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We have been seeking volunteers to help in translating Rabbi Rates and historical documents from Hebrew/Yiddish to English Menu The difference Between Judaism and Zionism
The Distinction In between Judaism and Zionism
G. Neuburger
Where the Torah tells in regards to the development in the first human currently being, the
most prominent Jewish commentator,
Tiffany Jewelry On Sale, Rashi, explains that the earth from which Adam was
shaped was not taken from 1 spot but from different areas of the globe. Therefore human dignity
doesn't rely within the location of one's birth nor could it be constrained to 1 region.
The greatness or worth of a person is not measured
by his or her outward appearance. Jews believe that Adam was created in G-d's image and
that he is the common ancestor of all mankind. At this stage in human history, there is no
room for privileged people who can do with others as they please. Human life is sacred and
human rights are not to be denied by those who would subvert them for "national
security" or for any other reason. No 1 knows this better than the Jews, who have
been second-class citizens so often and for so long. Some Zionists, however, may differ.
This is understandable because Judaism and Zionism are by no means the same. Indeed they
are incompatible and irreconcilable: If 1 is a good Jew, a single cannot be a Zionist; if one particular
is a Zionist, a single cannot be a good Jew.
For over 60 years I have
fought Zionism,
Tiffany Canada, as did my father before me, and I am for that reason quite familiar with it. For
those who have already been in this fight for only the last ten or twenty years, what I have to
say may be surprising or even shocking. Nevertheless these matters must be stated clearly
and openly, because unless the disease of Zionism is diagnosed accurately,
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cured. Too long have those opposed to Zionism engaged in daydreaming and wishful thinking.
In order to recognize Zionism for what it is, 1 has to know about Judaism, about Zionism
-- the opposite and negation of Judaism, and about Jewish history. While in the time allotted to
me, I am not about to talk about the actions with the Zionists; they will be adequately
dealt with by others. As a Jew, I plan to discuss Zionism, which is rebellion against G-d
and treason for the Jewish people.
To begin with, a few
definitions: Who is a Jew? A Jew is anyone who has a Jewish mother or who converted to
Judaism in conformity with Halacha, Jewish religious law. This definition alone
excludes racism. Judaism does not seek converts, but those who do convert are accepted on
a basis of equality. Let us see how far this goes. Some with the most eminent and respected
rabbis were converts to Judaism. Jewish parents throughout the globe bless their children
every Sabbath and holiday eve, and they have done it within the same way for millennia. If the
children are girls, the blessing is, "May G-d let you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel
and Leah." Not one particular of these matriarchs was born a Jewess; they were all converts to
Judaism. If the children are boys, the blessing is, "May G-d let you be like Ephraim
and Menashe." The mother of these two was an Egyptian woman who became Jewish and had
married Joseph. Moses himself, the greatest Jew who ever lived, married a Midianite woman
who became Jewish. Finally, the Tenach, the holy writings of the Jew, contains
the book of Ruth. This woman was not only not Jewish by birth, but she came from
the Moabites, traditional enemies of the Jewish people. This book describes Ruth's
conversion to Judaism and is read annually within the holiday commemorating the giving with the Torah,
the "Law,
Cheap Pandora Bracelets," i.e. the Pentateuch. At its really end, the book of Ruth traces the
ancestry of King David, the greatest king the Jews ever had, to Ruth, his
great-grandmother.
Apart from your Zionists, the
only ones who consistently considered the Jews a race were the Nazis. And they only served
to prove the stupidity and irrationality of racism. There was no way to prove racially
whether a Mrs. Muller or a Mr. Meyer were Jews or Aryans (the Nazi term for non-Jewish
Germans. The only way to decide whether a person was Jewish was to trace the religious
affiliation in the parents or grandparents. So much for the this racial nonsense.
Racial pride has been the
downfall of those Jews within the past who were blinded by their own narrow-minded chauvinism.
This brings us to a second definition. Is there a Jewish people? If so, what is its
mission? Let us make this completely clear: The Jewish nation was not born or
reconstituted a generation ago by some Zionist politicians. The Jewish nation was born on
Mount Sinai when the Jews by their response, "let us do and let us hear,"
adopted the Torah given to them by G-d for all future generations. `This day you become a
people," though valid still today, was spoken thousands of years ago.
