But at the same time, we're hearing about joining together with people who just a few weeks ago, were mosser nefesh to stamp out Torah in Eretz Yisrael and bond with the barbarians who later came to ravage them.
If they are going in the direction of Torah & mitzvot (and many are, even if they don't appear so externally), then well & good. We should be there for them as brothers and sisters.
We are all works in progress and should be patient with and encouraging of each other.
But if it's about tolerating anti-Torah ideals and running society according to anti-Torah values, then no.
And certainly, we should never bond with the non-Jewish anti-Torah Jews running things in the Israeli government and army.
Hashem despises them and doesn't want us associating with them at all.
(Sort of like how you, the loving parent, doesn't want your beloved child sitting on a dung hill & getting all buddy-buddy with maggots.)
Chanukah emanated from the passionate fight of the pro-Torah Jews against the anti-Torah Jews — the Hellenists, AKA the mityavanim (those who became Greek).
It gets even more confusing today because many Jews unite in their support of the Israeli army.
It's true that more Jewish soldiers than ever look to Hashem as they make their way to the battlefield.
And tzitzit has finally become part of the uniform of the Jewish soldier in Israel.
But the top echelons of the army continue to conduct themselves with disregard for Jewish life.
In other words, the Jewish soldiers' reasons for going out to war now are NOT the same as the military elites' reasons for sending these Jewish boys out to war.
Furthermore, if you go back further in history, you find the top charedi (non-Zionist) Torah Sages noting that the establishment of Medinat Yisrael was both a sign of the Geula and the wrong way to go about things.
So it all gets confusing.
Fortunately, we have Rav Avigdor Miller to help us sort out the contradictions.
He holds by the traditional Torah outlook, which predates Zionism by centuries.
It remains the standard charedi hashkafah, which some find controversial — or even repellant.
I used to find it just plain repellant.
Then I educated myself (that took a few years) and realized the charedi view is the correct one.
It's actual much more solid than any of the Zionist arguments, including the sincerely well-intentioned religious-Zionist arguments.
In short, if you are a committed shomer mitzvot Jew, you have a RIGHT to be in Eretz Yisrael. It doesn't matter who's in charge. It doesn't matter whether it's a "Jewish" medinah, or a British medinah, or a Turkish medinah, or a Roman medinah, or a Greek medinah. This is YOUR land. Please see here for more on the authentic charedi hashkafah: a-review-of-guardian-of-jerusalem-the-life-times-of-rabbi-yosef-chaim-sonnenfeld-why-it-challenged-everything-i-thought-i-knew-about-the-modern-history-of-eretz-yisrael.html
Here are excerpts from Rav Miller's Q&As to help us sort out our minds and attitudes.
I added boldface to emphasize key points, whether hashkafic points or just points that foretold what happened on Simchat Torah this year.
Let's start with Rav Miller on Zionism itself (a term coined as recently as 1890 by then-irreligious and ethnocentrist Jew Nathan Birnbaum, who later came back to the fold and regretted all his former politics: a-deeper-look-into-the-deceptive-terminology-popular-among-anti-torah-elements-within-eretz-yisrael-and-why-we-need-to-detach-from-it.html):
Q: What should be our attitude towards Zionism?
A: By this time I think that our people here know the answer to that question.
But to repeat: Zionism is a substitute for Judaism.
It would be the same if someone began a movement, Tefillinism or Sukkaism. Anybody who emphasizes one thing is already under suspicion that he does not belong to the Torah Jews. And that’s because the Torah is composed of taryag mitzvos and when one chooses a single mitzvah and makes a big fuss about it, then we suspect him of intending to do away with the rest.
And that’s exactly what Zionism is.
It’s an attempt to substitute nationalism for everything else – for mitzvos, for Torah and even for G-d himself.
TAPE # 40 (October 1974)
https://torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-zionist-substitute/
Q: Why did Hashem create Medinas Yisroel [the State of Israel]?
A: Hakodosh Boruch Hu is doing things that have more than one purpose.
In the beginning, Medinas Yisroel served as a place where many Jews came.
In the meantime, it became a haven.
But at the same time, it was a test. It’s an ordeal. Had they utilized it properly, it could have been a great gift.
But if it’s misused, so it’s like taking any good thing Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives to you which you could have utilized to do very great things and you didn’t.
So they failed. They failed and today it’s not even a safe haven for Jews. Today the Am Yisroel is suffering from Medinas Yisroel.
TAPE # 166 (May 1978)
torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-hashem-created-medinas-yisroel/
Q:
How could we answer the claim of Arafat who says that the Jewish people are throwing him out of his homeland?
