A massive crowd gathered Wednesday night in the BMG dining room to hear from Rav Malkiel Kotler, Rav Yisroel Neuman, and Rav Aharon Feldman of Ner Yisroel in an asifa against participation in the ongoing World Zionist Organization (WZO) elections.
The WZO elections, held every five years, play a pivotal role in determining how billions of dollars are allocated across Eretz Yisroel. The Eretz Hakodesh party was formed with the goal of securing representation in the World Zionist Congress and redirecting funds to support Torah institutions and yeshivos. The initiative has received backing from many gedolim and was endorsed in the previous election by Harav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l.
However, not all gedolei torah agree with this approach. The speakers at the Asifa strongly opposed any participation in the election, arguing that any affiliation with the Zionist movement—even for the purpose of supporting yeshivos—is treif. They expressed deep concerns about the potential risks of engaging with a system they believe to be inherently opposed to Torah values.
Thank you for covering this! I know that I’m preaching to the choir, but I think that your article contains not accurate reporting. The EH party did not receive backing from “many gedolim” or from Rav Chaim Kanievsky. I’ve yet to see proof of that.
Thanks.
How sad
Sad and pathetic
Yidden against yidden
When will we learn?
Forget antisemitism . We hate each other
Who needs goyim?
You should visit BMG and speak to the Rosh Yeshivos or thousands of talmidim before you say such motzai shem ra against so many good Jews. We don’t have any hatred towards the EH party or it’s leaders c”v, they are well meaning religious Jews.
However, our Mesorah and rich Jewish tradition for thousands of years has been that the Torah is our “flag”, and our Gedolim have consistently stated that Zionism does not align with authentic Torah values.
This gathering was merely a clarification and declaration not to join with a group (zionists) that are against Torah values. It’s nothing personal.
This is not sad, to the contrary, it is beautiful and a Kiddush Hashem that so many thousands of people still are devoted to the Torah and our leaders, and listen to what they say, and are willing to accept it, even if they may not fully appreciate it, as it says עֲשֵׂה לְךָ רַב..
They are willing to stand up for the Torah even when there are glitzy high end marketing campaigns splashed everywhere, trying to convince people that there is a mitzva to vote in these elections.
Agreed, its okay to have this asifah and everyone should follow their own Ruv. Supposedly, Reb Avrohom Gurwitz from Gateshead, who is definatly Chareidi, right wing, or “fun Unzere” said publicly that it is the right thing to do to YES vote, so all should follow their Ruv.
It takes a particularly vapid person who is devoid of real values and understanding to interpret any principled disagreement with another as evidence of personal animus.
Hello,
When voting in the WZO elections, there is a two-part process: 1. Registering to vote and 2. Voting (after registration, a link will be sent to facilitate voting).
During the registration process, one must declare and attest to several statements. One of these requires agreement with The Jerusalem Program, which is basically total Kefira. Only after registration and payment is the voting link sent out.
My simple question is: Is a person permitted to agree to Kefira in order to save Jewish souls and protect Eretz Yisrael?
This question is not about whether we love one another; rather, it concerns what we are allowed to do to save our brethren from those who seek to turn them away from Hashem and His Torah.
Can you explain how the Jerusalem project is “basically total kefirah”? Thanks
I get there can be different opinions, and although I do not understand the reason not to vote, I respect their opinion and do not questioning their purity of לשם שמים in their fight.
But I do object to calling their opinion “השקפת התורה”, as if the other opinions are not also השקפת התורה. Did תלמידי בית שמאי put up posters against בית הלל saying they are going against the Torah?!
They killed each other with spears
And just a word about what “you’re signing on to” when you vote. I’ve read it. There are some lines there that are not השקפת התורה like saying the Zionist movement was needed for Jewish survival etc. However, when a frum person votes everyone knows he’s doing it to be מציל מידם, because these רשעים have no right to highjack Judaism and EY unless you sign to their ideology. We are not taking anything from them. We are taking our own. (see Avodah Zara 13a). I’ve seen so many modern orthodox people who donate big money to Israel and they are people who are מחשיב תורה and do not believe in reform ח”ו.
You have a lot of good svaras ahin and svaras aher and many chazalim and Gemaras to boot- and of course your anecdotal observations of Modox people who you look up to. And… That’s why we turn to Gedolim who possess Hashakafas HaTorah, which different Gedolim can interpret differently, to make decisions of such import and weight.
there is no endorsmend of r chaim or r gershon edelstein. the rov of ks in ey wrote a letter that r gershen was against.
its very very simple , in order to vote you first have to become a member in wzo, r hai gaon said אין אומתינו אומה אלא בתורתה thats basic אמונה zionism says our nation is like all other nations its about nationalism thats against אמונה
currently all the gedolei hador assured except hagaon rav Avrohom Gurwitz but in his letter he says he seems to be basing on Rav shmuel kaminetzki originally backing however he was chozer and currently even though Eretz Hakodesh is desperately searching for any rabbinical support they still will not even claim Rav shmuel supports them – find me any current ad or statment etc that even makes such a claim- there are none
I don’t understand how everyone just writes what their opinion is without hearing the speeches given, well I did hear it and all the questions were addressed, 1. R Chaim didn’t endorse it as you can see in the video 2. R’ Feldman spoke out that it doesn’t matter how much money you will make because its ASSUR.
Roshai yeshiva also get a little antsy soif zman I guess… no way they would have done this in Chesham.
You’re not ashamed to make such a comment about Roshei Yeshiva!!???
Sick puppy what you are!!