Agudath Israel was also very strong. Similarly, he despised and detested the modern Hebrew language, and he could not stand to hear even one word of modern Hebrew.

Rabbi Dovid Jungreis,
member of the court of the independent rabbinate of Jerusalem (d. 1971)

From the day the state was established, his heart was broken within him, and whenever he spoke about it he would melt into tears over the fact that the Holy Land was delivered into the hands of wicked men who lead Jews away from their Father in heaven.

Rabbi Amram Blau,
leader of Neturei Karta, Jerusalem (1900-1974)

Religious Jewry hates Zionism more than all its enemies. (Toras Rabbi Amram, ch. 22)

In all of Jewish history and in all the words of the Sages, there is no parallel to be found to these heretics, rebels, inducers to sin and enemies of the Jewish people. (Om Ani Chomah 5709, ch. 187, p. 230)

He said: A Jew must want the state to be null and dismantled, even if he is in the state at the time. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 908)

In the name of humanity, justice and righteousness, we appeal to you not to forsake us and not to make us subservient to an authority whose principles and practices violate all that we have been taught to hold sacred and to cherish, and whose avowed intention is to undermine our religious existence. In general, therefore, we ask you to deliver us from Zionist domination in whatever manner you may deem to be fitting.

Appeal to the United Nations

Our appeal to the United Nations therefore takes the following form:

It is well-known that Jews lived in Palestine among the Arabs in peace. The Arabs bore no ill will toward the Jewish settlement as it grew and spread. The Arabs were pleased with this growth, and they gladly sold land to the Jews.

The Arab people expressed no opposition to Jewish immigration or to the sale of land to Jews. We lived as neighbors with the Arabs without any fear. The Arabs had full trust in the Jews, and many times we saw that they preferred doing business with Jews to doing business with their own people. (Letter to Eliezer Neuberger)

Rabbi Moshe Yitzchok, "Itzikel" Gewirtzman
Rebbe of Pshevorsk, Poland (1881-1976)

When he sent a letter to the Holy Land, he would write the address himself, and he would write it using the gentile alphabet, not the Hebrew alphabet. Once in his later years, when he did not have the strength, he wrote a letter and asked his attendant to address it for him.

The attendant wrote it using Hebrew letters. When the Rebbe saw this, he said, “Jewish?! Are they Jews?! Is it a Jewish state?!” He took the envelope and tore it up, and he took another envelope and wrote the address himself with the gentile alphabet.

He would not touch the currency of the Zionist state. When someone put some Zionist currency on his table, he would push it off with his elbow. When he had wine made by the Lipshitz company, on Friday afternoon he would peel off the Star of David from the label. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 946)

Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum,
Rebbe of Satmar, Hungary, later rabbi of Palestine (1887-1979)

If we were to put all the sins of this generation and all the transgressions committed in the entire world on one side of a scale, and the Zionist state on the other side, it would outweigh everything, for it is the poisonous source of the worst defilement, the worst cause of damage in the entire world, and they are ones who defile the entire world. (Vayoel Moshe, Introduction, p. 11)

Unfortunately, today Zionism is the source of defilement. Since the creation of the world, there has not been such a source of defilement, may G-d protect us. They have killed and brought the entire world to apostasy and killings, and brought the Jewish people to destruction. (Chiddushei Torah, Lech Lecha 5716)

Woe is to us! How much blood dripped from the righteous rabbis of yesteryear over the Zionists, who have now taken power for themselves! Woe to us, how much pain and how much blood ran from the truly righteous when they suffered from that organization, knowing what it could become! (Chiddushei Torah, Beshalach 5715)

Those Jews living in the Land of Israel need G-d's help to be saved from that group who are called “Zionists” but whose true name and essence is heresy and denial of the Torah. (Drashos, Pinchas p. 150)

With bitterness of spirit, I ask you: Please, my brethren, do not sin by going to these defiled [Israeli] elections. And in the merit of those who never bowed to the Baal, may G-d have mercy on us and bring us out of this terrifying darkness to light. (Vayoel Moshe 1:141)

Regarding the prohibition on the elections, after much study and consideration I have reached the legal conclusion that their Knesset is a place of heresy, idolatry, immorality and murder; and anyone who joins it is a partner in everything they do. Whoever appoints an agent to go there is also sinning, for a person's agent is like the person himself...

In my opinion, there is no greater sin than this in our time. My clear conclusion, reached after a long time of study, is that voting is forbidden and one must put his life on the line for this. (Drashos, Matos Masei p. 160)

One cannot imagine the severity of the sin of those who rejoice or express happiness on the terrible day of insult that they call “Independence Day”, established by those insulters of G-d. They stood up against G-d and His messiah to establish a heretical government over the Jewish people, uprooting Torah and faith...

This is much worse than professing belief in an idol, for these people are not just professing belief; they are rejoicing in this terrible rebellion against G-d and His holy Torah. (Vayoel Moshe 2:157)

There is no doubt that any house that contains the slightest trace of the Zionist flag is forbidden to enter, for it is a haven for the forces of spiritual defilement, a resting place of Lilith, a temple of heresy – the heretical flag testifies to it. May Hashem protect us from them and their masses.

If someone feels, G-d forbid, even a little joy in his heart at the sight of the heretical flag which is antithetical to Torah – it indicates that he is completely cut off from the source of holiness.

Woe to us that such a thing has happened in our time: that there are people calling themselves Jews who are joyful over the flag that is against the will of the Creator. (Divrei Yoel, Bamidbar p. 102)

The Rebbe ruled that one should not respond to the Kaddish or Kedushah prayers in a room where a Zionist flag is present. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 996)

In our generation this is the greatest sin, and if a rabbi stands up to rebuke the Jewish people but fails to mention this sin, not only is he not improving the situation but he is making it worse. For when they do not mention this great destruction and sin, people conclude that they consent to it, and there is no greater sin than this. (Chiddushei Torah, Bamidbar p. 42)

The Jewish people has greatly neglected its responsibilities in this last generation, and the Zionists and secularists have been allowed to spread and take leadership. Slowly but surely, they have slipped the reins of leadership to themselves. In every place they have pushed themselves to become the Jewish leaders.

The reason they succeeded is because the Torah scholars did not want to waste time on worldly matters; they made their entire life goal to study Torah and serve G-d, not noticing that the Zionists were taking all public matters into their own hands.

This continued to the point where we suddenly saw that the Zionists dared to speak in the name of the entire Jewish people, as if they were the Jewish people. Naturally, they have succeeded to a large degree in sullying the name of the Jewish people in the eyes of the gentiles, falsifying its true face, as if the Jewish people were a secular nation like all the other nations. (Drasha, 5718)

There is an obligation to cry out with a loud and bitter cry in the streets against this desecration of G-d and His holy Torah on a level unequaled in Jewish history. (Vayoel Moshe 1:113)

We must make all efforts to make known to all the nations that the Zionists are not the representatives of the Jewish people, and that observant Jews have no connection with them. We must make this known even at the risk of our lives. (Kinus Haklali 5721)

It is an obligation upon every person and community to protest and cry out in any way he can, and to do anything in his power for the sake of the honor of G-d, which has been desecrated by the Zionists. One must respond at all times and in all places...