A:
And the answer is how would you answer the claim of a man who at gunpoint drove you out of your house and later when you come back to claim your house, he says, “Look, I’m living here. It’s my house now. You want to drive me out?!”
We have a claim to Eretz Yisroel and it’s written black on white. We have a charter.
The Torah states openly it belongs to us. It was given to us and we lived there.
The fact that we were driven out at gunpoint, at knifepoint, doesn’t mean we lost the rights to be there.
Now, I’m not saying the Zionists were justified in taking over Eretz Yisroel, but we certainly are justified in saying that the land belongs to us.
Whether we’re going to do something about it or not, it could be we shouldn’t do anything about it.
But whatever it is, there’s not the slightest question that we lived there and we were driven out by force. The Romans drove us out.
And therefore it’s our land. Should we now go by force and drive out the inhabitants? That’s a question I’m not going to discuss. It could very well be not.
But Arafat was not driven out. He could have lived in Eretz Yisroel. He was a Palestinian. Nobody was stopping him from living peacefully.
Who told him run away? It’s because he was a mischief-maker that he had to run away. Mischief-makers will be apprehended and be punished, but that’s no claim against the people who are willing to punish him.
If he wouldn’t be a mischief-maker, he could live peacefully in Eretz Yisroel.
So therefore there’s no claim of Palestinian Arabs against the Jews if they make trouble and have to leave.
TAPE # 482 (December 1983)
torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-arab-claims-to-eretz-yisroel/
Q:
What should be our reaction to the great campaign against the State of Israel that’s being conducted by the Reform Jews and all the Jewish liberal organizations like the UJA and the American Jewish Committee? And they even appeal to the United States Government, to the Congress, to stop giving support to Israel because they are mistreating the "poor Palestinian Arabs."
A:
Now, I’m not a Zionist. Very far from it.
But there must be a certain amount of yosher, a certain amount of decency.
Even the irreligious Jews in Eretz Yisrael are fighting for their lives. They’re fighting for their lives!
They have bitter enemies, terrorists who are killing Jews – private people, innocent people – for nothing. So what can they do?!
You have to defend yourself!
And so if they’re throwing Molotov cocktails at you, what should you do? Just thumb your nose at them?
And therefore the Reform Jews are the criminals. They’re the ones who are the mosrim [traitorous informers]. They’re the enemies of the Jewish people.
They’re appealing to the United States Government to stop helping the State of Israel because Israel is doing terrible things to the "poor Palestinian Arab!"
What should be our reaction? Our reaction should be not a penny to UJA! Not a penny to the Federation! Not only that, we should send letters to them telling them never will we help you with even one dollar because you are enemies of the Jewish people.
That should be our reaction.
TAPE # 729 (March 1989)
Q:
What drives the Israeli government to compromise on the security of its citizens by signing empty peace agreements with the Palestinians that puts Jews in danger?
A:
Why did the Israeli government take steps to compromise the security of Israel?
The answer is the heads of the Israeli government are beclouded with all the ideas of the gentile world.
They’re not Jews anymore.
And so when they came to Oslo, the applause they got from the gentile world, the prodding from the American State Department and the thoughts of a Nobel Prize, all of that turned their heads and now they’re like goyim. They want to find favor in the eyes of the goyim – they’re doing what the goyim want.
They’re not interested at all in the Jewish people anymore. Their hearts are in London, in Paris, in Norway, in Oslo. Their hearts are not with the Jewish nation anymore. And even though they live in Eretz Yisroel and they try to get power by being elected, but their hearts are elsewhere.
In other words, these people were never Jews once they forsook the Torah; and now they’ve become gentiles in their minds entirely.
TAPE # E-31 (November 1995)
https://torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-security-of-medinas-yisroel/
Q:
What should be our reaction to Rabin handing over parts of Eretz Yisrael to the PLO?
A:
You have to know that when reshaim have power, they’re not going to do any good for us.
Anybody who is not a shomer Torah is not going to help us. You have to know that beforehand.
So what do you expect of Rabin or all the other people? They’re people, mufkarim. They have no connection with Torah, with emunah, so all they can do is kilkul [ruin]. They can’t help us at all. That you have to know.
And they’re doing it very successfully today. No question that they’re ruining the country. מרשעים יצא רשע – From wicked people will come wickedness (Shmuel Alef, 24:13). That you have to know. From wicked people, only wickedness can come out. Don’t expect any tovos from wicked people.
And so we have to pray to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that the zechus of all the frum Jews in Eretz Yisroel should protect them, the zechus of all the yeshivos should protect them, the mosdos haTorah.
