In Defense of the ‘Zionist’ Yidden in Eretz Yisroel

Historic Treasures — Episode 303: "In Defense of the 'Zionist' Yidden in Eretz Yisroel"

Welcome to our weekly mid-Shabbos program.

Last week we mentioned in our program a Vort that the Rebbe said about Pirkei Avot — why is it called Pirkei Avot — and we explained that, and whoever wants to hear it again can always click back.

This week I also want to mention a Vort of the Rebbe about Pirkei Avot. And I heard it on tape. As you know, I think I mentioned it a few years ago, when Rabbi Mendel went in to the Rebbe to take dictation on the letters — Hebrew letters, English letters, all the mikhtavim klalim — and then he went home and composed the letters. So sometimes he asked the Rebbe if he could put a tape recorder on the table while the dictation was going on. The Rebbe said, "Of course." So we have some tapes. You can hear there how the Rebbe dictates the mikhtavim klalim, even from the many volumes of Igros Kodesh. You can see how the Rebbe talks. And then he went home, and of course he listened to it again many times and composed the letter afterward.

So there the Rebbe mentioned a Vort: why is it necessary, before we learn Pirkei Avot, to say "Kol Yisrael"? There are a lot of reasons, but I want to stress that Kol Yisrael — all Yidden — have a chelek l'olam haba, a portion in the world to come. And "v'amech kulam tzaddikim" — all Yidden are tzaddikim. So the Rebbe mentions there that in order for Pirkei Avot to have an effect, a person has to realize — I'm saying exactly the lashon — that every Yid is holy, and every Yid has a chelek l'olam haba, and "v'kulam tzaddikim." Then, when he goes to learn Pirkei Avot, especially the parts bein adam l'chavero, Pirkei Avot will have an effect.

And this reminds me also that the Frierdiker Rebbe once said why we say "hareini mekabel alai mitzvas asei shel v'ahavta kamocha" before davening. You know, by his bar mitzvah, the Frierdiker Rebbe mentioned that when we say that we love every Yid, then the tefillos will be accepted. When the Eibershter sees that a Yid loves every Yid, then the tefillos that the Yid is going to do will be accepted — because the Eibershter loves every Yid. And as the Frierdiker Rebbe once said, when a Yid loves the Eibershter, you love the Eibershter. But when you love another Yid, you love someone that the Eibershter loves. So it's even greater to love every single Yid.

Why am I saying this today? Because after Pesach, from time to time, we have a discussion — a farbrengen, put it that way, a farbrengen even though it's not called a farbrengen because there was no wine or mashke — but we spoke with Chassidim. We have Chassidim who come together many times: Satmarer Chassidim, Belzer Chassidim, Gerer Chassidim, Bobover Chassidim. We come together many times, or we speak from time to time. So we had a discussion about the topic of Chassidus. And we're talking here about Yidden that are yirei'im u'shleimim, frum Yidden, Yidden that learn Torah — some of them even learn the Rebbe's sichos — and we get together from time to time.

But the topic of Zionism and Medinas Yisrael is always mentioned in a — I think — in a negative way. The Zionism, and some of the Chassidim, it seems like there's a hate against Zionism, against Medinas Yisrael. I feel that some Chassidim live in a toeh and are misinformed about Eretz Yisrael and about Zionism. And they put their whole energy — it's poshut wasted time — into calling some Yidden poshei Yisrael. We're talking about frum Yidden. Some of them call them resha'im. Why is that? And we were speaking about it.

It seems to me that the avodah of their Chassidus is to lower Yidden, to call them poshei Yisrael. Poshei Yisrael means sinners. And this is a shittah which I don't understand. Now, I'm mentioning it today because I know that some of the Chassidim are listening to this program — they told me. So I want to say something about this whole thing.

First of all, Hitler yimach shmo didn't make a difference between a Yid who wears a shtreimel and peyos and a beard, or a Yid who is a mechallel Shabbos. No difference. To him, as long as you're a Yid, you had to be wiped out. This was his shittah.

Number two, what I want to say is: today there is no Zionism. You can't call people poshei Yisrael. Maybe years ago there was such a thing, and the Rebbe Rashab spoke about it then, years ago. But now there is no poshei Yisrael. These people who call themselves Zionists, they don't even know what it is. They just sing Hatikvah, they have the Israeli flag, but what is it? They're not even interested in that. So there's no poshei Yisrael today. They're not against it, like it used to be years ago. There isn't.

