AN OPEN LETTER REGARDING THE WZO ELECTIONS
By HaRav Aharon Feldman
In response to the question of many, I have not retracted my opinion that it is forbidden to vote in the WZO elections. The source of this rumor is Yitzchok Hisiger who quoted me as saying that I was “mevatel my daas” to R. Chaim Kanefsky shlita who had written that one should vote. This was transmitted to the online press who interpreted it as a retraction. But as Hisiger himself writes, “This is not true. He did not retract his opinion in my conversation with him.” I meant by saying I am mevatel my daas that out of deference to this zekan hagedolim that I would not publicly oppose him. However, this was before I became aware of the full details of R. Chaim’s response.
The response was to the query of Rav Shmuel Kamenetzky shlita who asked: Is it is permitted to vote in the WZO elections “in order to save kodshey yisroel.” (No one has seen the letter; this was read to me.) Protecting kodshey yisroel means stopping the assaults on Chareidi Judaism by the Israeli government in matters of the Kosel, geyrus, marriage, recognition of Reform etc. But this is an incorrect presentation of the issue; they will not save kodshey yisroel, as explained below. I therefore feel that until a correct presentation of the issue is made before R. Chaim, his response is irrelevant to the issue before us.
I am mevatel my daas to R. Chaim, but he is discussing saving kodshey yisroel and I am discussing the facts. There is no conflict.
The World Zionist Congress, the decision and policy making body of the World Zionist Organization, has 750 delegates, of which 152 are elected from the U.S. There are eleven slates in the US section, so it is not probable that Eretz Hakodesh will receive more than 50, most probably 25, of the 152 delegates. Can 50 delegates against 700, with the control of the Organization out of their hands, save kodshey yisroel? This is nothing less than a fantasy.
I do not fault Rav Shmuel Kamenetzky for framing the question the way he did, since he relied on the facts as presented to him. Led by Rabbi Pesach Lerner, these advocates have been manipulating the Chareidi public, including many important Rabbonim, with a clever campaign designed to convince them to follow their fantasy.
For one hundred years Gedolim such as the Chofetz Chaim, R. Chaim Brisker, R. Elchonon Wasserman, R. Reuven Grozofsky, the Brisker Ran and (y.l.) Rav Moshe Shternbuch, have taken the non-compromising stance that we must not join with the Zionists in any of their organizations. Without exception, this was considered by them a serious issur of hischabrus lireshaim, and fraught with danger for the Jewish people. Joining with them meant agreement to the basis of Zionism which is a redefinition of the Jewish people as a nation dependent not upon Torah but on land and language.
Eretz Hakodesh, the name of the slate being voted for, has misled the public by studiously avoiding mentioning that joining Zionist organizations was considered a very serious issur by all gedolim, one which the Chofetz Chaim said it is worth closing a third of Yeshivos to avoid (Letters of R.Elchonon Wasserman p 154ff.).
Its website says that “participation in the elections is not an endorsement of the anything the WZO was or is.” This deliberately omits that to vote one must accept the Jerusalem Program. This Program states that Zionism is “the national liberation movement of the Jewish people … (it)views a Jewish Zionist democratic State of Israel to be the expression of the common responsibility of the Jewish people for its continuity and future.” In other words, the survival of the Jewish people is unrelated to Hashem and His Torah, but only to a secular State dedicated to turning the Jewish people Into a nation like all other secular states.
In another distortion, Rabbi Pesach Lerner in Hamodia describes the Jerusalem Program as merely “speaking of Jewish unity and its bond to Eretz Yisrael, the value of Aliyah and promoting Jewish values,” deliberately omitting that it is a statement, as cited above, which is antithetical to the basis of Torah Judaism.
In his campaign, Lerner has consistently attempted to trivialize the opposition of the Gedolim to joining a Zionist organization. In an op-ed piece in Mishpacha, Lerner writes that “the Torah community has traditionally not been involved or active in the WZO election…and gedoley yisrael have generally stayed away from any involvement.” The grievous sin of participating in a Zionist organization is presented as a matter of personal taste in which the Torah community has “traditionally not been involved” and which “gedoley yisroel have stayed away from.”
Lerner, again, writes in Hamodia that participation in the WZO is no different from participation in the Knesset. With this he displays superficial thinking and ignorance of articles by Rav Reuven Grozofsky (in his Boayos Hammon) and Rav Elyashiv (in his denouncement of Shas for joining the WZO in Yated Neeman, Parashas Bo, 1970) who explain at length that there is no comparison between the two. In the Knesset elections, the citizens are not opting to join the Zionist endeavor. They are willy-nilly citizens who are merely protecting themselves and their tax money and ensuring their survival from onslaughts by the government, whereas joining the WZO is a willful act of identification with Zionism.
Menachem Grylak, publisher of Mishpacha, contributes to this trivialization. In an op-ed piece he writes:
“For a great many readers, the word Zionist is a turnoff… They may fell disinclined to take part [in the voting) simply on grounds that this isn’t something for the heimeishe crowd. Some of you may this sudden call to take part in a WZO election is coming right out of left field, especially those of you educated in the direction of a non-Zionist agenda.”
Here, again, is the deliberate obfuscation of the fact that Zionism has always been considered a serious aveyra, but that it is something which the “heimishe crowd” objects to out of meaningless habit or upbringing. The combination of outright falsehood, use of weasel words, and a heavy dose of condescension in this statement is nothing less than abhorrent.
Eretz Hakodesh in their advertisements also claim that they will receive a share of the $1 billion budget of the WZO, but do not explain how, as a small minority, they will get this money. Besides, since when are serious issurim for sale for money?
The presentation before Rav Shmuel Kamenetzky and then to R. Chaim Kaniefsky that Eretz Hakodesh is out to save the kodshey yisroel is consistent with this campaign of distortions and obfuscation. R. Chaim’s ruling that one should vote in the WZO elections would be understandable only if he was told that the salvation of kodshey yisroel depended upon it. Otherwise, why would he overrule the Gedolim before him, including his shver, Rav Elyashiv?
In summation, until a full and honest presentation of what Eretz Hakodesh is able to accomplish is given to R. Chaim and other gedoley hador, I continue to urge the public to refrain from voting in the WZO elections. If one has already voted he can nullify this by disputing his credit card charge.
With tefillos that Hashem enable us to continue to be a mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh, and with deep respect,
Aharon Feldman