What did Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai do at that terrible time when the zealots forced their own rule over the Jews in opposition to the Romans? He made whatever efforts he could, and with the agreement of the other sages he went out to the Romans to save the remnant of the Jewish people in the Holy Land...

We have already established that it is a holy obligation to declare our faith... Everyone is legally obligated to do as Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai did... and to cry out in protest against the brazen sins of the Zionists.

We must let everyone know that the Zionists are not the Jewish people; they are the destroyers of the vineyard of G-d. The true Jewish people are those who keep and live by G-d's Torah. The true and holy Jewish people are not responsible for the evil deeds of all the Zionists and secularists of all stripes.

When confronted with this scene of heresy and permissiveness, we are commanded to proclaim in the streets the connection between the Jewish people, G-d and the holy Torah, in order to lessen somewhat the embarrassment of the Zionists' desecration of G-d's name...

Not long ago the Zionist leader declared before all the delegates of the nations of the world that the Jewish people has no connection with the holy Torah, G-d forbid. There is no greater desecration of G-d's name than this, and it is certainly a holy obligation to announce before those same gentiles that the Zionists do not speak for the Jewish people. The Jewish people is holy and the holy Torah is our life and the length of our days. (Drasha, 5718)

It is because of the Zionists that six million Jews were killed. The fact is that this is the bitter punishment stipulated in the Talmud.... which results in the payment of a spiritual and physical debt from the Jewish people. Afflictions and tribulations only appear in this world because of the wicked, and the punishment is meted out first upon the righteous.

However the Zionists have committed horrible actions; that they have always slandered and spoken libellously against the Jewish people to other nations, and have even incited non-Jewish leaders against the Jewish people to convince them to expel Jews from their countries. The Zionists believed that this strategy would make it easier to take over the Holy Land and establish their State there.

We see from letters written by great rabbis in the early days of Zionism how great was their deathly fear of the consequences of the slander and libel of the Zionists; unfortunately their fears were realized.

In addition to this, facts have come to light regarding the extent of the cruelties committed by Zionist organizations that resulted in the whole dreadful catastrophe. Some of these activities that took place in Hungary came to light as well in court cases that later occurred in the Holy Land. The Zionists undertook a number of explicit actions that they believed would assist them in meeting their objectives in the creation of a state.

It is not my intention to discuss this subject at length in this book because I am writing it solely for the purpose of clarifying Jewish law as it pertains to the establishment of a state. However, I mention these events to point out the fact that it is only this abominable idea of establishing a state that has caused all the hardships, sufferings and misfortunes that have befallen us, aside from the fact of countless Jews who have died because of the Zionist wars that are forbidden by Jewish law. (Vayoel Moshe 1:110)

The majority of Jews from Arab countries who have come to the Zionist state had resided in peace and tranquility, lacking nothing, until the establishment of the heretical regime, that is, the Zionist state, which has been the original cause of hatred and persecution in their native countries.

The Zionists themselves made this all possible with various tricks and ruses in order to increase the persecution so that the Jews living in Arab lands would have to move to the Holy Land utterly penniless.

Then the Zionists bragged about being the “saviors” of these Jews, although the Zionists themselves were the initial cause of all this upheaval. (ibid.)

The Zionists constantly boast that the only place of refuge on earth for Jews is their state. However, anyone with a brain in his head can see that it was because of the Zionists that the doors of other countries were shut to the Jews. This is because the Zionists always exert every effort to prevent Jews from going anywhere else other than to their own state.

Any person who takes even the slightest action of offering Jews the possibility of finding refuge in any other country to fulfill the statement of our Sages in the Talmud (Tractate Pesachim, p. 87) that “G-d did an act of charity to disperse the Jews among the nations” faces savage attacks of all kinds from the Zionists, who hurl all types of insults, slander and curses, claiming that such a person is a self-hating Jew who hates the Holy Land.

Moreover, Zionist officials and ministers fan out all over the world, attending banquets with world officials to convince them to refuse to allow their nation to serve as lands of refuge for Jews, and on the contrary, implore them to coercively redirect these Jews to the Zionist state, in violation of the oath prohibiting mass immigration to the Holy Land as explained by the Talmudic sages.

The Zionists coerce most of those Jews who have arrived in the Zionist State into heresy and apostasy, and the children of these Jews are defiled in dreadful ways. These “immigrants” continue to suffer poverty and enormous destitution.

All the Zionists care about is that they should have a strong state with a huge pool of available soldiers for their army and other coercive organizations and activities.

These Zionist evildoers used their G-d-given free will to choose evil, arrogance and heresy, and have been the cause of all the suffering and tribulations to the Jewish People, to assure that Jews find no peace and respite in any country, and work to assure that the doors of the nations are shut.

Furthermore, nations can claim that they do not have to offer refuge to Jews because the Jews now have their own state where they can seek refuge. The Zionists, who are viewed by the nations as the leaders of the Jewish People, demand that Jews not go anywhere other than to their state.

However, it is obvious that were it not for the Zionist state, the Biblical promise to our Patriarch Jacob that his descendants would always find refuge and solace would be fulfilled. The Zionists declare that only they are the “saviors” of the Jewish People; just two years ago [1956] they boasted that they were “rescuing” refugees from Egypt, despite the fact that it was the Zionists themselves who caused all the suffering and expulsions, as is the case in all their activities. (Vayoel Moshe 1:111)

While the British government still controlled Palestine, the Zionists' efforts to establish a state were the direct reason why the British chose to close the doors of Palestine to prevent a large influx of Jews.

Anyone who remembers how these events unfolded knows for a fact that were it not for the Zionists with their heretical ideas of establishing a state, the doors of the Holy Land itself would have remained open to Jewish refugees, and many Jews would have been saved.

During Turkish rule in the Holy Land, the gates of the Land were closed to Jews because the Turks feared Zionist immigration... This is all merely the tip of the iceberg concerning the tribulations and suffering that has befallen the Jewish people because of them. (Vayoel Moshe 1:111)

In my youth I heard an important rabbi offer a fitting parable about the Zionists: Once there was an evil and cruel man who was vengeful and constantly on alert. He wanted to take revenge against his friend, and burn all his and wealth and possessions. So he hired a second wicked person who was an expert in these sorts of operations to do his task in such a way that the victim would not even notice that it was he who had committed this act.

Since the hired criminal knew that his victim often welcomed guests into his home, he went to the victim's home in the evening disguised as a guest and asked for a place to spend the night. The unwitting victim welcomed him in immediately and gave him a room for the night.

In the middle of the night the wicked man observed that the householder and his family members were all asleep and that they would not notice anything. He silently set about to start a fire in a hidden area and then quickly returned to his room and pretended to be asleep.

The flames soon became noticeable and awakened the entire household in great panic; everyone soon realized that everything was on fire, but due to their confusion, panic and sorrow, the members of the family could not properly decide how to save their property.

