YC
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Anti-Semitism or Anti-Zionism?
The Hebrew edition of Achakeh Lo (p. 224) describes a tactic by which the today’s Jewish media makes Jews into Zionists, without making a single argument about the subject itself (the question of whether Zionism violates the oaths of exile). There are many non-Jews who oppose Zionism for their own reasons: their support for Palestinian…
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The full story behind Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky’s supposed support for voting in the WZO election
By Rabbi Sholom Kamenetsky, son of Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky Rabbi Lerner approached my father and asked him to support voting in the WZO. My father refused. But he said that he would think about it, since it seemed to be a very serious matter. Rabbi Lerner sent another delegation to my father to pressure him…
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The WZO Election
Five years ago, Pesach Lerner started a party called Eretz Hakodesh within the World Zionist Organization, and set about convincing chareidi Jews to vote for it. In a way, we have to thank him for bringing the issue of Zionism to the fore so that gedolim around the world had the opportunity to come forward…
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Zionist Argument: The Three Oaths are Only Aggadah
Claim: The Three Oaths are aggadah, not halacha. The poskim don’t bring them down as halacha. Facts: The Gemara begins with the story of Rabbi Zeira and Rav Yehuda. Rabbi Zeira did not want Rav Yehudah to know he was moving to Eretz Yisroel, because Rav Yehuda held, based on the Three Oaths, that it…
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Changing Israeli Demographics – Diluting the State’s Jewish Population
Proponents of the one-state solution are faced with daunting challenges. Yes, it would solve the halachic issue of a Jewish state before the messiah. (The number of Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and other non-Jews already today outnumber Jews between the river and the sea.) And it would offer an opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians to live…
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Yefei Kol: Why isn’t taking over the land already forbidden under the oath against rebellion?
The Yefei Kol is a commentary on the Midrash Shir Hashirim, by Rabbi Shmuel Yaffe Ashkenazi of Constantinople (1525-1595). Commenting on the Three Oaths (chapter 2, verse 7), he writes: Rashi explains that “going up as a wall” means “together, with a strong hand.” The problem is that if this means a military invasion, there…
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Your book is outdated; today we have to see Zionism as a Jew’s inner yearning to reconnect with his Jewish self
Dear Rav Yirmiyahu, I saw a copy of your book/ Sefer in shul which grabbed my attention and spent some time reading sections of it. This topic is one that I have given a great deal of thought to out of my own interest and having taught Modern Jewish History for over 20 years. At…
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Were there many authorities who held that the oaths prohibit only a military takeover of the land?
Hello Rabbi, on the question of whether the oath not to “go up as a wall” means only with a fight, or even peaceful immigration, the Avnei Nezer and Rabbi Chaim Palagi (the first responsa to be written on the matter) both hold that it means only with a fight, but peaceful immigration is allowed,…
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Rabbi Yaakov Emden (1697-1776) – We will not seek to get our land
Sefer Hashimush (“The Useful Book”) is a guide to replying to the arguments of the Sabbatean heretics of Rabbi Yaakov Emden’s time. Some of his points apply just as well to Zionism. Whether Hashem redeems us now, or whether He keeps us in exile for thousands of years more, G-d forbid, we will not give…
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Ahavas Yehonasan – Does the oath prohibit a peaceful ingathering?
Rabbi Yonasan Eybeshutz (1690-1764), in his commentary on the Haftaros, wrote several passages that touch on the meaning of the Oaths. On the Haftarah of Parshas Vaeschanan, he says that even if all the nations agree that the Jewish people should return to their land, they will cry out with an oath and refuse to…
I Will Await Him 