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1969

The Ideology of Religious Zionism (1969)

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The Ideology of the Neturei Karta (1969)

I. Introduction A. Thank you for giving me this assignment. Until now, I’ve opposed Neturei Karta (=NK) without ever having studied its major theoretician and analyzed its arguments. Now I have been forced to do so—and I remain unconvinced and as firmly opposed. If anything, I am even more opposed—but also more respectful. B. Had genesis in 1935 when a few hundred members of Agudat Israel considered Agudah too lenient to Zionist groups, generally too moderate, and under Amram Blau seceded and formed NK. They number today several hundred families in Israel, and followers and adherents in Brooklyn and several other centers throughout Diaspora. C. "NK" means "Guardians of the City." Term appears in J.T. (Hag. 1:7) that 3 Sages, under instruction from R. Judah the Prince, traveled through land to make sure every town had teachers—of Bible and Mishnah. Came upon one town that had none, and said to townsfolk: Show us your NK, i.e., guardians of the city. Thereupon they produced police. Rabbis: No—they are destroyers of city. Who then are NK? Answer: teachers and scribes—for without them a city is fated to destruction. NR, therefore, are teachers of Torah by virtue of whom the rest of the population survives. D. NK comes to our attention usually through acts of dramatic protest or minor violence, rarely serious. Its publication restricted largely to shrill posters, polemic pamphlets, strident banners. Only serious works of any real consequence are by aging Satmarer Rebbi, R. Yoel Moshe Teitelbaum, a Rumanian Hasidic leader in U.S.A, since end of World War II, in three volumes published in the last ten years: (V.M.) (Vol. 1-1959; 11-1961) and (G.T.) (1967). It is, in essence, the continuation of the strongly held views of the Hasidic dynasty of Muncacz and their Hungarian-Rumanian followers. E. These views, by any standards—extreme. Most Orthodox Jews—even non-Zionists or even anti-Zionists—reject them, find them often reprehensible. Yet they represent a consistent ideolog…
Zionism

Article

The Ideology of the Neturei Karta According to the Satmarer Version (1971)

The obscure but highly vocal group known as the Neturei Karta was born in 1935 when a few hundred members of Agudat Israel considered the Agudah too lenient to Zionist groups, and generally too moderate, and under Amram Blau seceded and formed the Neturei Karta. They number today several hundred families in Israel, and have followers and adherents in Brooklyn and several other centers throughout the Diaspora. "Neturei Karta" means "Guardians of the City." The term appears in the Jerusalem Talmud (Chag. 1:7), which relates that three sages, under instructions from R. Judah the Prince, traveled through the land to make sure that every town had sufficient teachers of Bible and Mishnah. They came upon one town that had none, and said to the townsfolk: Show us your Neturei Karta, i.e., the guardians of the city. Thereupon they produced police (Sentorei Karta—sentries of the city). No, said the Rabbis, these are destroyers of the city. Who then are the Neturei Karta? They are the teachers and scribes, for without them a city is fated to destruction. Neturei Karta, therefore, are teachers of Torah by virtue of whom, despite their small number, the rest of the population survives. The Neturei Karta come to our attention usually through acts of dramatic protest or minor violence, rarely serious. Their publication is restricted largely to shrill posters, polemical pamphlets, and strident banners. The only serious works of any real consequence are by the aging “Satmarer Rebbe,” R. Yoel Moshe Teitelbaum, a Rumanian Hasidic leader in the U.S.A, since the end of World War II. It is true that the Neturei Karta is fragmentized around different personalities, and that—like all other groups—it contains elements that are more radical and some that are more conservative; some more pacific and “responsible,” and some more militant and “reckless.” There are differences between many of the Jerusalem group and the Rebbe from Williamsburg. Occasionally their inner dissensions have been exp…
Zionism

Correspondence

Exchange with Ruth Weil about "The Ideology of the Neturei Karta" (1972)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, I just got the latest issue of Tradition and read your article on the Ideology of the Neturei Karta. There are a few points I would like to raise and also ask you a few questions. I hope you do not mind! To begin with a general impression. To me your presentation of the ideology seems to be clothed in a sort of “sympathetic regret.” You agree, that fundamentally the basis of Neturei Karta stands on very shaky grounds. But one has a feeling “It could have been so nice, if it only could have been true.” Waiting in the Galuth anywhere as long as life was normal or bearable, then seek refuge in a more favourable place, until one day miraculously the Mashiach would appear and bring us all back to our land. We all have been brought up somehow on this idea, and may feel at times sort of nostalgic to realize our error. I also do think we never visualized this ingathering of our people in a concrete way, no one pondered much how this coming back would technically materialize, as it was to be miraculous. (Incidentally Chaim Hazaz once said something like: Jews always pray for the Mashiach to come, but deep in their hearts they pray, that the gentile should no be too bad towards them.) Convinced of our belief of the return to Eretz Israel, we rejected at a great majority Zionism at its very beginning, no one could conceive redemption initiated by the most secular and atheistic group of Jews. I am not challenging here the Neturei Karta, but would like to ask you, how can the Satmarer Rav pretend that the holocaust was a result and punishment of the Zionists challenging Hitler and declaring war on Germany? Hitler published his attitude towards the Jewish people and the Jews well before he came to power. If an affirmation is based on the very beginning on wrong facts, then of course all that happened later can be derived accordingly. Why do you find at times the logic of the Satmarer Rav piquant? (p. 51) The idea if God would have wanted our return to the old C…
Zionism