In order to avoid suspicion the wicked guest, who had caused the fire, pretended to wake up in great panic and rushed to the aid of the householder, who noticed that the guest was able to calmly do a good job to save more furniture and household objects than the householder himself.

The following morning, when the householder went to the synagogue with a heavy and bitter spirit, he told his friends about the terrible calamity that had befallen him. He explained that he was now left impoverished and destitute, and that he had no idea where to look for a new home and livelihood.

While telling the story he mentioned the importance of the commandment of welcoming guests, because the guest he had invited into his home had helped save what little could be rescued from the fire in his home. The victim of the arsonist was asked by his friends to identify the guest. He described him, and they immediately recognized him as a very cruel and wicked man who was renowned for these sorts of deeds.

His friends mocked him and told him to watch himself, because were it not for that “guest,” there would have been no fire at all. The “guest” was actually an arsonist who had set fire to the house, and was no savior at all.

They added that the householder should never again allow that evildoer to cross his threshold, for if he should ever again have anything to do with that evildoer, his tricks would be even worse, and could result in the death of the householder altogether, G-d forbid.

The lesson of this parable is obvious: through their sins and their deeds the Zionists are the cause of all troubles and sufferings, yet they always come around to brag that they are the saviors when they are actually the arsonists! Those that do not wish to seek the truth fall for the ruse and think that they are saviors.

Satan blinds their eyes so that they end up in heresy and atheism, G-d forbid. By analyzing all the activities of the Zionists one can easily discover that their acts are utter destruction and no salvation. It would require a book specifically dedicated to this subject, and I have already written that in this book I do not wish to get into this history, only to shed light on the matter. G-d will guide those who seek the truth.

This is the last challenge of the Jewish exile, the hardest challenge the Jewish people have ever faced. Regarding these tribulations prior to the arrival of the messiah, Rabbi Yochanan said, “Let him come, but let me not see it.” (Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 98b)

The sufferer cannot tolerate any more suffering, and now we need the mercy of G-d to strengthen our true faith in G-d, His holy Torah and His servants who have served Him with all their hearts and souls in the generations before us. (Vayoel Moshe 1:111)

I heard that the religious Zionists announced that this war [of 1967] was necessary and obligatory according to Torah [in order to save the Jewish people from danger]. But it is obvious and known to all who see truth that all these troubles, including the danger of the war, came upon us only as a result of the existence of that Zionist state... it is the Zionist government that aroused the anger of the Arabs by provoking them in various ways, and if not for the stubbornness of its wicked leaders the danger of the war would never have been.

And even now, if they were to give up their state and their government, there is no doubt that they would take G-d's anger away from the Jewish people.

Had they done this, the entire calamity would not have come upon them... And for every minute that they hold on to their power they are offending the Creator, blessed be He, with violation of the oaths and rebellion against the nations, which the holy Torah has forbidden and for which we have been warned of a severe punishment...

And even naturally speaking, if they were to give up their government and Zionist state, there is no doubt that the United Nations would be able to find some way to prevent war and bloodshed.” (Al Hageulah V'al Hatemurah, Chapter 44)

Even if we assume that gentile approval would render it permitted for Jews to immigrate to the Holy Land, this means only approval from the gentile nation living in the Holy Land. The fact that other nations give their approval is irrelevant. Are the nations some kind of legislative body in which the majority can compel the minority?

...And even if all the nations in the world were to come together, their opinion would not be able to change the Torah one iota... so if all the rest of the nations of the world were to tell the Jewish people to rebel against the nation in which they live, it would certainly not be allowed to rebel, since, after all, rebellion is forbidden by the holy Torah. The same is true of immigration to the Holy Land: if the immigration runs against the will of the nation living there, the other nations have no power to permit it. (Vayoel Moshe 1:86)

Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein,
rabbi of Krasna, Hungary (d. 1979)

I wish to alert you and all of your colleagues to be very careful to avoid the contagious plague of false Zionist belief.

All these tragedies are the result of this defiled Zionism, which was founded by the ultimate source of defilement. Because of it all of these misfortunes come upon the Jewish people. (Om Ani Chomah, 29 Tishrei)

We must make known and reveal that the establishment of the State of Israel and its government is against the Torah and fundamentally wrong. It is a source of poison, leading the Jewish people astray from belief in G-d...

All their celebrations on Independence Day, including the Hallel prayer instituted by their rabbis and any other holiday celebrations – are all idolatry and heresy, and G-d forbid to celebrate their holiday. (Letter to the Central Rabbinical Congress)

When the state was established, two people came to the rabbi's room to give him what they thought was good news. The rabbi said to them, “On this day we should tear our garments and establish a fast day for all time.”

The rabbi also said,

It is obvious to us that all great rabbis of the past unanimously warned to keep far from the Zionists' opinions and ways, and they proved that according to Jewish law it is forbidden to join them for any purpose. They also placed a severe ban on the group known as the religious Zionists, who joined the Zionists.

They looked ahead with their pure eyes and deep understanding and saw that if, G-d forbid, the Zionists would succeed in founding a state, they would induce masses of Jews to deny G-d and His Torah and to desecrate all that is holy.

They would also cause the gentile nations to hate the remainder of the Jewish people both in the Holy Land and elsewhere. With a powerful voice, in writing and orally, they warned everyone to keep far from them in all ways, and to reject them as defiled.

Now it is not the time to be silent, sit with folded hands and see, G-d forbid, the destruction of our people. If we are silent, we will be found guilty of sin, as our Sages say that one person can be blamed for another's sin.

Whoever has the ability to protest against a sin and does not do so is blamed for that sin. Therefore in my opinion the rabbis must take action to save our generation from the poisonous trap of heresy. (Letter, 5717)

Perhaps it would be proper to make their independence day a fast day, in order to show our opposition to the heretics. (Letter to the Central Rabbinical Congress)

We must establish a fixed practice in all Jewish schools for boys and girls that the teachers should spend a little time twice a week teaching children of all ages about the evil of the Zionist doctrine, and condemning their anti-religious acts. They must inculcate into the children the concept of staying apart from the Zionism, their ideas and organizations, their books and newspapers, under any name. (ibid.)

The more one speaks to his children and wife about the evil of these heretics, the better. (Kavanas Halev, Shmini)

It is an obligation for every G-d-fearing Jew to fight against the Zionists in any way possible, to publicize their abominations and to inculcate into our children's hearts to hate them and stay away from them. They must tell the Zionist idol, “Go away, defiled one!” (Responsa Kavanas Halev, Introduction section 5)

Rabbi Yitzchok Lebovitz said, “Particularly following the unprecedented destruction of our people under the wretched Nazi regime, when the indescribable abuse of our people had exceeded any thinkable limit, when Hell was literally experienced here on planet Earth; and following that, also the period of the notorious Soviet Communist persecution of Jews, who refused to surrender their Holy Faith, yearnings for independence were at their peak and suppression of acting upon these feelings was extremely difficult.

So much that we are amazed at the character of those individuals who at that time withstood the challenge and controlled their emotions, favoring rather to accept the will of G-d.