According to Jewish
tradition, there are seven Noachide laws which apply to all human beings. Then there are
the Ten Commandments which form basic standard of morality and conduct for adherents of
all monotheistic religions. In addition to these, there are 613 laws obligatory for Jews,
and every Jew has to observe those which are applicable to him or her according to
Halacha. It is the carrying out of these mitzvoth, "commandments," which
constitutes the essence of becoming Jewish, and as a result in the Jewish people and their
covenant with G-d.
In what way are the Jews a
"chosen people"? Every Jewish man anywhere and at any time when called towards the
reading in the Torah says, "Who has chosen us from all the peoples and gave us His
Torah." This is the way in which the Jews are chosen. The Jewish people are chosen
not for domination over others, not for conquest or warfare, but to serve G-d and as a result to
serve mankind. "And the hands are the hands of Esau," has been traditionally
interpreted to mean that while "the voice is Jacob's," the hands- - symbolizing
violence - are Esau's. Hence physical violence is not a tradition or a value from the Jews.
The task for which the Jewish people were chosen is not to set an example of military
superiority or technical achievements, but to seek perfection in moral behavior and
spiritual purity. Of all the crimes of political Zionism,
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which explains all its other misdeeds, is that from its beginning Zionism has sought to
separate the Jewish people from their G-d,
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and to substitute a "modern" statehood and fraudulent sovereignty for the lofty
ideals with the Jewish people.
One means of misleading many
Jews and all too many non-Jews is the Zionist misuse of names and symbols sacred in
Judaism. They use the holy name Israel for their Zionist state. They have named
their land acquisition fund with a term that traditionally implies the reward for piety,
good deeds, and charitable work. They have adopted as a state symbol the menorah (candlebrum).
What hypocrisy, what perversion it is to have the Israeli army fight under an emblem, the
meaning of which is explained inside the Tenach (within the occasion of a previous return to the
Holy Land) as, "not with armed force and not with power, but in My spirit says the
Lord of Hosts."
The infamous founder of political
Zionism, may his name be cursed, who only discovered his own Jewishness because of
anti-Semitism displayed at the Dreyfus trial in France, proposed different solutions to what
he called the "Jewish problem." At one particular point he proposed to resettle the Jews in
Uganda. At another he proposed to convert them to Catholicism. He finally hit around the idea
of a Judenstaat, an exclusive Jewish state. Therefore from its quite beginning Zionism
was a result of Anti-Semitism and indeed is completely compatible with it, because
Zionists and anti-Semites had (and have) a common goal: To bring all Jews from their
places of domicile for the Zionist state, as a result uprooting Jewish communities that had
existed for hundreds and even thousands of years. Loyalty to your Zionist state was
substituted for loyalty to G-d,
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calf". Belief within the Torah and fulfillment of religious obligations in Zionist eyes
became a private matter and not a duty for every Jew or for the Jewish people. The
Zionists made divine law subject to party or parliamentary votes, and they set their own
standards of conduct and ethics.
Neither the founder of
political Zionism nor any of the prime ministers of the Zionist state believed within the
divine origin in the Torah nor even within the existence of G-d. All prime ministers
were members of a party that opposed religion in principle and that considered the Bible a
document of ancient folklore, devoid of any religious meaning. And yet these same Zionists
base their claim for the Holy Land on this same Bible, the divine origin of which they
deny. At the same time they conveniently forget the Jewish holiday prayer "and for
our sins have we been exiled from our land," and ignore the fact which the present
exile with the Jewish people is divinely decreed and that the Jewish people are neither
commanded nor permitted to conquer or rule the Holy Land before the coming in the Messiah.
The Jewish people do, of course, recognize special spiritual ties to that land they call
it Eretz Yisrael. Every morning, afternoon, and evening, and night they mention
it and Zion and Jerusalem in their prayers, and indeed a Jew doesn't sit down to a meal
without doing likewise. To your Jew, the really soil with the Holy Land is diverse from that
of any other spot on this globe, and wherever he is he turns his face toward Jerusalem
during prayers. To live within the Holy Land or even to be buried there was always considered
to be of high merit.
