In a fiery speech delivered Sunday night, the Satmar Rebbe, launched a scathing rebuke of the Israeli government and those who express admiration for Israel’s military might in its current war against Iran, known as Operation Am K’Lavi.
Speaking at a siyum on Maseches Bechoros organized by the Satmar Zichru learning initiative in Boro Park, the Rebbe warned against falling into the trap of believing in kochi v’otzem yadi—human power and might—rather than in Divine salvation.
“Our holy Rebbe, the Vayoel Moshe, had a heart that ached with the suffering of Klal Yisroel. He mourned every Jewish soul lost in war,” the Rebbe said. “But what pained him even more was when sincere, G-d-fearing Jews were misled into putting their faith in human strength. He would plead: do not prolong the golus by believing in their power. In every generation, we face great challenges that tempt us to fall into this mistake, but we must constantly remind ourselves—we are not impressed by their actions, not in the least.”
The Rebbe quoted the posuk, ‘From the wicked comes forth wickedness’ (Shmuel I 24:13), emphasizing, “Acts of violence are the traits of the wicked. Our path is not to admire them. The Medrash on Birkas Kohanim explains the brocha of ‘Hashem shall bless you and guard you’ as protection from harm and from the yetzer hara. These two—physical harm and spiritual danger—go hand in hand.”
Continuing his critique, the Rebbe stated, “The minim and apikorsim—heretics and deniers—are worse than the yetzer hara itself. We see this clearly in recent years, as they attempt to destroy Klal Yisroel from within by drafting yeshiva bochurim into the army. Their goal is to sever Jews from belief in Hashem and His Torah. These people cannot be the source of yeshuah. They are the greatest mazikin—spiritual destroyers.”
The Rebbe then posed a rhetorical question: “If we were truly in such danger in recent years, under threat from enemy nations, why did no one urge the public to flee Eretz Yisroel? The answer is clear—they caused the danger themselves. Without a state, there would be no decrees, no wars, and no draft of bnei yeshiva. As I’ve said before, these are the agents of the Satan, working to uproot emunah from the Jewish people.”
“There is only one way to withstand these trials,” the Rebbe declared. “We must study and internalize the teachings of our holy Rebbe, Vayoel Moshe. He was anguished by the suffering of Klal Yisroel, wept bitterly for every soul, and yet he battled against the forces of secularism with sword and spear.”
The Rebbe concluded with a powerful message: “We must instill within ourselves the truth of ‘From the wicked comes forth wickedness.’ Salvation will not come from them—they are the emissaries of the yetzer hara.”
{Matzav.com}
Why did Matzav post this ? You’re inviting powerful rebuttals that will descend into machlokes. Better to ignore him.
What rebuttals? There are none possible. He quoted the Torah and his saintly predecessor.
Bill deblasio yemach Shemo came (they were the margin of victory) from the aronim proving that “From the wicked comes forth wickedness”
One of the most thoughtful comments I’ve seen here. Totally agree.
What ??!!
Don’t forget to hate the Satanic Zionists who rescued the Satmar Rebbe during the Holocaust!!!
I resect his right to his opinion. But I have a question. There are tens otf thousands of Satmar Chassidim in Eretz Yisroel. Did the Rebbe urge them to leave?? Did the Rebbe arrange for transport so they can get out of danger??
secondly- for my own edification- is the belief of Satmar that if there was no state that we would be able to live safely and peacebly in Eretz Yisroel? Or that we’d live there and be at the mercy of the Yishmaeilim abd bnei eisav? Or that we would live in Chutz Laaretz and the goyim would live in Eretz Yisroel because we do not belong there yet?? What is the ideal setup for Yideen to live in this galus according to Hashkofas Satmar?? I am really asking to know…….. not to criticize.
Good questions.
He believes there is no real objective danger, and that the wicked government manufactures or instigates danger only to the extent that they can declare a war and then win it. They do this because they want to mislead the frummeh Jews into celebrating the victory brought about through the army, which opens them to kefirah.
The Shittah is that individuals can go to Eretz Yisrael, but not as part of a movement. Doing so as part of a movement is a terrible sin and brings terrible results.
(1) He did not urge them to leave. As he said he believes there wasn’t such a danger
(2) The belief of Satmar is that we would (mostly) live in Chutz Laaretz and the goyim would live in Eretz Yisroel because we do not belong there yet
(3)The ideal setup in Golus according to Hashkofas Satmar would be living in places like Kiryas Yoel
Interesting that the Torah wrote kochi veotzam yadi about not self congratulating on one’s wealth and material success, but is always only applied to Israel.
The Zionists happen to be the banner and brash exemplar of kochi viOtzem yadi. To whom else are you implying that it should be applied?
To KJ. You deny it?
So kochi veotzem yodi is the best you got ? The Torah means it for millionaire braggarts whom we encounter all the time. How about them ? Ahhhhhh, because they’re not Zionists. Got it.