I find it appropriate to mention the courage of my uncle, the Krasner Rav, Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein, who underwent the seven chambers of hell at Auschwitz, and not withstanding this fact, when the Zionist activists lurked in the DP camps morbidly abusing the situation for their personal agenda, recruiting pioneers to aid them in their struggle for independence from G-d, he did not lose his mind and was not able to be coerced.

But rather, upon his arrival at the Landsberg DP camp immediately following liberation from Auschwitz, he stood up and vehemently protested against the Zionist delusion. Upon contemplation of this one should be awed at the greatness of this strength which was a result of his total submission to our Holy Torah.”

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Greenwald,
Rebbe of Tzelim, Hungary (1893-1980)

Once a reporter from a Zionist newspaper came and spoke to him and asked him,

“What do you say about the Jewish state?”

The rabbi replied,

Rabbi Eliezer Zusya Portugal,
Rebbe of Skulen, Romania (1896-1982)

Once the Zionists threatened him with a revolver to stop working to save Romanian Jewry, or at least that he should work together with them. The Rebbe stood up and declared, “You can do to me what you want, but as long as I live I will not give up my work, and I will not work together with you.” (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 1030)

G-d forbid for our people to participate in the Knesset, which is full of arrogant heretics. It is incumbent on the great rabbis and Torah scholars to show in this manner that under no circumstances will we recognize a government of heretics in the Holy Land. We will not take part in a gathering of traitors. (Om Ani Chomah 2 Cheshvan 5725)

Are we not obligated to declare openly before the world that they are not our representatives? (Melucha un Retzicha)

Rabbi Yosef Greenwald,
Puper Rebbe, New York (1903-1984)

Unfortunately, in our time, heretics rule in the Holy Land over the Jewish people, and we are not free men... Also in the Holy Land, the verse

has been fulfilled. For the group calling itself “Zionists” has become powerful, a group against which our rabbis of blessed memory warned us and told us to keep as far as possible from, since they are rooted in heresy.

Rabbi Boruch Kaplan,
principal of Bais Yaakov School, Brooklyn, USA (1911-1987)

I want to correct an important error, a terrible error that Jews make. Jews think that the Arabs in Hebron [in 1929] were murderers, and they attacks the Jews for the purpose of murder, because they were evil. But if we study the facts, this is incorrect...

The Arabs were very friendly people, and the Jewish people in Hebron lived together with them and had very friendly relations with them. They worked for Jews, and everybody got along just fine.

Today's wicked Zionists are just like their predecessors, who were responsible for causing terrible suffering in Palestine with their wars with the Arabs, may G-d have mercy. At that time in 1929, the Zionists had a slogan arguing that the Western Wall in Jerusalem was a Jewish “national symbol.”

Of course, the Arabs disagreed with this idea, considering that they had control of the location for over 1,100 years. However, the Zionist mobs were yelling that “The Wall is ours!”

It's hard to understand why they felt that way considering they have no connection to the Jewish holy places whatsoever. An argument erupted in the Jewish newspapers about establishing a permanent prayer area for Jews at the Wall.

This provoked the Arabs, and the rabbi of Jerusalem at the time, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld begged them to stop and to be appreciative to the Arabs for allowing Jews to pray at the Wall for so many centuries undisturbed. However, the Zionists wanted a permanent setup under their control.

Everyone must know that the anger of the Arabs against us is only caused by the Zionists! The Arabs were a friendly people to us, and I am a witness to it. We lived very well with them in Hebron. Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter attested to this as well, and it is the accursed Zionists who caused them to hate us.

The Zionists dare to use their power to expel the Arabs, and even today in Lebanon, they kill and butcher the Arabs; they wipe out whole villages with the airplanes they get from the United States.

Everyone should know who the murderers are – the Zionists are the biggest murderers in the world, who refuse to let the Jewish people live in peace either physically or spiritually! (Taped interview)

Rabbi Dovid Smith,
rabbi in London, England and chief rabbi of Lithuania (c. 1989)

In truth, the very establishment of the state constitutes denial of all parts of the Torah, because the foundation of our faith is that we have to remain in exile until G-d brings us the redemption, and it must be a redemption without human effort. (Derech Chaim)

The world should know that the massacre in Hebron was not only against Arabs. I myself am a victim of this very same party. I am the chief rabbi of Vilnius, and because I tried to make peace between Jews and non-Jews...

This very same party came over to Vilnius, they wanted to stir up trouble, and because I walked out amongst a very inflammatory speech, they came in on Saturday when we were praying, the exact example that happened in Hebron.

They came into my synagogue! These were Israelis, they had no right in my synagogue. They came in by force, a hundred of them, they wanted to kill me! I was saved by miracles.

The whole world should know that we are not against Arabs, on the contrary, in our faith, in our Torah, we have to love respect every single person in the world. And these people are against everybody, they wanted to even kill Jews!

As myself the Chief Rabbi of Lithuania they wanted to assassinate me! I was saved by miracles. (Speech on March 4, 1994)

Rabbi Chaim Zanvil Abramowitz,
Ribnitzer Rebbe, New York (1895-1995)

Once someone heard the Rebbe cursing the Zionists in strong language for a long time, especially the Zionist leadership and especially Ben-Gurion.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok Kahn,
Toldos Ahron Rebbe, Jerusalem (d. 1996)

Here we are talking about a heretical government that has been standing for so many years, a state of wicked men and heretics who have no connection with the Jewish faith or the Creator, and hate all that is precious and holy to us. We must fulfill the verse, “I will hate those who hate You, O G-d.” (Speech given in 1992)

What can we say about this generation in which the darkness is powerful – there has not been such darkness since the time of the Flood! The wicked are powerful without limit; they sin and cause others to sin, may G-d spare us. They have taken political power and have already defiled and destroyed thousands and myriads of Jewish souls, may G-d spare us. Woe to us that we see such things! Woe to us that such a thing has happened in our time! (Introduction to Shomer Emunim)

Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Freund,
rabbi of Jerusalem (1904-1996)

Whoever votes in the election has a portion in the defiled regime. By going out to vote, they give strength to the defiled regime, a regime of heretics whose entire goal is to leave behind the holy Torah, may G-d spare us.

Anyone who goes out to vote has a share in all the sins that are committed there in the heretical Knesset. By voting, one professes belief in the defiled idol, and becomes a partner in it, via his representatives who sit there in that defiled place, committing severe sins equivalent to all the other sins in the Torah. (Speech given prior to elections.)

I have already said many times that at times like this, when G-d's name is being desecrated from one end of the world to the other by the actions of the Zionists and their collaborators, we have a holy obligation to raise our voices like a ram's horn and announce before the entire world and all its nations that we have no connection with these actions, and that according to the true Torah view we are obligated to seek peace with the nations of the world and not to start fights with them.

We rely only on G-d to redeem us from this bitter exile at the time when He sees fit. Our act of protest is a great sanctification of G-d's name, and in this merit surely G-d will have mercy on His poor people, turn aside His anger and redeem us eternally.

