Dear Matzav Inbox,
I have absolutely no problem with anyone holding a shitah that is anti-Tzioni. I understand fully the perspective of those who oppose the medinah. Every individual and kehillah is entitled to their views on this matter, and we should not forget that there are many legitimate reasons to question or oppose the modern state of Israel and its government. This is a topic that has many layers. We must be able to have these discussions, respectfully and thoughtfully.
However, what I cannot tolerate, and what I am calling out in this long overdue letter, is when this anti-Zionist stance ceases to be a viewpoint or a political position, and instead becomes the very foundation of someone’s Yiddishkeit.
There is a great difference between holding an opinion about the medinah and allowing that opinion to consume and define your entire avodas Hashem. When opposition to the medinah and the Israeli government transforms into the entire essence of one’s Yiddishkeit, something is terribly amiss. Then it is no longer simply about politics or ideology. It actually becomes a warped form of avodah zarah, where the focus is no longer on serving Hashem, but on serving an anti-Tzioni agenda.
Yes, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
And for those who have fallen into this trap, how is it that every drasha, every event, and every conversation somehow revolves around the same refrain of anti-Tzioni sentiment? Is that your whole avodas Hashem? How is it that every shmuess, every message, and every teaching is framed through the lens of opposition to the medinah? When one’s Yiddishkeit is entirely defined by this opposition, we must ask: Are you still serving Hashem? Or are you now serving your anti-Tzioni views, as if they were the central aspect of our Torah observance?
Let me be clear: When the agenda of opposition to the medinah infiltrates every aspect of avodas Hashem, one is in danger of losing sight of what is truly important. When you are teaching 5-year-olds this type of stuff on an equal footing with Torah and mitzvos, you’ve gone off the plantation. It is no longer about serving Hashem through the Torah and mitzvos, but about serving an ideological position. And once that happens, one is no longer engaging in avodas Hashem as the Torah teaches us, but is rather caught up in a false religion, one that elevates these views above the true avodah of a Yid.
I implore my fellow Yidden to call this out for what it is and what it has become.
Never lose sight of the fact that our true identity as Yidden is not defined by one specific ideology, but by our connection to Hashem, His Torah, and His mitzvos.
Sincerely,
A Yid Who Has Had Enough
To submit a letter to appear on Matzav.com, email [email protected]
DON’T MISS OUT! Join the Matzav Status by CLICKING HERE. Join the Matzav WhatsApp Groups by CLICKING HERE.
The opinions expressed in letters on Matzav.com do not necessarily reflect the stance of the Matzav Media Network.
Brilliantly Written
especially if 99% percent of Gedolim paskent that the way we deal with Israel demands involvement
We Will be OKAY if the USA MAKES ISREAL THE 51ST state on the union they need Israel to attack it like the cat loves the mouse
https://torahanytime.com/lectures/271201
So how will this situation help solve the dreaded age-gap shidduch crisis? עד מתי?
You are getting carried away. No one is making the anti zioni shita the way you are making it
Welcome to reality.There are communities that have amazing things in the way of learning chesed tzdaka and a feiry conviction in their avodah.Like all humans nobody is perfect and they have their faults.Our job is to see the GOOD in others not to harp on the bad even if your point is correct.
Best comment!
foolish
It’s a bit sleazy to lecture people whose ideology you don’t believe on how they should teach their kids. I could hear the same speech from a conservative rabbi about the orthodox not being genuine and only caring about not being conservative. Despite the endless boring speeches about Zionism coming from satmar note how you’ve never seen or heard of a satmar terrorist. Note how anyone no matter their level of frumkeit can walk into a satmar beis medrash and feel comfortable. These people are actually very very tolerant and not bothering you. I used to eat together with Zionist bochurim all the time on shabbos by the head of neturei karta at his open house in yerushlayim. One time a breslover yelled at those bochurim about the state being avodah Zara and the host responded “we all have avodah Zara’s you have R nachman they have the state”
Where’s the thumbs up button for your Chill out post?
Interesting that an oved avodah zarah Tzioni accuses others of worshiping avodah zara for being anti Tzioni.
If a frum Rav was obsessed with conservative Judaism I would oppose his approach too.
Having lived near Meah Shearim for a few years I WISH it were true that these don’t bother anyone.
And that is without discussing the neturei karta who already 40 years ago when they were nowhere near what they are today were referred to as rodfim by Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky. Today their anti-Zionist obsession has led them to be little more than a Jewish group of Palestinian nationalists who openly support Hamas. Years ago they said ” Judaism opposes Zionism”. Today they say “Palestinian Nationalism is Judaism”
Actually, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you talking about the 3 times a day we say V’lamalshinim? Or maybe when we say V’Yerushalayim Eirchah? Or Es Tzemach Dovid? or Maybe you’re referring to when we say …Vehashev Es Hoavodah L’Dvir Beisecha. Or maybe in Benching, Rachem … Al Yirushalayim Eirecha?