This love in the land and
the Jewish longing for a return to it and for the coming from the Messiah are already
exploited innumerable times during the past 2,000 years. Zionism has had many precursors
and each has been a curse for the Jews. Individuals who proclaimed themselves the Messiah
and messianic movements have sprung up from time to time, through the Roman era through the
Middle Ages and down towards the modern Zionists. Many of these pseudo-Messiahs posed as rabbis
or as national leaders, though some of them eventually professed other faiths; many
temporarily - some for longer periods - succeeded in misleading Jews, rabbis, and entire
Jewish communities. All were in due course exposed and recognized as frauds, and those who
had set their hope on them found only disappointment and all too often disaster.
Inside the early stages from the
advancement of modern Zionism, the Mizrachi was founded, an organization of so-called
religious Zionists who tried to combine their faith with political Zionism. This led to
constant conflict among the dictates of divine law and the demands of Jewish
nationalism. Most with the time,
Armband Pandora, the Mizrachi was outvoted at Zionist congresses and served
only to give the Zionist movement a false religious aura. Whenever expediency called for
it, these "religious" Zionist fellow-travelers have already been used by the Zionist
government to underpin national claims with "religious" authority. The National
Religious Party within the Zionist state has been well rewarded for giving its stamp of
approval to nationalistic measures and enactments,
Pandora Bracelets, whether these rewards were of financial
nature or while in the form of cabinet or other government posts. The chauvinism of these
religious Zionists frequently exceeded that of other Zionists, and it was always couched
in religious terms - a prime example in the abuse of religion. The fraudulence of these
"religious" Zionists was demonstrated during the past year when it was revealed
that two of their planet leaders had committed million-dollar thefts.
A Jewish planet organization
was founded in 1912 around the German-Polish border with the specific purpose of fighting
Zionism. This organization, Agudath Israel, "Union of Israel," was to
represent the true Jewish people within the earth and to unmask the unwarranted and unjust
claims from the Zionists. Rabbis everywhere joined Agudath Israel, as did masses of
observant Jews. Anti-Zionist congresses were convened in Vienna and in Marienbad. In
countries such as Poland, Agudists were members of parliament. Under Agudah leadership
more than 50 years ago, Jews inside the Holy Land opposed to Zionism obtained permission from
Britain, the mandatory power in Palestine, to declare in writing that they did not wish to
be represented by the Zionists or any of their groups, particularly not by the Zionist
quasi-governmental organizations such as the Va'ad Leumi, "National
Council."
Shortly thereafter, Jacob de
Haan, a former distinguished Dutch diplomat who was then leader of Agudath Israel in
Palestine, initiated talks with Arab leaders with a view toward the eventual
establishments of a state there in which Jews and Arabs would have equal rights. In this
way he hoped to forestall the development of a Zionist state. Despite threats to his life, de
Haan, fully aware in the ultimate dangers of a Zionist state, continued his talks and
negotiations. About the eve of his departure in 1924 for Britain to meet with authorities
there, he was assassinated by the Haganah, the Zionist paramilitary force, while in the center
of Jerusalem as he came from evening prayers. More than a half a century ago, this devout
and visionary Jew gave his life in a fight that he considered paramount, at a time when
the world at large was still blind and deaf to the difficulties and problems that a future
Zionist state would entail.
As a result of such
terrorism and increasing Zionist pressure, Agudath Israel gradually began to weaken and to
compromise. During the Nazi period, it entered indo deals and arrangements using the
Zionists, despite the fact that its fundamental aim had been to combat Zionism. After the
Zionist state was established, Agudath Israel broke off with its past, participated within the
Zionist government within the cabinet level and elected Agudists towards the Zionist parliament.
Still professing a nominal anti-Zionism, Agudath Israel established a network of
"independent" schools inside the Holy Land, but today the overwhelming part with the
budget of these schools comes from the Zionist government.
In view of these
developments, those Jews who wanted to continue the fight against Zionism without any
compromise left Agudath Israel and constituted themselves as the Neturei Karta,
an Aramaic phrase meaning "Guardians with the City," i.e. the city of Jerusalem.