Because the sin of forcing the end of exile is what is holding back our redemption, and conversely, in the merit of our placing our trust in G-d and not taking any physical action to force the end, we hasten the redemption, may it be soon. (Ateres Yehoshua, Vayikra p. 4)

At a time like this, it is a great obligation upon us to raise our voices like a ram's horn in a mighty protest that will be heard from one end of the world to the other, to make known to all that according to our true Torah we are obligated to seek peace with the gentile nations among whom we live, and certainly not to arouse conflict with them, as Scripture says, “Seek the peace of the city wherein I have exiled you and pray to G-d on its behalf, for with its peace you will have peace” (Jeremiah 29:7).

And on the contrary, it is forbidden for us to do any act to rebel against the nations or force the end of our exile, to take redemption and a state before the coming of the messiah. And certainly it is forbidden to do such abominable acts as have been done [by the Zionists], for all these acts not only do not bring redemption and salvation to the Jewish people, but on the contrary they cause our misfortunes to increase more and more, may G-d spare us. (Ateres Yehoshua, Vayakhel, p. 236)

Rabbi Avigdor Miller,
rabbi of Bais Yisroel Synagogue, Brooklyn, USA (1908-2001)

The State of Israel solves nothing. All “problems” remain the same, and new ones are created:

1) The Arabian lands have been rendered uninhabitable for Jews;

2) constant wars with neighbors must be waged, incurring huge military expenditures and loss of many lives, in addition to constant peril;

3) it has exacerbated Jew-hatred in the nations, due to Arab influence and also to embroilment with the foreign policy of the nations;

4) and the proponents of the State of Israel attempt to kindle a fire under the Jews in all lands in order to make their position untenable so that they emigrate to augment the population of the new State. (Sing You Righteous, p. 25)

Can a Jew expel a gentile who possesses land in the Land of Israel? Certainly not, because the land is not ours right now. (Tape # 35 (1973) Question 6)

Rabbi Refoel Blum,
Kasho Rebbe (1910-2005)

It has been some time since the greatest rabbis, leaders of the fight against Zionism, have passed away. They have left our generation, unfortunately, without a window to let in the light of truth. Therefore we must strengthen ourselves, not weaken in our battle, and not sit with folded hands and laziness; but rather raise our voices constantly against all the sins of the Zionists.

Whenever the leaders of the Zionist state commit terrible desecrations of G-d's name, speaking heretical and insulting words in the name of the Jewish people, we are obligated to come out against them with constant protests and demonstrations. We must not limit our protest to speaking behind closed doors where nobody sees or hears.

The protests must not be against one specific sin or the other, but rather to let the voice of the Torah be heard: that the very existence of the state is like a bonfire, burning, G-d forbid, the parchment and the letters of the Torah. It is not enough just to say that a certain problem needs to be rectified.

Rather, the main stress should be that the entire state is forbidden according to the holy Torah. It is entirely founded on uprooting the Torah, and it is poison for everything holy to us.

We must announce in the streets before the eyes of all the gentile nations that the Zionists are not the leaders of the Jewish people, that they have no right whatsoever to speak in the name of the Jewish people, and that there are still Jews left who are faithful to G-d and His Torah. We must let all this be heard with a powerful voice, not a weak voice. (Ketzei Hashomayim, p. 56)

Rabbi Avrohom Leitner,
Brooklyn, USA (1929-2007)

We have to protest against Zionism in the streets as much as we can. The Satmar Rebbe taught that to us; he said it, he wrote it, he printed it: that we have to tell the nations of the world that we have no connection with the Zionist State. It's a tremendous sanctification of G-d's name to show the gentiles that there are still Jews who are on G-d's side, who hold that whoever does not believe in the Torah is a heretic, is not a Jew.

He may have a state, he may have a parliament - whatever it's called in their defiled language – and people may sit there with beards and sidelocks and whatever kind of hats, and they may have Hasidic prayer belts and black silk robes, but we have nothing to do with them.

This is especially important in view of the past two years, when the Zionist rebellion against the gentile nations has gotten worse, and the nations have the impression that the so-called religious, or hareidim or whatever name they go by, are the most militant of the rebels. (Kovetz Drashos pp. 31-32)

A Jew is only a Jew if he keeps the Torah and its commandments, and he accepts upon himself the yoke of exile. Whoever denies this, G-d forbid, is not a Jew at all. (Kovetz Drashos, p. 43)

Rabbi Yitzchok Dov Koppelman,
head of the yeshiva in Lucerne, Switzerland (1907- )

Also in our time, everyone has to strengthen himself and arouse within himself great hatred toward those who cause to sin and defile the entire Jewish people. It must be a clean hatred, a hatred of the evil, as King David said, “With the utmost hatred I hate them” (Psalms 139:22).

We have no connection with all these sinners. We do not, G-d forbid, flatter them or show them a smiling face. Needless to say, we do not accept any favors from them. (Speech, 1982)

We hear terrible news that Jews are being killed, may G-d spare us, and this is certainly bitter. Yet I have never seen anyone recite a chapter of Psalms for the thousands and tens of thousands of Jews who were led away from the Torah by those wicked people.

Good Jews are led astray there every day. When a Jew comes to the Zionist state from Russia or Spain or wherever else Jews were scattered, his last spark of Judaism is immediately extinguished.

Those evil ones have established a factory to do away with religion, unparalleled since we became a people. Missionaries arose against us in Spain, but they were not successful.

There were Jews who died to sanctify the Holy Name, other Jews kept their religion secretly and, as is well known, the rest left their land and birthplace. In every generation there are those who wish to destroy us and the Almighty delivers us from their hands.

But these wicked people have been successful in causing millions of Jews to leave their religion. The Midrash cries out that he who causes another to sin is worse than one who kills another person, but no one pays attention. The main thing these people care about is that the Zionists have been successful in this war [Lebanon 1982].

The Psalms are now left to rot - until these people set their accursed minds on doing battle again. No one cries out concerning the Jewish souls who have been sullied by these evil people: "They are murdering Jews! They are murdering Jews!" In fact, the crime is worse than murder, for he who causes another to sin is worse than a murderer.

We would think that these "missionaries" must be gentiles, must stem from a nation that hates Jews. But no, they call themselves Jews. Although completely assimilated, they pretend to be Jews - and this is why they are successful. (Jewish Guardian, 8 Av 5743)

Rabbi Israel Domb,
London England

The idea of the Zionist State is the opposite of Judaism and everything that it has brought into being is completely opposed to the name under which it goes.

Rabbi Meir Weberman,
Rabbi in Brooklyn, USA

By their insolent behavior and by their warlike acts, the Zionists have confirmed the worst of the anti-Semitic clichés... Hatred of Jews roused by the Zionists and their State is crueler, and more overt, than the hatred that sustained the Nazis, may their memory be expunged. (A Threat from within p. 200)

...Nothing could be further from the truth. Zionist and Jew are as much opposite as light and darkness, sweet and bitter, good and evil, and are completely incompatible and inconsistent with one another. Also the pseudo Judaism of the religious Zionists is nothing more than mere mockery. So please, please, never associate one with the other. (a letter to an editor)

Rabbi Moshe Hirsch,
rabbi of Neturei Karta, Jerusalem and Jewish representative in the Palestinian authority (1930-)

...The Zionist penetration into the Middle East, which eroded the majestic relationship which prevailed amongst the ethnic groups of the area, was not motivated by religion, nor by an orchestrated concern for fellow Jews. It was an opportunity for a small clique of Jews to exploit age-old Jewish values, in order to emancipate the Jewish nation from their bondage to G-d and His way of life.