IS ALL THAT AVODAH ZARAH, YOU ABSOLUTE MESHUGENA!? HOW DARE YOU EVEN OPEN YOUR STUPID MOUTH! IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MOVEMENT, ITS EXACTLY ABOUT AVODAS HASHEM. THIS IS AVODAS HASHEM!
its not avodas hashem, its avodas hashita
Your ALL CAPS is the ra’yah, once you fly off the handle like that, it shows that a certain part of the spectrum is teetering on the edge of the abyss
Believing that one of the שמונה עשרה ברכות is more important than the others is an example of missing the big picture… They’re all important.
Once you call people stupid you lost all credibility and respect. Instead of conveying your viewpoint respectfully you go off on a rant and say ‘how dare he open his stupid mouth’. Who in the world do you think you are? Definitely not someone people would take seriously with that kind of attitude
Very well put. I also noticed this, especially lately.
I am fervently anti tzuoni and its a constant refrain of mine in no way does my avidas hashem revolve around anything but limud Hatorah
I yes I know what you’re talking about.. What you are talking about is you penned a letter because you have pro Zionist sentiments. Shame on you
In no way can a fervent anti Zionist be constituted as an oveid avoidance Zara what does that mean
What you are trying to get over on us is that not only are zionists ovdei aviodah Zara but so are fervently satmar.
. stop making stuff up.p
Someone once said that some Jews have a hatred against Medinat Yisrael that is so great that they have no other focus other than this. Thus, some Jews have dedicated their lives to dismantling of Medinat Yisrael even at the expense of the lives of millions of Jews…
I have written an article on it, but it seems that you/others already have this opinion. Some of us are sick of it.
Brilliant letter. Very well written. And it needs to be said.
The same can be said of those who make the Medinah the essence of THEIR Yiddishkeit. It works both ways.
Excellent counter observation. With those who make the Medinah the essence of THEIR Yiddishkeit, Zionism is certainly THEIR Avoda Zara.
Zionism, Communism, Socialism are the real Avoda Zara destroying Israel and Judaism. The last Golus is under the Zionists Eirav Rav.
The difference between satmar and the mizrachi. By the mizrachi there is only one mitzvah in the Torah, by the satmar there is only one aveira in the Torah
That particular Chasidus in its current state, has nothing else to offer their chasidim besides anti-zionism.
They actually excel in limud Hatorah and chested as well check any hospital any other bubble maysas mordchele
Plenty of yidden “excel” in chesed.
So first they beat you up because you are a Zionist and then they visit you in the hospital with chicken soup.
So stop with the bubbe maysos anonymous’l
“every drasha, every event, and every conversation somehow revolves around the same refrain of anti-Tzioni sentiment?”
Get a life you hyperbolic moron.
You know what I’ve had enough of? I’ve had enough of people like you who pretend to know exactly what’s going on in every other group in klal Yisroel.
When you need bikkur cholim (chas v’shalom) you’ll realise that these ‘anti-Tzionis’ do a lot more than just talk about Zionism.
This letter had so much potential. But, then it went off the deep end.
What you did do: You created a strawman.
What you should have done: Stick to the facts. There are plenty out there, unfortunately.
What you did not do: Cite clear examples of avodah zara.
What you should have done: Clearly explain each actual case and show how that has become a belief system in and of itself.
100%. And I would have the same problem with people brainwashing kids at age 5 that the only way you can be an oved hashem is if you sit in Kollel. Let’s remember nehene miyegia kapav is something chazal taught us to strive for. Yaffa Talmud Torah im derech eretz
The same holds true for Zionism. When the Zionist agenda infiltrates every aspect of avodas Hashem, one is in danger of losing sight of what is truly important. When you are teaching this type of stuff on an equal footing with Torah and mitzvos, you’ve gone off the plantation. It is no longer about serving Hashem through the Torah and mitzvos, but about serving an ideological position. And once that happens, one is no longer engaging in avodas Hashem as the Torah teaches us, but is rather caught up in a false religion, one that elevates these views above the true avodah of a Yid. I implore my fellow Yidden to call this out for what it is.
The thing is from what I see in mainstream mizrachi hesder is not that. I see yidden in the IDF who are moser nefesh to learn Torah and Daven in Gaza. Ask R Asher Weiss about the tough shailas he receives from crippled idf soilders who need to know how best to put on teflin. Hard to say they aren’t real and just being Zionists. On the other hand I think most of Satmar chaps that this isn’t a religion either
I hears from R’ Tzvi Meir Zilberberg, that Yeyzer Hora works on every yid where he’s at, to make him extreme in that and to forget about everything else, just like a child is engrossed in a new “fire-truck” and forgets about everything else, and if you take it away he would kick and bite, for some yidden their Esrog is their fire-truck!…
you are a chuztpenyak if you are referring to whom I think you are referring to.