Are you sure ? I hear koichi oitzem yodi in conversations outside shteibalach, mikvas, and weddings , boasting about millions here, millions there. Calling others schnorrers and even ignoring them , smooching gvirim forever, turning down schnorrer shiduchim . That’s exactly what the pusik is talking about. What are YOU talking about ?
I don’t see that as being true. Can you explain to me in simple terms how the Zionists are the banner and brash exemplar of kochi viOtzem yadi but no one else is?
I also grew up hearing that rhetoric all my life but lately have come to question it .
Brilliant. The holocaust only happened after 1948 after the state was established. There were absolutely no צרות in כלל ישראל until the מדינה was established. Crusades, Cantonisten, Ta”ch V”tat, blood libels, progroms etc…. All because of the מדינה הטמאה.
In order to have any Daas, you have to first no the basic facts. Zionism started before 1900, close to half a century before the Holocaust.
With the possible exception of Harugei Beithar (depending on how you learn the gemara there in Gittin), never in Jewish history were rivers of Jewish blood spilled – not even remotely close – until the founding and terrible wickedness and evil of Zionism from then and in the decades following, including the Chevron Massacre (also caused by Zionism), the Holocaust (ditto), all the Zionist wars (all unneeded and uncalled for) and all the rest.
You mixed a grain of truth into a sea of sheker. There were thousands of pogroms from 1880 till the 1939 Holocaust. Jews were offered a safe haven in Israel. The fact that Arabs and Amalek attack Jews there, diesn’t prove anything because even Moshiach will fight the enemies in Eretz Yisrael. Besides. It’s a holy land. Once you lied about Zionists and Holocaust, you exposed your Meraglim hatred of Hashem’s land. Despite all the wars and terrorist attacks, Israel grows and grows and grows.
He’s being sarcastic, guys. Chill.
You’re repeating lies which no sane , rational person accepts. We heard this nonsense before.
I agree with you that in “In order to have any Daas, you have to first know the basic facts.” I don’t agree that you a person who actually does so
“Without a state, there would be no decrees, no wars, and no draft of bnei yeshiva”
When Yidden were in golus before medinas Yisroel, there were no gezeiros, milchamos, draft problems? That is not historically accurate. Everything was great in Hungary for Yidden when Satmar was there, no gezeiros ever?????
He’s the Satmar rebbe from KJ not Williamsburg, you should make that clear.
Are you sure? The picture looks like the Williamsburg Rebbe.
As opposed to the Brisk method that says that Hashem can work through the resha’im. In fact, it’s the Satan that makes sure it happens to confuse people.
Where did Brisk ever state that? The actions of evildoers are bad, as this Satmar Rebbe here pointed out. The Satmar Rav Zatza”l points out that the satan can try to fool Klal Yisrael as a result of those actions, to which Brisk agrees.
Zzzzz
I don’t get it – so all the decades in גלות were there no pogroms, crusades, inquisition and death-camps etc. etc.?!!
Without the medina there would be around 80 Bnei Yeshivah!
So if he was in Hungary 200 years ago, and a bunch of anti-Semites were approaching his town to kill everyone, and the yidden have the ability and the permission from the authorities to defeat them – would he be appose to it?! is that כחי ועוצם ידי?! Does he tell his Chassidim not to make too much money because it’s כחי ועוצם ידי (look in the Targum there)?!
His zeide was against creating the state 70 years ago, and against joining it. At that time Rav Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld ztz”l had started an agreement with the Arabs and British with the help of R’ Yaakov Dahan Z”l hy”d, who was murdered by the leftist Zionists.
But today does anyone have a safe plan to hand it over to someone? Does he want Israel to safely give it up to the PA or the UN? What exactly does he claim his zeide would say to do today.
De Haan was a mentaly ill trouble maker who was searching for toeva liason in Yerushalayim the night it happened.
For accuracy sake. De Haan was murdered over one hundred years and RYCS was niftar over ninety years ago.
Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld had no documented involvement with De Haan’s efforts for a semi Jewish autonomy udder Arab rule. The De Haan type ideas and efforts did not end with his murder. The Brit Shalom group tried to arrange a similar set up afterward but got nowhere. Being that the Brit Shalom group was secular and their failure can not be blamed on the Zionists. and to some degree negates the argument that had De Haan not been killed the world would be such an utopia, you do not hear about them in anti-Zionist propaganda.
Wow. So the little kinderlach at Matzav censored my comment. How mature. Babies.
There isn’t any place where Israelis could escape to. Antisemitism around the world is through the roof, yishmoel is taking over the west as xians look like the good guys. To say nothing of what it’s like to uproot a family, bag and baggage, to move to another country with no language, jobs etc. No one is abandoning Eretz Yisroel, too many nissim and too attached to Eretz Avoseinu.
More Sotten here than in all of Tanakh. The Rebbe is clafifying that when we’re enabling sliders or full separatists, we are already on the way out. Beware of waivering and confusion.
Don’t Agree with Satmar? Still, We All Must Listen Carefully
I don’t personally go along with the Satmar shita, and I understand how strong some reactions are to the Rebbe’s words. But I think it’s a mistake to dismiss or mock him out of hand.