They took advantage of the Palestinian indigenous inhabitants' simplicity, who were politically non-oriented, and gained the grasp of the helm of the country, through trickery and treachery. (Letter to King Hassan II of Morocco, May 23, 1989)

We, the undersigned Jewish Palestinians, wish to acquaint you, Mr. Clinton, with the predicament we Jewish Palestinians - Neturei Karta (Guardians of the Holy City) - find ourselves in. Undoubtedly, you are fully cognizant of the situation of the indigenous Palestinian population, which has been under Zionist occupation ever since the Zionists occupiers declared their "independence" and established their state in 1948, and of the blatant violation of internationally recognized human rights to those under their occupation.

We, the tens of thousands of the descendants of the Jewish Palestinians who arrived in the Holy Land centuries before the incursion of the Zionists into the Middle East, wish to inform you of the perilous situation we are encountering...

We beseech you, Mr. Clinton, to grant the Palestinians their independence and statehood, so that we, who chose to live in the Holy Land in order to serve G-d, and are now compelled to live under a sacrilegious rite, will be enabled to continue our residency in the Holy Land under a kosher alternative government - the State of Palestine.

Numerous Jews throughout the world are awaiting this opportunity, which will enable them to immigrate to the Holy Land and practice their religion in the non-sectarian State of Palestine, just as Jews live under non-Jewish governments throughout the world. (Letter to President-elect Clinton, November 9, 1992)

Rabbi Moshe Ber Beck,
rabbi in Monsey, USA

We are religious Jews who cling to the old, original Jewish faith and Torah. Our purpose in appearing here today is to make known to the world something that not everyone knows: that the authentic Jewish people is not identical with the Zionist idea and the Zionist state, but rather they are antithetical, like day and night.

G-d sent the Jewish people into exile due to their sins. Through His true prophets, He warned us not to organize ourselves and arise on our own from exile. G-d alone, without help from any creature and without any organization, will redeem us.

The Jewish people's entire life and existence is faith and Torah. They have been waiting in exile for almost two thousand years, with loyalty to the warnings and promises of G-d.

About 150 years ago, non-believing individuals arose who incorrectly understood the essence of the Jewish people. They saw the Jewish people as fundamentally not spiritual but material, and they proposed a modern solution to the “problem of exile”.

Mocking the old tradition of faith and hope, they introduced the concept of self-organization, which the Torah forbids. It is from this concept that the Zionist state was born.

One sin leads to another: they unjustly pulled out the ground from under the feet of the Palestinian people, robbed them of their houses and property, and expelled them cruelly and murderously. This would have been a massive criminal act for an individual Jew – all the more so for a large group of Jews, both according to Torah law and international law.

We are here to proclaim that the original Jewish people has no connection to the Zionist idea, their state or their actions.

Rabbi Ahron Cohen,
rabbi Manchester, England

My Friends, we are here today to protest against the terrible wrongs which have been perpetrated and continue to be perpetrated against the Palestinian People by the Zionist illegitimate regime (known as Israel) in Palestine.

My colleagues and I here today come under the banner of Neturei Karta which is the name of the opposition philosophy to Zionism held by Orthodox Jews.

You may well ask: how come we Jews are here protesting in support of Palestinians - who many would think of as enemies of the Jews? The answer, my friends, is that the Palestinian dispute is with the Zionists and not with the Jews.

Zionism and Judaism are two completely different and opposing ideas. Orthodox Jews sympathize entirely with the Palestinian cause. Jewish Orthodox teaching is totally opposed to Zionism on grounds of religious belief and on grounds of Jewish religious values of humanitarianism.

Our belief, going back thousands of years, teaches us that the Jewish People are and have been for the last two thousand years or so in a state of exile decreed by the A-lmighty because they did not maintain certain high standards expected of them. We have been dispersed around the world and our duty is to live as loyal subjects of which ever country we are in.

Furthermore, we are forbidden to attempt to form our own regime in Palestine. And we are warned of dire consequences if we attempt to override this prohibition. To do so is considered a rebellion against the A-lmighty. So, on grounds of religious belief we have no right today to form a regime in Palestine.

The Zionist philosophy, formed about 100 years ago by irreligious non-believers, is that the Jewish People have to fight their own way out of exile. They do not accept in any way the religious prohibition of this action and their approach to the matter of exile is diametrically opposite to the religious passive approach.

But perhaps what is more understandable to the non-Jewish world in the opposition of Judaism to Zionism is the fact that the Zionist ideology was to take over a country with an existing indigenous population and to form a sectarian State irrespective of the consequences to that indigenous people, depriving them of their homes and country.

This was a shocking contravention of humanitarian justice. Humanitarian justice is also a tremendously important element in Jewish Religious values.

The Zionists have thrown this completely overboard in their nationalistic quest for a State of their own. On these grounds too Orthodox Judaism opposes them entirely.

Because of the above the whole idea of a Zionist State is a flawed concept and is the underlying cause of the strife in the Middle East. As Jews, we are ashamed of our brethren who have followed the Zionist path and we wish to state that Zionists do not in any way represent the Jewish People as they would like to have the world believe.

(Approximate Transcript of speech given in Trafalgar Square, London, in connection with the Al Quds demonstration march in support of the Palestinian cause, October 30, 2005)

It constantly amazes me when I observe the protestation of nations such as the USA and the UK that they must protect and preserve the rights of the "democratic State" Israel against threats to its existence, when the whole concept of Israel was and is patently non-democratic, and when by a short look back in history it can be seen that the whole Zionist State was begat by the very violence (and the UK was a victim of this violence) against which these countries now protest...

My friends, of course no one but no one wants violence. But I have a dream which may now seem unrealistic (but who knows): if those who have the power to deliver were to announce sincerely, “We are prepared to abandon the sacred cow concept of a sectarian Zionist State and to discuss its dissolution in its present concept and form,” you would have peace in Palestine.

Jews and Arabs are perfectly capable of living peacefully with each other, as they have done for centuries, if the cause of their conflict is removed. It is obvious to any objective cause of conflict in Palestine is the very existence of the flawed and criminal concept of the Zionist State.

Peace will not be achieved until that concept is dismantled. The governments of the world could bring this about and our prayer is that this should happen peacefully and speedily. (Talk at the Houses of Parliament, January 31, 2006)

But we do have a problem and that is that the Zionists have made themselves to appear as the representatives and spokespeople of all Jews and, with their actions, arouse animosity against all Jews. Then those who harbour this animosity are accused of anti-Semitism.