Do you hold the same opinions about Jews for whom Zionism is their defining ideology and the pinnacle of their avodas Hashem?
Excellent counter observation. With those Jews for whom Zionism is their defining ideology and the pinnacle of their Avodas Hashem, Zionism is certainly THEIR Avoda Zara.
The secular Zionists have constantly been out to destroy Yiddishkeit. They wanted to eradicate the Torah and its followers. They keep trying to שמד ח”ו all of כלל ישראל and turn them ככל הגוים ר”ל.
והקב”ה מצילנו מידם
Hashem turned the tables on them. Instead of Zionists stopping us from learning Torah they became the largest financial supporters of Torah. They spend billions of Shekalim to build חדרים, ישיבות, כוללים, בית יעקב, סמינר etc.
They also spend billions to support the בני תורה who learn Torah.
Over the past two thousand years,(maybe even beyond) there has never been so much Torah learning anywhere in the world as it is done now in Eretz Yisroel. There never was such a large ציבור of תלמידי חכמים, בני תורה, שומרי תורה ומצות
The secular Zionists try to make it difficult to remain a Torah-observant Yid. Yet, they are the ones who are paying billions of Shekalim for Rabonim, Dayanim, Mashgichim, Shuls, & Mikvaos in every city & town in the country alleviating the financial burden of Torah observant Yidden.
In every country in the world the גזירת שמד today is rampant. Intermarriage is between 70%-85% in every country except in the Zionist State where intermarriage is less than 2-3% (still too many) As much as the secular Zionists try to שמד Klal Yisroel, The Ribono Shel Olam made sure their wishes won’t happen.
Despite the Zionist claim of כחי ועוצם ידי, etc. especially during the six-day war, the whole בעלי תשובה movement we know of today started during the war. For the past few thousand years
there have never been so many בעלי תשובה as we have today.
We could have had way more בעלי תשובה had we tried a little harder not to make the non-Frum have reason to hate us.
Russian Jewry which seemed to be totally lost in the sixties was part of the six day war miracle.
Instead of the Zionist converting the Frum into non-Frum the opposite is happening, the non-Frum become Frum.
Ben Yehudah, created the modern עברית so that the Frum Yidden will give up their old fashion religion and become a modern non-Frum society with its own modern language.
Today the most used language to learn Torah is עברית. In most Chadorim, Yeshivos, Kollelim & Bais Yakovs the Shiurim & Schmussen are given in עברית. Chavrusos in the Bais Midrash argue & shout at each other in the language that was supposed to keep them out of the Bais Midrash.
Yes, it’s true it is not yet a perfect world out there, but when was the last time that it was.
Satmar and the tzionim are really the same
Satmar has taken all the averois and rolled them all into one being a tziony
Tzionim have taken all the mitzvos and rolled them into one being a tziony!
lets face it
Satmar has nothing to offer except the shita
so it has to be hamered and drilled on every occasion
For the past 60-70 years the Zionists didn’t Shmad a single Yid. The ones who go off the Derech do so not because some Zionist convinced him to do so. The Israelis who go OTD had they lived in Monroe, New Square, Williamsburg etc. would have done the same.
It’s about time to stop blaming the Zionists and put the blame where it belongs.
Zionism is replacing the yoke of Torah with a fielty to a foreign ideology
It is taking the Torah and throwing it in the garbage.
It is foolish and a major corruption and must be denounced at every turn.
Moshe kapoya the Zionist’s didn’t shmad a single yid?
The Zionist started a state run education system devoid of religion and where putting on refilling or saying shema yisroel is either banned or highly discouraged. Are you the only one not aware of this
They are the epitome of evil and the biggest enemy klal yisroel has.
Are you kidding? Look at what happened to sefardim in medinas israel. The entire education system and IDF is set up to alienate Jews from their roots.
Sounds like someone who reads his own press releases.
Dude, Reb Yid, get a grip on yourself but not too tight .
If a Rov is talking, he’s talking to his people. He’s not talking to you if it doesn’t apply to you. Don’t get all bent out of shape about it.