The Satmar Rebbe is not just speaking to his own kehillah he’s sounding a warning that every Jew, no matter their hashkafa, should consider: the danger of falling into kochi v’otzem yadi putting our trust in human strength instead of bitachon in Hashem. That message is timeless, and its Torah.
You can disagree with how he applies that principle but let’s not pretend the Torah doesn’t warn us about that very mindset. The Rebbe is urging us not to confuse military might or political power with ultimate salvation. And whether you support the Medina or not, that reminder is a crucial one especially during wartime, when it’s easy to become intoxicated by power.
Some people are rightly asking hard questions about the history of Jewish suffering before the state about pogroms, the Holocaust, and decrees throughout the exile. And those are fair questions. But the Rebbe’s critique isn’t just about physical danger, it’s about spiritual vulnerability. It’s about what happens to our emunah when we begin to believe that only “they” can save us.
We don’t have to agree with every word or every tone. But let’s not forget that Yiras Shamayim can express itself in different forms. The Satmar Rebbe, like his predecessors, speaks from a deep place of concern for Klal Yisroel’s ruchniyus. For that alone, he deserves to be heard with respect even if we ultimately walk a different derech.
I’m not Satmr either and agree that a kochey v’otizem yodey attitude is wrong. BUT when you frame things as an “us against them” issue and only criticize and accuse one group of that attitude, you are not going to get a positive receptive audience other than by those who already think like you. Those who don’t will be pushed in the oppisite direction.
Throughout the history of the Jewish presence in Eretz Yisroel they were threatened by enemies – why didn’t they just pick up and go elsewhere? The answer is that a nation does not abandon its homeland, even at risk of death. It’s part of human nature, one which the Torah acknowledges.
I can’t stand when people criticize eretz yis.
Ahh. Don’t let it bother you. There are much bigger problems in life, such as the dreaded age-gap shidduch crisis that is tearing us all apart. If a bachur is not araingiton in a shvereh sugya during Licha Dodi, he is a garbage loh yutzlach.
Serious question. Would would he like the State of to do in order to adhere to the three oaths and what is written in Divrei Yoel? Ask the British to return and take over Eretz Yisroel? Hand it back to the U.N.? Give it over to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority? Is there a way to mass evacuate the Jews from Eretz Yisroel? Where do you plan to send them? To America where there will be mass assimilation and intermarriage? Say whole Zionist enterprise was wrong from the outset and all coming from the Sotton, Erev Rav and Amalek. Does that mean that we should allow Jews to be slaughtered and take no actions of self defense? The fact of the matter is that what is done is done and now we have to somehow deal with the reality of the world the way it is. Has Satmar ever suggested a realistic alternative that isn’t pure fantasy?
Rav Chaim Shmulevitz and Rav Gustman etc expressed a very different about Israeli soldiers than this
Longing for the good old days before the State of Israel under the British and the Turks. When all the Jews were huddled into the Old City Walls and the Arabs were constantly attacking them. When the Arabs of Hevron slaughtered the Jewish of Hevron. When there were no Jewish cities, no yeshivas, no batei midrash, no hospitals, and no one to protect them against the goyim who were constantly attacking them. Oh those GOOD OLD DAYS before the State of Israel!!! These agents of Satan, the Zionists, have built yeshivas and frum cities throughout the Land of Israel to the point where there is more Torah learning in the Land of Israel than there ever was in the entire Jewish history. But the main thing is, don’t confuse me with the facts. Don’t learn history. And just continue ignoring reality.
There is more Torah learning in the modern state of Israel than ever in the entire Jewish history. Is that the work of Satan?
First end the machlokes within Satmar before anyone criticises and shames our Holy Land.
Read your Tanach which records constant attacks on Eretz Yisrael by its enemies . Does that mean the G-D didn’t want us to be there ? The Jewish nation suffered bloody history for 3,000 years and that will end when Mashiach comes. What hapoened to Satmer, Slobodka, Vishnitz, Munkatch, Volozhin Europe ? All gone. Monroe is safe ?
Slobodka split in to 2 branches one branch stayed in slobodka and the other branch moved to chevron and faced the pogrom that would likely not have happened without the Zionism.
How many year since the partition plan were more jews killed in chutz laretz then in EY?
Your chutz laretz is tamei, per chazal’s curse.
The anti tirades are losers’ last yells. Despite everything, Eretz Yisrael is growing and nissim bechol yom. Urei Betuv Yerushalayim is a command and a warning at the same time.
Sad and disturbing that Satmar’s Yiddishkeit stands for basically only one thing : hate against Tziyonim. It’s an obsession that poisoned the minds of 4 generations.
When you call yourself ex chareidi, what do you mean? Were you once Frum and now you’re not? Or were you once, from the white shirt wearing crowd and now you occasionally wear a blue shirt? Gasp! Do you wear hiking shoes or sneakers when you mountain climb in the Midwest, as opposed to wearing black wool pants and a white shirt 24/7, even during this current heatwave?
Sometimes these chassidim act holier than thau. Just ignore them.