So although it is abundantly clear that opposition to Zionism and its crimes does not imply hatred of Jews or anti-Semitism, however the wrongs of Zionism are a cause of anti-Zionism overflowing into old fashioned anti-Semitism; and, paradoxically, Zionism itself and its deeds, instead of being a remedy for anti-Semitism, are in fact the biggest cause of anti-Semitism.

Furthermore Zionism actually feeds on anti-Semitism. (Talk to the Cambridge Students' Union, February 6, 2006)

Rabbi Eleizer Hochouzer,
rabbi London, England

The cause of the past, current and, G-d forbid, future suffering is the aforementioned rebellion against G-d. The tragic and seemingly intractable conflict in the Middle East is directly attributable to the wicked actions of the Zionist regime against the indigenous population of Palestine, against whom the Zionists have been waging war for more than a century.

Thus, the only solution to bring about peace and harmony is not more war and strife, but rather regime change in historic Palestine!

The Torah's solution to this dilemma would be for the world community to actively work towards the dismantling of the illicit Zionist regime and the restoration of full Palestinian sovereignty over the whole of Palestine. We firmly believe that such a solution would not result in Jews being slaughtered indiscriminately by the Palestinians.

In fact, the very existence of the Zionist state endangers Jewish lives because it constitutes an open rebellion against G-d. Only when the Palestinian people return to their homeland as a sovereign nation and only when the scourge of the racist Zionist occupation has been removed from the sacred soil of Palestine will Jews and Arabs once again live in peace and harmony, as they have done for so many centuries, prior to the inception of Zionism some 100 years ago. Only when the Palestinian refugees are allowed to return to their native soil will there be peace in the Holy Land!

It is a hollow mockery and a desecration of everything sacred to Judaism that the Zionist heretics base their specious claims to the Holy Land on the Bible, justifying their mass invasion, colonization, expropriation and displacement of the native inhabitants of Palestine, who, according to the Torah, are entitled to sovereignty over the whole of their native homeland.

By establishing the “state of Israel”, the Zionists have openly rebelled against the will of G-d and the laws of the Torah and thereby have caused immense pain and immeasurable suffering to both Jews and non-Jews.

At occasions like this where people celebrate the establishment of the state of “Israel”, Torah true Jews lament the invidious attempts by the Zionists to transform Judaism from a religion into a secular, hypernationalistic and fundamentally racist creed and their sinister efforts to uproot the Torah's teachings from the Jewish people. (from a speech July 2006).

Rabbi Mordechai Weberman,
Brooklyn, USA

There are those who ask us why we march with the Palestinians. Why do we raise the Palestinian flag? Why do we support the Palestinian cause?

“You are Jews!” they tell us. What are you doing?

And our response, which I'd like to share with you this afternoon, is very simple.

It is precisely because we are Jews that we demand that the march with the Palestinians and raise their flag!

It is precisely because we are Jews that we demand that the Palestinian people be returned to their homes and properties!

In our Torah we are taught that we are forbidden to have our own State, even if all the nations, including the Palestinian people, would agree to give it to us. Yes, in our Torah we are taught that G-D sent the Jewish people into exile around two thousand years ago. He then expressly forbade us to attempt to end this G-Dly decreed exile.

The Talmud clearly states that G-D foreswore us with three oaths:

Secondly, we are commanded to be good and compassionate. Of course we are forbidden to steal, kill, etc. Yes, in our Torah we are commanded to be fair. We are called upon to pursue justice. And, what could be more unjust then the century-old attempt of the Zionist movement to invade another people's land, to drive them out and steal their property?

(Speech delivered under the auspices of the Palestine Right of Return Coalition (Al-Awda NY/NJ), at the march in front of the “Israeli” Consulate, on Friday July 26, 2002.)

Rabbi Yosef Goldstein,
London England

Our gathering today here is a symbol to the world that Jews stand together with Muslims. We have no problem. We have no fight. We have been fighting against Zionism since its inception. When Zionism started off one hundred years ago, all the rabbis came out and condemned it as an ideal in total opposition to the Jewish religion.

The atrocities that we see today are just the outcome of taking religion and transforming it into a political movement. Zionism may have more influence in the world, but Judaism stands for something that's totally opposed to Zionism and Zionism is totally opposed to the Jewish belief.

Your message that you shouted, that you stated before – “Judaism yes! Zionism no!” - is an important message to the world. We have always publicly protested and stated that the fact that the Zionist organization was founded by people of Jewish birth does not make it a Jewish organization.

Communism was also founded by people of Jewish birth, but it's not a Jewish concept. Zionism is no more Jewish than Communism.

Unfortunately, the Zionist activities dominate the press throughout the world, not only in the Holy Land which they occupy. But we as a religious people have no claim to a state. We have lived in Arab countries for generations in peace and harmony and we wish to continue to live among them.

The press has brought a lot of Jews to feel that there is a conflict between Jew and Arab over Jerusalem. This is not true! And at the same time the Arabs feel that we Jews are Zionists. This is also not true! Authentic Jews are not Zionists! Even without the atrocities and the murder that is taking place today, we would still be opposed to Zionism.

We pray daily for the dismantlement of the Zionist state and we wait for the day that the prophets foretold when they said that “nation shall not lift up sword against nation,” and “the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d.”

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss,
rabbi in Monsey, USA (1956-)

After the Holocaust, the world took its sense of pity for the Jewish people and bestowed it on the Zionists. Little if any thought was given to the deep and just desire of Palestinians to be a sovereign people in their own land or to the anti-Zionist Jews living therein.

It was as if a man having been chased from his home by a mob comes upon someone else's else home and decides to chase out its inhabitants and take it over. Surely the suffering the man has endured at the hands of the mob is not enough for another family to be evicted from their centuries-old place of residence.

I have little doubt that if a Palestinian people, sovereign in its own land, would have been asked after the Holocaust, along with the other nations of the world, to take in Jewish refugees that they would have easily agreed.

But they could not be expected to abandon, their homes and property and their very identity to make way for hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees whose goal was to dispossess them and rule over them. (Speech given on March 14, 2002)

The true Torah solution, the key to peace is the immediate return of Palestine to the Palestinians in its entirety including the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. This would, of course, include a full right of return for all Palestinian refuges.

That is what elementary justice demands. This is the path of the Torah and of common sense.

The Jewish people have many mitzvos (commandments) to pursue in their exile. Fighting and killing Palestinian children are not among them.

Of course, today, millions of Jews reside in Palestine. Whether some, all or none of them might stay under Palestinian rule is, of course, up to the land's rightful rulers, the Palestinians. (ibid.)

The true Torah concept is to relinquish the notions of Zionism and abandon, in a peaceful fashion, the current Zionist sovereignty over the land. This need not sadden any Jew. It is far better to relinquish political power than fail in our religious/moral task as the Torah nation.

It is far better to practice kindness and fairness to all men as dictated by the Torah, than it is to be drawn into a never ending battle with the Palestinians, the Islamic world, the entire Third World and increasingly the nations and peoples of Europe and North America. We Jews have a task, but it is not to be dispossessors or aggressors. (Speech in South Africa)

Rabbi Yisroel P. Feldman,
Monsey, USA

We proclaim that the tremendous upsurge of anti-Semitism throughout the world is a direct result of Zionism, and that is exactly what the Zionists want, so that the Jewish people will feel forced to run to them for their supposed protection.

