Joseph
Member
cantoresq, I don’t know what you believe regarding the matter or not, but the canard that the “European Rabbis” somehow prevented European Jewry from escaping is one of the major so-called “defenses” of the zionists for their WWII activities.
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Until the discussion about the Bilgoray Rav’s spech in Budapest, I concerned myself only with r. Elchanan Wasserman’s position on the issue. I concnetrated on that becuase there is a documented letter from him stating that it is better to die a physical death in Europe rather than immigrate to America and die a spiritual death. This BTW fits in well with his reported last words before being executed, where he exhorted people to repent so they could be more perfect korbanot and save klal Yisrael that way (which raises a whole host of theological issues). As to other rabbis giving similar advice, it may have happened. I don’t recall seing anything along those lines published however.