If I’m thinking that I understood what you were thinking, then you probably would have been as shocked as I was the first time I went to EY and saw a major huge building in Yerushalayim with the name of a specific chasidishe group on it. I thought they didn’t do such things but then I looked into it and found out that they have no problem living there. There are certain things that they do have a problem with but living there is not an issue. In fact, it’s good they do live there because then they get the mitzvah of ישוב ארץ ישראל ועוסק בתורה ומצוות as opposed to most of the tzionim who live there but don’t do l, or do very little, Torah or mitzvos
This is very true when we hear misguided immature people exclaim that CVS R kook zl wasn’t a gadol and call him names. They think only their approach is correct. One must realize that you are playing with fire. Just like a R Kook talmud should never bash the holy satmar Reba Zya so too is it prohibited to bash R Kook zl. It’s ok to say your rebbe or Reba held the tzadik R Kook was misguided and had wrong ideals. But to bash the person as I have seen lately ? Or to bash mizrachi as lesser Jews ? You don’t have to agree with them
This letter managed to incite a slew of commenters to prove its truth directly!
As a Satmar supporter I could attest that Satmars are the biggest Zionists, Satmars build institutions all over Israel , in Ashdod, Jerusalem, Beni Berak, Tzefas , Teveria and more. Satmars send Millions and Millions of dollars to hundreds of non profits who support the poor, the indigenous, orphans, Hachnasas Kallah and more , show me one example of non satmar Zionist who spends more money in the land of Israel besides the JNF? It’s just satmar has their shita that the Government of Israel can’t be trusted or be the lifeguard of Yiddish people the world over .
Is Satmar shita not to be “misgyar beumas” I assume that means not to fight wars in Israel. And it also means that Jews in the USA should not antagonize neighbours or try to build new towns that get goyim mad
Then where should they build towns? Nice jump there to the meaning of “misgyar beumas”. You’re probably one of the people who think that wearing shtreimlach is a chilul Hashem.
America is a very big country with plenty of open land (even in the Northeast). Just like we wouldn’t want our communities, neighborhoods, culture & way of life to be changed by outsiders so we should respect other people’s lifestyles as well.
It’s a huge cause of Antisemitism in America (& every Yid, except the arrogant & cynical ones, knows it’s the truth).
There’s nothing Jewish about a streimel. Meanwhile, Tzitzit is a Mitzvah D’Oraita. Mitzvot is what distinguishes us from the other nations.
Actually not entirely.
What were those three things that we didn’t change in Mitzrayim, again?
grump,
and they remained unworthy of redemption without any mitzvos until the blood of bris and pesach
Moishe kapoir you are 1000% right. Tziyonim don’t exist they are secular Israeli and they are causing nobody to go OTD. TheOTD problem in my opinion is inevitable, in every society you have those that don’t see the beauty in the way they were raised, or it’s just too hard.
I grew up very anti-Zionist. My first seeds of disillusionment started when I was at a Shabbos Shuva drosha that ended up being an anti-Zionist tirade. The sheer ridiculousness of finding nothing else to speak to this passionately anti-Zionist crowd about right before Yom Kippur made me wonder if my kehila had lost its way. (Years later I found out that in the very secular anti-frum American synagogues they give the exact same anti-Zionists pre Yom Kippur sermons too…they also think they have no averos other than not protesting and sufficiently standing up for Palestinians)
My real disillusionment with extreme anti-Zionism when I learned and lived in Eretz Yisroel for three years. The endless seeking out of confrontation by the more extreme anti-Zionist groups made me question why they were any different than the Zionists they were ostensibly fighting against in many regards . It certainly caused me to stop perceiving them as innocent victims and the “zionists” as being the evil aggressors.
The bottom line is the endless focus of the wrongdoings and faults of other groups (real and imagined) take a very heavy ruchnius (and sometimes even gasmius) toll on the groups and people who engage in it. Including anti-Zionism.
Wow. This was enlightening and insightful.
And people wonder why there are many erlich Yehudim going OT”D. If a rav can’t give a good shmuz on Shabbat, then what do they expect from the listener?
A very stupid article. I’d think that this article would be more about having a shita and being able to disagree, but the red line being when people take the shita and actually support the sworn enemies of the Jewish people like the NK of New York where the holy NK leader dances with shikses on the Holy Shabbos in Washington because of his shita. B”H now he is dancing with Yasser Arrafat, Sinwar, Nasrallah and the like.
A Rabbi told of how his Rosh Yeshiva (a major Gadol of the previous generation) said the division between the Charedim & Chilonim in Israel is OUR fault. We shouldn’t have been so antagonistic & isolationist towards the Chilonim.
define the term:Chilonim
There were plenty HARD CORE who would have wrecked any nice gestures
this is the exact issue with the generation these day. your being to bubbly and to scared to say the truth. the truth is is that is you even utter the word israel then you are automatically going straight to gehenim. it is my humble opinion that it is better to convert then to even think of saying the word of that country. the fact that you guys are scared to say this even though everyone knows its true is trully astonishing.