So I mentioned to them: they put their whole effort, their whole avodah, against Yidden which doesn't even exist. Maybe 2%, 3%. Most of the Yidden are not. Nowadays there are no resha'im. There's no poshei Yisrael. It's like the demonstrations, you know — pro-Palestine, l'havdil — "from the river to the sea," and thousands and thousands of college students chanting it. You go over to many of them and ask them, "What are you saying? What river? Which river?" They don't even know what you're talking about. They just do it. The same thing is true here. These people that the Chassidim call Zionists — they don't even know. To be a poshei Yisrael, or to be an apikores, you have to know. They don't even know. So I don't know what kind of shaychus there is at all to speak about that. And also, it's simply a waste of time. And some people put their whole Chassidus, their whole avodah, against these Yidden.

Now, I can tell you myself, I put on tefillin with many people, and sometimes I learn with them also. And these are what they would call Zionists, or poshei Yisrael. And you know how many ba'alei teshuvah come from that? So it's not that there's a shittah against them — they become ba'alei teshuvah. What are they called? Tinok shenishba bein ha'akum. They just don't know. And the people who want to follow their grandfathers' ways or their great-grandfathers' ways, they just say it, but they don't know — it's not that they don't believe. There is no such thing. We see thousands and thousands become ba'alei teshuvah in Yisrael and here, and they show me their mitzvos. The word Zionism — it should not be, because I don't think there's anything like it used to be.

There was once a maaseh on Yom Kippur — the Frierdiker Rebbe, I don't know what year it was, in the '40s, upstairs of 770, there's a porch in the back — they had their Yom Kippur minyan, but between mussaf and mincha they had a break. Like a recess. So the Frierdiker Rebbe was on the porch. Anyway, across the street from the shul at 770, there were benches, and there was a Yid sitting without a yarmulke in front of the shul, eating peanuts on Yom Kippur. You imagine — a Yid without a yarmulke on Yom Kippur, eating peanuts. So some people around said, "Oh, you're not a kodesh. You know it's Yom Kippur, you're an atheist." Somehow the Frierdiker Rebbe found out, or somebody told him. So he said, "[unclear]." A Yid — a Yid on Yom Kippur — and he knew that today is Yom Kippur. Today is Yom Kippur, but it's a tinok shenishba bein ha'akum. So any Yid who is not shomer Torah u'mitzvos is not to be judged, chas v'shalom. He is a — nowadays, it may have been different — he is a tinok shenishba bein ha'akum.

The old Satmar Rebbe zatzal was a big kanoy. He was zealous. The Rebbe was also a kanoy — the Lubavitcher Rebbe was also a big kanoy. But they had different shitos. Once — I think it was 1954 — when the Satmar Rebbe zatzal's daughter passed away, the Rebbe came to the Satmar Rebbe to be menachem avel in Williamsburg. One of the things they spoke about — the Satmar Rebbe asked the Rebbe: the Gemara says, "Poshei Yisrael melei mitzvos karimon" — a sinner, a poshei Yisrael, is full of mitzvos like a pomegranate, it has a lot of seeds like it has a lot of mitzvos. So he says to the Rebbe, "Mon yishak? If he's a poshei Yisrael, a sinner, how can he be full of mitzvos? It doesn't click." So the Rebbe says that he also has a question: "If he is melei mitzvos karimon, how can he be a poshei Yisrael?" Both were kanoyim, and both were great tzaddikim. If he has melei mitzvos karimon, how can he be a poshei Yisrael? The Satmar Rebbe was a holy man.

As a matter of fact, I don't know if people know that when Shazar was by the Rebbe once — I heard this from my father-in-law — he mentioned the Satmar Rebbe, but not bishvachei, not in praise. So the Rebbe grabbed his hand and said, "Tocheiach" — he's a holy man, or something — he didn't let him talk. Look, but the shittah should be that a Yid is heilig. A Yid has a neshama.

