Chassidim Recruit Yaakov Shapiro an Israel Hating Liar as Their Spokesman in Albany Because he is the only one who can speak English

 

So much to say about this. The orange caps and jumpsuits 🤬 The clearly not Hasidic rabbi speaking on behalf of Hasidim to put forth a more articulate English and deliberately confuse the public 🙄

And @ShulimLeifer speaking with poise and conviction 😍 https://t.co/AQ0Lf7uBSk

— Dr. Dainy Bernstein (@DainyBernstein) September 13, 2022

 Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro has an Israel-Hating website called "Torah True Jews" which is neither "torah" nor "true"! It is dripping with such hate against Gedoilei Hador who don't or didn't agree with his anti-Zionist stance, that he must have taken it out of Der Shturmer. 

He wrote a book "The Empty Wagon" which has haskamos from rabbanim that couldn't even read English and is filled with half-truths and whole lies. 

This is the guy that they appointed as the "spokesman" for the Chassidim in Albany fighting the new curriculum imposed on yeshivois! They appointed him because apparently, he is the only guy who can speak the language.

Below are excerpts from an article written in 2018 by Rabbi Yair Hoffman reviewing his disgusting book.

Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro’s “The Empty Wagon” is one of the most controversial books to hit the Orthodox world in decades. Its 1,373 pages deal with the reaction to the Zionist movement within the Orthodox Jewish world and attempt to debunk much of what the Torah community believes about Israel’s modern history.

Most interesting to me is Rabbi Shapiro’s claim throughout the book that the Six Day War was not “miraculous” at all and involved no nissim whatsoever. Rabbi Shapiro attempts to back this up through Internet searches, citations of a few U.S intelligence reports, and quotes from the Satmar Rebbe, zt’l.

I choose to believe other sources, especially Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, zt’l, the Mirrer rosh yeshiva.

In Az Yashir we read the reaction of the nations in the aftermath of the exodus from Egypt: “Then the chieftains of Edom were startled; as for the powerful men of Moab, trembling seized them.” Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, zt’l, notes that this pasuk seems to be revealing some great chiddush or insight. Yet is it not obvious that when faced with open miracles people are startled and tremble? (Hagaddah of the Roshei Yeshiva of Mir, p. 226)

Rav Chaim Shmulevitz answers that it is not. It is the nature of people not to change themselves even after seeing open miracles. “This explains why people around us now are not changing after seeing the open miracles of the Six Day War,” adds Rav Shmulevitz. This shmuess was delivered in June 1967 in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. The Mir experienced an open miracle when a bomb that crashed through the ceiling did not explode.

So there we have it. Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, zt’l, says straight out that there were open miracles. He also explains exactly why Rabbi Shapiro refuses to recognize the open miracles of the Six Day War.

So who do we go with: Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, zt’l, or the author of this book?

Throughout the book, Rabbi Shapiro attempts to demonstrate that the strongly anti-Zionistic view of the Satmar Rebbe, zt’l, was the same view of the gedolim of the past and the yeshiva worl, his analysis is fundamentally flawed. To say that this premise is grossly inaccurate is a serious understatement.

There were, historically, five major reactions to Zionism, which we can label as categories, in the observant Jewish world. There was the reaction of the Satmar Rebbe, zt’l, that Zionism was essentially a movement that ran counter to Torah-true Judaism and came from the Sitra Achra. This category was the position espoused mostly by rabbis in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is associated with both the Neturei Karta and Satmar, although many in this movement have tempered this position.

The second category was also an anti-Zionist position, but not to the extent of category one. This position rather reflects a “hold our nose and deal with them” attitude. Primarily, the espousers of this category belonged to the Agudath Israel camp in its earlier stages. After the Holocaust and the rise of the state of Israel, many in this group modified their prewar, pre-state stance.

A third category comprises people who identify with categories #1 and #2 socially, but look at Zionism and the State of Israel much as Orthodox religious Jews look at a hospital or a volunteer ambulance company. Many observant Jews in the United States identify with this third category. They bear no ill will toward the State of Israel and often show a desire to help it. They also have a sense of appreciation toward it. Many gedolim and roshei yeshiva hold this view but only voice it to their close talmidim.

