Rav Chaim Aryeh Zev Ginzberg is rav of the Chofetz Chaim Torah Center of Cedarhurst and the founding rav of Ohr Moshe Torah Institute in Hillcrest, Queens.
The following letter was released by him:
Rav Chaim Aryeh Zev Ginzberg: Rav Dovid Feinstein Asked Me to Get Involved in Eretz HaKodesh
This letter, devoid of a date, context, or halachic grounding, reads not like a call to truth but like a marketing brochure. No sources. No reasoning. No teshuva. Just vague claims of “daas Torah” and a glowing endorsement of an organization that has aligned itself with secular Zionist agendas Gedolei Yisrael opposed with their very lives.
We’re told to vote. To “support Torah.” But since when is Torah upheld by political alliances forged in the halls of the WZO—an institution built on the bones of those who tore Torah from our people and replaced it with nationalism? Rav Elchonon Wasserman, Rav Aharon Kotler, the Chazon Ish, Rav Shach—every one of them stood in direct and fiery opposition to this very system. Have their words been erased from memory? Has their blood been washed away with a new slogan?
We are asked to trust, to follow. But where is the emes? Where is the halacha? Where is even a single page of analysis explaining how partnering with the WZO suddenly became permissible, even admirable? You say they consulted daas Torah. Good. Prove it. Release the recordings. Show us the names, the deliberations, the arguments. Torah is not done in the shadows. Torah is *or la’amim*—a light that cannot hide.
And what is this? No date. No mekoros. No explanation. A handwritten signature over typed words that mean nothing without the weight of truth behind them. Is this the standard for Torah endorsement now? A letter that could’ve been written last week, last year, or never—presented as testimony?
This is not kavod haTorah. This is its erosion. You want us to follow? Then lead with truth. With transparency. With Torah. Not with slogans and stories and vague statements from behind closed doors.
We will not trade the fire of Har Sinai for the cold fog of political maneuvering. We will not dishonor the sacrifices of those who came before us. And we will not be shamed into silence when the Torah itself demands that we cry out, Ha’lo davar hu—Is this not a matter worthy of challenge?”
Release the recordings. Show us the teshuvos. Prove that what was once yehareg v’al ya’avor is now mitzvah. Otherwise, don’t ask us to vote. Ask us to forget. And that, we cannot do.
A letter?
A letter? A video? A recording of Rav Dovid zt”l?
And even IF any of these were available, is it possible something has changed since the previous election five years ago?
Did Rav Dovid zt”l call him in and appoint him a “shaliach” or was this a questioned posed by him to Rav Dovid? If the latter, is it possible the question was “CAN I get involved” as opposed to SHOULD I?
All these posthumous endorsements are somewhat suspicious.
Has anyone addressed how this organization differs from, for example, The New York Board of Rabbis?