The Religious Zionism Debate IX

It seems my work is now being done by others. Readers responded giving me the following interesting information:


I. R. Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz

From Artscroll's Reb Shraga Feivel: The Life and Times of Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, the Architect of Torah in America, pp. 331-332, 335-336,

On Friday, November 29, 1947, the United Nations debated the issue of partitioning the British Mandate for Palestine into two countries, one Arab and one Jewish. Reb Shraga Feivel prayed fervently for partition. He had no radio in his house, but that Friday he borrowed one and set it to the news, leaving it on for Shabbos. He waited with such tense anticipation to hear the outcome of the U.N. vote that he did not come to shalosh seudos. When he heard the U.N.'s decision to establish a Jewish state, he stood up and recited the blessing הטוב והמטיב Who is good and Who does good...[3]

Four days after the United Nations vote, on 19 Kislev, Reb Shraga Feivel spoke in Bais Medrash Elyon, to present his talmidim with a Torah perspective on the event. He began by emphasizing that in the absence of prophecy no one could interpret the U.N. declaration with any certitude.[7] Nevertheless the whole tenor of his remarks reflected his hope that the moment was a positive one for the Jewish people.[8] He described three aspects of the final redemption: the redemption of the Land, the ingathering of the exiles, and the return of the Divine Presence to her proper place. The redemption of the Land is the first of the three...

In a similar vein, he also explained why the secular Zionists might have been chosen to play such a fateful role in the history of the Jewish people... Divine Providence might have arranged that the secular Zionists play a major role in the redemption of Eretz Yisrael precisely in order to maintain their connection to Klal Yisrael.

In a conversation with the Satmar Rav, shortly after his talk on the U.N. declaration, Reb Shraga Feivel was subjected to the sharpest criticism for his "Zionist leanings." Later he told his family, "I could have answered him Chazal for Chazal, Midrash for Midrash, but I did not want to incur his wrath, for he is a great man and a tzaddik." He added with a twinkle, "And besides, he has a fiery temper"...

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[3] In 1948, after the Arabs attacked the newly declared Jewish state and soldiers were falling on the battlefield, several roshei yeshiva taunted Reb Shraga Feivel for having recited the blessing. Reb Shraga Feivel turned to Rabbi Aharon Kotler, who agreed with him that the favorable U.N. resolution was indeed worthy of the blessing. Rabbi Nesanel Quinn.

[7] The account of this speech is based on the notes of Rabbi Yaakov Homnick, which were subsequently published in his pamphlet, "Nitzanei Torah B'America: R' Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz."

[8] Even the Brisker Rav, one of the strongest opponents of Zionism, said of the U.N. vote that it was "a smile from Heaven, but the rulers of the State ruined it." Quoted in Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe's Bein Sheshet LeAsor, p. 146.

Along these lines, I contacted a grandson of R. Mendlowitz and he reported to me the following:

My father a"h told me many times that Zeide would definitely have said Hallel on Yom Ha-Atzma'ut (he was niftar in Sept. 1948).

My Zeide was known to have said that when Israel was recognized as a Jewish state that there was no greater simcha in his life.

On his deathbed, on practically his last breath, he instructed that his son-in-law Rabbi Alexander Linchner was to go to Eretz Yisroel and "tut epes far de Sfardishe kinder" (do something for the Sephardi children). He knew the children were shipped off to secular Kibbutzim, and their Tefillin confiscated.

In other words, he knew about the anti-religious forces in Israel but still considered the state to be a major step towards the redemption, if not already a part of it. And he voiced these views in public and directly to the Satmar Rav.

Note also that R. Aharon Kotler agreed with R. Mendlowitz that the UN vote was reason to recite a blessing of ha-tov ve-ha-meitiv in thanksgiving!

II. R. Avraham Weinfeld

R. Avraham Weinfeld, a prominent posek from Monsey, wrote a long essay about the state of Israel in 1957 that was published in the journal Ha-Ma'or and then, along with his subsequent responses to critiques, in his Lev Avraham (nos. 129-131). In response to an anti-Zionist essay, he posits that it is impossible to determine who is correct over the religious status of the state of Israel. Those who think they can prove it either way are driven by their emotions and not Torah sources. Therefore, "there is no room to establish a holiday nor to decree a fast. All we can do is pray to God that it be for good."

Interestingly, at the end of his original essay he has two "blurbs" from Gedolim who read his essay and shared their reactions. R. Reuven Grozovsky and R. Yisrael Weltz agreed with what he wrote.

The essays can be downloaded from here (warning: large PDF).