We point a finger at Zionism and its state as the core reason for the colossal tragedy that has been perpetrated in the holy land, against Arab and Jew alike, from the inception of Zionism until today.

We want to stress our pain and embarrassment in regard to the last tragedies and deaths which have accured in Jenin, Nablus, Bais Lechem, the list goes on and on.

But you should know that Zionism is a greater tragedy for Jews than for the Palestinians. From the Palestinians, Zionism and its state, took their land and their bodies, but from the Jews the Zionists and its State took their souls, their belief in God and in fact they have transformed the hole concept of Judaism. (Speech at the Manhattan rally of the Metropolitan Muslim Coalition on April 12, 2002)

The Talmud and Jewish Law

The Babylonian Talmud, compiled about 1500 years ago, is the comprehensive body of Jewish law intended to explain and safeguard the laws of the Bible.

Religious Jews believe that the basic laws of the Talmud were given to Moses at Mt. Sinai and transmitted orally from generation to generation.

Countless passages in the Talmud, its commentaries and legal codes show the ideals of kindness and fairness to all of mankind aspired to and practiced by the Jewish people.

Unfortunately, some individuals in our time have accused the Talmud of advocating racism and unfair treatment of gentiles. They provide short quotations, invariably taken completely out of context, that seem to support their accusations.

In reply to these accusers, we can only remind people that the Talmud is the word of G-d, not of man. The Talmud contains a vast amount of material; to cover it all takes the brightest scholars a lifetime of study.

Although it does contain a small number of statements directed at gentiles, most of the Talmud consists of laws and sharply-stated ethical teachings directed at Jews. For every “anti-gentile” statement the critics can find, there are ten “anti-Jewish” statements. And just as the latter must be studied in context, so too the former.

One brief example: the Babylonian Talmud was written in Babylonia as its name indicates. Yet it contains the statement, “Whoever lives outside the Holy Land is as if he worshipped idols.”

The greatest proof that the Talmud does not advocate unfair treatment of gentiles is that every since the Talmud was completed, the Jews who follow it have lived in exile among many gentile countries. In every place where they lived, they conducted their business affairs with the local gentiles with the utmost honesty and fairness.

Below you will find quotations from the major codes of Talmudic law, exemplifying the Talmud's positions on gentiles.

The Code of Jewish Law, written about 500 years ago by a Palestinian rabbi named Rabbi Joseph Caro (1488-1575), is today the universally accepted codification of Talmudic law. Before that, the codes of Maimonides (1135-1204) were prevalent.

Charity

Jews are obligated to give charity to poor gentiles as well as poor Jews (Code of Jewish Law, Yoreh Deah 251:1)

Jews must bury the dead of the gentiles, comfort their mourners and visit their sick. (Maimonides, Laws of Mourning 14:12)

The commandment of “visiting the sick” applies to sick gentiles as well as sick Jews. (Code of Jewish Law, Yoreh Deah 335:9)

Theft

Anyone who steals even a minor amount violates the prohibition of [Leviticus 19:11] "You shall not steal" and is required to repay [the amount stolen] whether one steals from a Jew or a gentile. (Code of Jewish Law, Choshen Mishpat 348:2)

It is forbidden to rob or to cheat even a minor amount from either a Jew or a gentile. (Code of Jewish Law, Choshen Mishpat 359:1)

It is Biblically forbidden to steal even a minor amount; even a gentile - it is forbidden to steal from him or to cheat him. And if you stole from him or cheated him you must return the stolen money or object. (Maimonides, Laws of Stealing 1:2)

Maimonides of blessed memory wrote that if one lies in his measures and thereby overcharges even to an idolatrous gentile one violates a negative commandment and must return the money.

Similarly, it is forbidden to mislead the gentiles in calculating prices as it says [Leviticus 25:50] "he shall make a reckoning with his purchaser" even if he is subjugated to your authority; even more so if the gentile is not subjugated to your authority, and it says [Deuteronomy 25:16] "For an abomination to the Lord, you G-d, are all who do this." (Sefer HaChinuch, 259)

And similarly, lies, tricks, subterfuges, cheatings, and circumventions of gentiles are forbidden. They said, “It is forbidden to deceive anyone, even an idolatrous gentile” and even more so when it can lead to the desecration of G-d's name. For that is a great sin and imbues in a person bad traits.

And regarding all these wicked actions, G-d explained that He will be disgusted with them and with those who perform them, as it says: (Deuteronomy 18:12) "For anyone who does these is an abomination of G-d." (Maimonides, Commentary to the Mishnah, Keilim 12:7)

Returning Lost Objects

R. Chaninah told this story: Some rabbinic scholars bought one pile of wheat from some gentile soldiers. [The scholars] found in it a bundle of money and returned it to [the soldiers]. [The soldiers] said "Blessed is the G-d of the Jews." (Jerusalem Talmud Bava Metzia 2:5 (7a))

Once, Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach bought a donkey from an Arab. His students went and found a precious stone hanging around [the donkey's] neck. Rabbi said to him [Proverbs 10:22] "It is the blessing of G-d that enriches." R. Shimon ben Shetach said to him "I bought a donkey. I did not buy a precious stone." He went and returned it to the Arab and the Arab said "Blessed is the G-d of Shimon ben Shetach." (Midrash Devarim Rabbah 3:3)

R. Shmuel ben Sustrai went to Rome when the empress had lost her bracelet and he found it. A decree was proclaimed in the region that anyone who returned it within 30 days would be paid such and such; anyone who returned it after 30 days would be beheaded.

He didn't return it within 30 days but after 30 days. She said to him "Weren't you in the region?" He replied "Yes." She said to him "Didn't you hear the proclamation?" He replied "Yes."

She said to him "What was it?" He replied "Whoever returns it within 30 days will receive such and such; whoever returns it after 30 days will be beheaded." She said to him "And why didn't you return it within 30 days?"

He replied "So that you wouldn't say that I did it because of fear of you; rather I did it out of fear of G-d." She said to him "Blessed is the G-d of the Jews." (Jerusalem Talmud Bava Metzia 2:5 (7a))

Deception

Talmud, Tractate Chullin 94a. Shmuel said: One may not deceive another person, even a non-Jew. This was not said explicitly by Shmuel, but was derived from the following story: Shmuel once crossed the river using a ferryboat. He told his servant to pay the ferryman. The servant gave the ferryman a non-kosher chicken, allowing the ferryman to assume that it was kosher.

The Talmudic commentator Rashi explains: Shmuel's law explains why the Mishnah says that one may not give a non-Jew a piece of meat from which the sciatic nerve (forbidden to Jews) was not removed. The non-Jew might not notice this and may assume that the Jew is giving him valuable kosher meat. He will then feel gratitude toward the Jew, a gratitude based on a false premise.

This law is codified by Maimonides (Laws of Sale 18:3) and by the Code of Jewish Law (Choshen Mishpat 228:6).