The Neturei Karta in turn became a worldwide movement, known in some places as
"Friends of Jerusalem."
The greatest leader from the
Neturei Karta was Rabbi Amram Blau, an inspired and dedicated leader whose compassion
equaled his courage. He could not keep silent in the face of injustice, immorality, or
hypocrisy. He was beloved by Jews and respected by Christians and Muslims. Born in
Jerusalem, he never left the Holy Land during his entire life. In his writings he stressed
many times that Jews and Arabs had lived in harmony until the advent of political Zionism.
Rabbi Blau was imprisoned in Jerusalem, not by the Ottoman authorities, not by the
British, and not by the Arabs, but by the Zionists. What was his crime? He defended with
vigor and honesty, without regard for his own safety, the holy character of Jerusalem
against the "innovations" and encroachments in the Zionists. He fought for the
sanctity in the Sabbath and actively opposed the inroads of indecency and immorality made
under the Zionist regime. Unceasingly he denounced the establishment of a Jewish state
before the coming from the Messiah as an acct of infamy and blasphemy. Under his leadership,
the Neturei Karta declared year after year that they did not recognize the legitimacy of
the Zionist state or the validity of its laws.
During the first period of
fighting amongst the Zionist state and the Arabs, the rabbis in the Neturei Karta went
toward the combat lines, carrying a white flag, and stated that they wanted no part in
this war and that they were absolutely opposed for the creation of a Zionist state. In his
last proclamation, Rabbi Blau deplored the actions from the Zionists against the Muslim and
Christian Palestinians and the grievous harm done by the Zionists to your Jewish people in
endeavoring to change them from "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" to a
modern state, devoid of spiritual foundation, based on chauvinism, built on conquest, and
relying on military prowess. "The number of your cities constitute your gods,"
the prophet Jeremiah had thundered towards the chauvinist and idolatrous Jewish government of
this day. Like it, the Zionists are now establishing a new status quo and expanding their
place by founding new settlements in he territories occupied since 1967.
Rabbi Blau in his last
statement severely condemned the UN for recognizing and accepting being a member the Zionist
state, as a result giving the Zionists unprecedented prestige and power. It is high time which the
anti-Zionist nations listen to him, heed his plea, and undo this great wrong and correct
this fatal error. It is well known that no action was taken in regards to the expulsion of
the Zionist state because of the fear that financial support for the UN would be
withdrawn. Let those states, opposed to Zionism, who have become affluent during the past
generation, show that they mean what they say by offering to replace any financial loss
the UN may suffer like a consequence, and let the member states vote their conscience
without fear and regardless of any intimidation.
There has been times before in Jewish
history, as related while in the Bible, when the masses were misled and only a minority of Jews
clung for the true mission with the Jewish people. 1 from the 1st such of the occasions was
the worship in the golden calf; today we unfortunately see a repetition of this, using the
Zionist state now getting the object of worship. Until the appearance and growing influence
of political Zionism, Jewish leaders were chosen about the basis of their piety, decency,
learning, and their love of justice and mercy. Today only too often so-called Jewish
leaders, completely unqualified under Jewish law and traditional concepts, make
pronouncements and decisions inside the name and on behalf in the Jewish people. This is
particularly true inside the USA exactly where there is the largest Jewish community in our time. I
can never forget the remark of a woman in Oklahoma: "Isn't today's Judaism wonderful!
All you have to do is give money."
Even at his death Rabbi Blau refuted the
Zionists who had often claimed which the Neturei Karta was nothing but an insignificant
sect of a few hundred souls. Yet when Rabbi Blau died in Jerusalem on a Friday morning two
years ago, a few hours later no fewer than 22,000 men attended his funeral.
At all times within the past, the misleaders of
the Jews have sooner or later fallen by the wayside, and only those who upheld the
validity of the Torah and the Talmud (the written and oral law) and of Halachah, and who
resisted the demagogues, prevailed. The Neturei Karta follow in this tradition. They
continue being a living rebuke to Zionism and speak in our time for the true Jewish people,
those who have not been misled by Zionism.