And maybe the zechus of all the Jews who live in Eretz Yisroel and are doing so much good for the world, maybe bzechus this Hakodosh Boruch Hu will frustrate all the intentions of the reshaim who are in power who are trying to ruin Eretz Yisroel.
TAPE # E-15 (May 1995)
https://torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-israeli-politicians/
Q:
How should we react when we hear about these hostile attacks by the Arabs? What message are we being sent?
A:
Look, I’m not saying that the message is that we should therefore walk across the border with outstretched arms to embrace the Arabs and make peace – because most likely they’ll greet us with gunfire.
But there is a message from Hashem that we have things to fix inside of Eretz Yisroel.
A lot of things. Maybe, for instance, we have to start pressing for the observance of Shabbos in the Land of Israel.
The Torah says, “מחלליה מות יומת – those who profane the Shabbos will be put to death. The Torah says that. And the Gemara says “אף על פי שבטלו סנהדרין – even though we do not have a Sanhedrin to execute sinners today, דין ארבע מיתות לא בטלו – the judgement will still be carried out.”
So maybe when men fall at the border, or when a hand grenade is thrown into a bus, or when people are gunned down in Tel- Aviv, maybe we should think, maybe we should suspect – and it’s a reasonable suspicion – that maybe Hakodosh Boruch Hu is carrying out what He said He would do.
If buses publically travel on Shabbos and if the Ministry of Labor is giving out permits to so many factories to allow them to open on Shabbos – so many factories are open in Eretz Yisroel on Shabbos!
A lot of factories, with the explicit permission of the government. In the Land of Israel, it is now accepted to profane the Shabbos! We should think about this!
Maybe we should think about all the recent immigrants from Georgia who are begging to be allowed to raise their children in Orthodox schools but the government won’t allow them.
Maybe we should consider that the government must change its policy of taking the immigrants out to irreligious kibbutzim where there are no Orthodox schools.
And the government is forcing immigrant families to go there. When the new immigrants have protested and said that they want to be placed in religious towns, the government has responded with threats, warning the immigrants that if they won’t go to live where they are sent, they will not get any work.
This is all a fact – it’s not deniable.
And that’s why the children of the Moroccan immigrants have all turned out to be irreligious. Although they came to Eretz Yisroel with payos and were children of Orthodox parents.
Because government policy is to see to it that religion is stamped out in Israel.
And hundreds of thousands of Jewish children have been weaned from keeping the Torah because that’s the policy.
They’re destroying Jewish souls!
So maybe, if you’re destroying Jewish souls, that’s why Jewish bodies are being destroyed. It’s really not hard, not difficult at all, to look for reasons for why things are happening.
Of course, if you don’t have ears, so you say, “Well, this is nothing. Every new state has troubles. Growing pains. They have battles in the beginning. For the first hundred years they have to battle.”
But the truth is that it’ll never get better. And it will get worse and worse.
So there are plenty of messages being sent by Hakodosh Boruch Hu that we have to listen to.
TAPE # 24
He means until then as long as Am Yisrael allows the anti-Torah officials to control them.
Q:
How much of an interest should one take in the matzav in Eretz Yisroel and what can we do to help?
A:
We can daven.
Eretz Yisroel today has so many frum Jews, tai’ereh frum Jews – it’s a pleasure to look at them.
Frum families, frum mosdos hatorah.
We have to pray to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that there should be a mapalah, a big downfall, for all the wicked Arabs.
Every day in Shemona Esrei, I say that. I ask for a mapalah for all the wicked Arabs.
And a mapalah also for all the wicked Jews too. The BAGATZ, the Supreme Court. A mapalah for them and for Meretz and all the reshaim.
I say it every day in Shemona Esrei. I say it bifeirush – I say their names every day. A mapalah to the Arabs and to the Reform rabbis. And to the Jews for Yushkeh, the missionaries, too – I add them in for good measure. I mention all of them. I say it bifeirush every day in Elokai netzor at the end of Shemona Esrei; I add all these things.
We should pray, however, for the safety of Am Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel!
They should be rescued. It’s so important that the Arabs should be defeated!
If the Arabs would come in – chas ve’shalom, chas ve’shalom.
Now, somebody asked me a question – he said, “What?! Do you want to give a victory to the IDF when we know that all kinds of sins are done in the Jewish army?”
That’s right. But suppose there is an apikoris who is trying to save you from an enemy, from an Arab who is running after you and trying to kill you.
Do you want that apikoris to be killed?
No. You want him to live until – at least until – he saves your life.
After he saves your life, that’s something else. So we want the army to be successful until they defeat all the Arabs.
TAPE # E-258 (January 2001)
https://torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-praying-for-the-idf/