Bennett Angers Chabad Because He Told the Truth When He Compared the 5th Rebbe’s ‘Passive’ Approach To Herzl’s Activism

 

I'm no fan of Bennett and cannot wait for his coalition to collapse. Having said that, Bennett actually told the truth that Chabad's policy is against having a state, and that the Rebbe wrote that Jews shouldn't "go out of exile by force, "but do nothing and wait for things to happen from heaven. 

Bennett correctly pointed out that looking back in retrospect this policy discouraged Jews to make Aliyah who could have saved their families. 

Chabad went crazy when Bennett correctly pointed out that "“in this context we need to view the historic intervention which Herzl led, bringing us from passiveness to initiative." 

Chabad responded by stating that “Bennett forgot to mention in his speech a number of important details and who in truth did prevail historically: Herzl wrote in his diary (1895) that he is unsure about which land to choose to establish the Jewish state, the land of Israel or Argentina, and similarly in his book the Jewish state he left the matter unresolved. He also entertained the idea of ‘mass assimilation’ of Jews as a possible solution to antisemitism and only later reneged and called this a ‘mistaken thought’.”

Chabad is being disingenuous because they are comparing an assimilated Jew whose heart broke witnessing anti-semitism as a reporter reporting the trial of Alfred Dreyfus, to a Frum leader who should have known better.

Herzl initially thought that the solution to anti-semetism would be to assimilate but he was quickly disabused of this idea by rabbanim who he contacted. Not having any Yeshiva background he proposed that Jews move to Uganda. When he was told that Jews would only emigrate to Eretz Yisrael, he immediately embraced this idea and put his whole heart and soul in making this happen. 

Interesting to note, that Chabad did embrace Herzl's idea of moving to another secular country and promptly moved to 770 Eastern Parkway. Satmar and Skver also loved Herzl's idea and established cities in the "treifene medina" New Square and Kiryas Yoel. They never gave Herzl any credit for this. 

To be fair, it is important to point out that the rebbe did establish Kfar Chabad in 1949 for the recent immigrants from the Soviet Union and survivors of WW2. But this was not because it was in Eretz Yisrael it was simply Chabad's policy to establish communities all over the world, even in countries that murdered their ancestors;  none of the Lubavitcher Rebbes ever visited Kfar Chabad, and 770 was what Chabad preferred. 

With all of Herzl's faults, he proved to be 100% correct. An honest approach to history would require the Chareidie world to admit their mistakes but that will never happen! 

I must add that I am a great admirer of Chabad but the facts don't lie!

During a special Knesset session marking Herzl day, the day that Herzl was born, (10th Iyar 5620) Prime Minister Bennett spoke in the Knesset and quoted chareidi rabbis including the 5th rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Sholom Ber Schneersohn, who opposed Herzl’s initiatives.

Bennett said that a “prominent chareidi rabbi” wrote in 1900: “We mustn’t listen to them on this matter to reach our redemption with our own hands. To go out of the exile by force. We aren’t allowed. All of our hopes and expectations are that Hashem should bring us Moshiach in our days and our redemption will come through Hashem Himself.”

Bennett gave his own interpretation to the words of Rav Sholom Ber and said that they mean that “we don’t need to act but rather to pray and to believe that things will happen by themselves.”

Bennett also quoted the rabbi of Lodz, Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Meisels, who he said “placed a cherem [ban] on all of the Zionists.”

Bennett continued stating that “in this context we need to view the historic intervention which Herzl led, bringing us from passiveness to initiative. I believe in this way, I believe in less grumbling and more getting up and taking responsibility even at very difficult moments.”

The prime minister added that “I am a believing person. My faith in Hashem means that on the one hand I believe in Hashem but this does not exempt us in this land, in this world from doing all that we can to influence reality. In the end I have trust in what Hashem will decide, but we need to recognize that in our human comprehension things appear to be bad, there is not insurance that everything will work out well.”

Bennett angered Chabad chasidim by portraying the 5th rebbes words in this way. The chabad site COL responded by stating that “Bennett forgot to mention in his speech a number of important details and who in truth did prevail historically: Herzl wrote in his diary (1895) that he is unsure about which land to choose to establish the Jewish state, the land of Israel or Argentina, and similarly in his book the Jewish state he left the matter unresolved. He also entertained the idea of ‘mass assimilation’ of Jews as a possible solution to antisemitism and only later reneged and called this a ‘mistaken thought’.”