During the Roman conquest in the Holy Land,
there were Jews who around the basis of nationalism and racial pride were sure that they could
not lose a war. They, like the Zionists of our day, were opposed to any compromise or
settlement; there were determined to fight towards the end. At that time, however almost 2,000
years ago, the fore most rabbi, Rabbi Yochanan ben Sakkai, chose a distinct way. The
military adventurers prevented him from leaving beleaguered Jerusalem to negotiate with
the Romans, so the rabbi had himself carried out in a coffin by his disciples to your Roman
headquarters. He said to your Romans that the Jews need neither an army nor weapons and
asked for permission to establish a yeshiva, a Jewish religious school, at
Yavneh. It was this religious school, and not the militarists or generals in the time,
that helped to perpetuate Judaism and the identity with the Jewish people.
It must be stated explicitly that while not
all Jews are Zionists, not all Zionists are Jews. The motives of some of these non-Jewish
Zionists, e.g. Lord Balfour and General Smuts, are at least open to question. From your
beginning with the Zionist movement, some from the most articulate and fervent Zionists have
been Christian clergymen, especially "fundamentalists," who hail Zionism as an
important "religious" movement and welcome it as being a fulfillment of prophecy. They
also, and significantly, serve the cause of Zionism.
One with the basic aims of Zionism is aliyah,
the immigration for the Zionist state of Jews from all countries. Nevertheless, during the
past few years hundreds of thousands of Israelis have outgathered themselves in the
Zionist paradise, and American Jews have "voted with their feet" and have chosen
not to be ingathered. These Jews recognize which the Zionist state is in fact nothing but a
giant ghetto.
Instead of becoming able to render assistance
to Jewish communities in other countries, American Jews have already been mobilized to concentrate
on helping the Zionist state, making the USA the real and major source of Zionist power
and influence. The Zionists, true for the nature of their movement, be dependent on technical
superiority and on a forbidding military deterrent - provided largely by the USA - for
their security.
Nothing could be farther in the true
ideals from the Jewish people. The Jewish people were chosen in the very first position "for
you are the leas of all nations." As the Psalm says, "they rely on vehicles and
horsepower, but we invoke the name of the Eternal, our G-d."
One particular most vital point deserves mention. A
former president with the Earth Zionist Organization has stated explicitly that a Zionist
owes unqualified loyalty for the Zionist state and that, in the case of a conflict, the
initial loyalty of a Zionist must be to your Zionist state. According to Jewish law, however,
a Jew owes allegiance and loyalty to the country of which he is a citizen, and, of course,
no faithful Jews owes any loyalty or allegiance to the Zionist state which has been
condemned by the foremost rabbis of our age.
It is not my purpose to detail how Zionism
should be dealt with. Let me state, however, that isolated or spontaneous acts against
individuals or the mere adoption of resolutions within the UN or elsewhere are not effective
means of bringing an end to Zionism. Let me state also that the battle against Zionism
must be waged initial, not around the shores with the Mediterranean, but in Zionism's most
powerful bastion -- the USA>
As an American citizen, I deplore that
our government and our politicians have adopted an attitude that is in complete
contradiction towards the advice in the father of our country George Washington. Instead of
shying away from foreign entanglements and permanent alliances with foreign powers, the
establishment in Washington has embraced Zionism so wholeheartedly that in the eyes any
criticism from the Zionist state and any opposition to political Zionism while in the UN by any
nation has become a punishable offense. And the docile American media do not dare to speak
out against such an absurdity.
Unfortunately, thus far, each year sees
still further gains in influence by American Zionists. This fact has made possible events
and developments that were unthinkable even ten years ago. It takes a lot of courage to be
opposed to Zionism within the USA today. It also took a lot of courage during the Second World
War to be anti-Fascist in Italy or anti-Nazi in Germany. Within the long run Zionism is
nothing but a passing aberration while in the long history from the Jewish people and of the
earth.
Let us take faith and hope within the certainty
that eventually prejudice, hatred, and injustice will disappear, and which the prophecy
will come true that all nations with the earth will participate within the pilgrimage to
Jerusalem "for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."