Category four is composed of people who are chareidi in their halachic observance and Torah study, but identify with something called religious Zionism. They look at the development of the State of Israel as part of G-d’s Divine plan of redemption.

Category five’s subscribers are people who are religious but markedly more secular and modern in their observance. They are more likely to have television sets and partake in cultural activities of secular society. Their outlook on the State of Israel is also that it is part of a Divine plan of redemption.

Rabbi Shapiro runs roughshod through the subtle and nuanced views of gedolei Torah and misrepresents those views as being in full agreement with that of the Satmar Rebbe. They are decidedly not.

Rav Yosef Kahaneman, the Ponevezher Rav, told Rabbi Berel Wein that he flew the Israeli flag from the roof of the Ponevezh Yeshivah building in Bnei Brak on Yom HaAtzmaut. When faced with complaints, Rav Kahaneman responded, “I flew the Lithuanian flag on the roof of my yeshiva in Ponevezh on Lithuanian Independence Day. My friends, it is no worse here.”

Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt’l, attested to his talmidim that his father, Rav Yaakov, zt’l, recited the Shehecheyanu blessing when the UN adopted Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947. Rav Aharon Kotler, zt’l, when told of the passing of Resolution 181, said, “Baruch Hashem.”

Let us also not forget that Agudath Israel signed Israel’s Declaration of Independence. It is disingenuous and deceptive to lump these divergent views together in one category. Yet this is what the author does throughout the book.

Let us also recall that both Rav Elyashiv, zt’l, and Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt’l — among numerous other gedolim — signed a Kol Koreh that stated: “Nodeh L’Hashem al she’zachinu b’rov rachamav v’chasadav lir’os es ha’nitzagim ha’rishonim shel kibbutz galiyos im hakamasah shel medinas Yisrael … k’dei she’artzeinu u’medinasainu tivneh v’tischonen al taharas ha’kodesh.”

It is inconceivable that our gedolei Torah would write such things if they shared the Satmar Rebbe’s position on Zionism. Rather, it is clear that these gedolim were in the second or third category, or perhaps somewhere in between.

The book is filled with fascinating information and vignettes of leading gedolim. Much of the material is accurately researched. The material, however, is combined with conjecture as to the motivations of people in an entire movement. Yes, many Zionists were atheists and tried to replace Torah-true Judaism with nationalism. But it is inaccurate and deceptive to claim that all Zionists shared this agenda.

Shockingly, the author deals with great gedolim in a disrespectful manner. Rav Kook, zt’l, was one of the leading gedolim of Klal Yisrael. Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, zt’l, took a trip around Eretz Yisrael with him to spread Torah.

There are also errors of attribution in the book (p. 539). The Chofetz Chaim never said the words “Kook Shmook” — no matter what Rabbi Shapiro says. (Someone else said this and the author’s source confused the two.) Rav Hutner, zt’l, was also a talmid of Rav Kook, and for a former student of Chaim Berlin to deal with Rav Kook in such a disparaging manner is unnerving.

The author’s attack on Rav Teichtal, zt’l, the author of Eim HaBanim Semeichah, and his disparagement of him, is most unbecoming. Rav Teichtal’s sefer has a haskamah from Rav Zalman Nechemya Goldberg, shlita, 

Rav Teichtal, zt’l, was murdered in the Holocaust. He had an extraordinary reputation — even greater than that of the Satmar Rebbe, zt’l, when they were both in Europe. His responsa are world-class teshuvos.

This book (The Empty Wagon)has haskamos, but two of those writers do not read English and it is almost certain that the third did not read the work in its entirety. There is no question that there were and still are numerous secular Zionists who can be characterized as anti-Torah, but is it not better to adopt the attitude of those who hope to bring them around to a Torah lifestyle rather than to harp on the negative issues of long ago?

One’s time and effort should be placed upon building Torah and Klal Yisrael through chesed, more Torah, and genuine ahavas Yisrael, rather than sowing further discord in Klal Yisrael. It is disheartening that this book is being sold in yeshivos; even putting aside the sinas chinam that the book will engender, what about all the bitul Torah it is causing?