Another thing — they also mentioned at this farbrengen that the Aibershter cannot make a miracle through a poshei Yisrael, or through a Yid that is not frum. Is that a shittah? And they say they heard it from gedolim. I don't know what that means. I do know that, I think it was on Tisha B'Av, the Rebbe mentioned about a miracle that happened through what they would call poshei Yisrael, or Zionists. The Rebbe said it was a miracle. Other Chassidim said it's not a miracle — the Aibershter cannot make a miracle through people who are not frum. So then the question was: what if, G-d forbid, your son is very sick and needs a refuah shleimah, and there are two doctors. There's a doctor who is religious but not such a big doctor — he's a regular MD, but he's frum. Then there's another doctor who you would call a Zionist doctor, or a poshei Yisrael as they would call it, but he's one of the biggest doctors in the world. And you know that if the doctor cures, it's not the doctor — he's only a shliach of the Aibershter. Who would you go to? For sure, you would go to the biggest doctor, because he knows better and your son will be cured. And that's a miracle. So how can one say the Aibershter does not make a miracle through a doctor who is a poshei Yisrael? It just doesn't make any sense.

So I would like to mention this today because of this farbrengen — I want to straighten out a few things. The shittah that was built regarding Medinas Yisrael, yes, it was not a petiterer — but it doesn't mean that the people now are called poshei Yisrael. They're holy. They have a neshama — chelek Eloka mima'al mamash.

There was the Yom Ha'atzmaut matter. The Frierdiker Rebbe in 1948 was crying, and Reb Shmuel Levitin a"h went in to the Frierdiker Rebbe and asked him why. So he said, "Moshiach was born today, but it was a miscarriage." And Reb Shmuel said he meant Medinas Yisrael — Reb Shmuel said this, not the Rebbe. But it could be. So the shittah — the Reform movement, of course, is against Torah, the Reform shittah — but the people are holy. The people have a neshama. And our Rebbe said once, "Whoever helps push away Yom Ha'atzmaut is makriv the geulah for fifty years."

So, therefore, I need to mention this now: every time the Rebbe speaks, in fifty years, not once did the Rebbe mention the word "medina." The Rebbe says "Eretz HaKodesh," "Eretz Yisrael," "Eretz Asher Ein Sham Elokecha Bah" — never. Because "medina" is not a metzius. When you speak about "medina" a lot, you're saying there is no metzius — but there is a metzius: there are Yidden in Eretz Yisrael. You can't give back land, because Yidden are there — besides the kedusha. That Yid, he's a Yid. A Yid is holy. Every single Yid is holy, every Yid has a neshama — af al pi shechata, Yisrael hu. This is what I want to make clear to the people who are listening: even though he committed a sin, he's still called a Yisrael.

What is a Yisrael? Yisrael is an abbreviation: Yud is Yitzchak and Yaakov, Sin is Sarah, Reish is Rachel and Rivka, Aleph is Avraham, and Lamed is Leah. These are our three fathers and four mothers. Every Yid who has a Jewish mother has within them the merit of Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah, and they have a neshama, and they have a chelek Eloka mima'al mamash, a part of the Aibershter in them. And this is what we have to realize, everyone — that every Yid is heilig. This is the shittah — not to constantly speak against people, calling them poshei Yisrael, poshei Yisrael, Zionism. There is no — of course we're all "kibbutzing," gathering to Zion. We're all Zionists. A Yid is heilig, and this is the way to fulfill "Av echad lekulanu" — we have one Father. "Banim atem laShem Elokeichem" — we are children of the Aibershter, everybody.

There is no difference, as we say — they told me "heimish Yid" and "this kind of Yid" — there's no such thing as "heimish" versus not. We're all heimish, we're all together. A person may not be a shomer Shabbos, or shomer Tisha B'Av, or whatever, but not because he's a poshei Yisrael nowadays. So, "Barcheinu Avinu kulanu ke'echad" — when we're all together, and we all feel that all the Yidden are united, then we are zocheh that Mashiach will come, and we are all tzaddikim. We have to look at every Yid with a good eye. And this is the shittah, I think.

For the people who are listening, after the farbrengens we had, I think it makes things a little clearer: a Yid is a Yid. The Reform shittah is not good — it's against Torah. But the Yid is a Yid. So there is no poshei Yisrael today.

We'll meet you next week. We will continue our weekly program. Thank you.