I don’t care what side of the religious divide one is on. It
doesn’t matter if one is secular, religious, Orthodox, Reform; gentile, atheist,
Chasidic, Charedi, or Modern Orthodox - left wing or right. I don’t believe that
there is a single human being that would not condemn in the strongest possible
terms what happened in Yad VaShem - Israel’s Holocaust Museum last night. FromThe Times of Israel:
Anti-Semitic graffiti was found sprayed on the entrance to Israel’s Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, Monday morning. Police suspect the vandalism was perpetrated by anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox extremists and have formed a special investigation task force to track down the perpetrators.
Vandals scrawled the words, “Hitler, thank you for the great Holocaust. Only because of it did we receive a state from the UN” in spray paint on the Jerusalem museum site.
These people are inhuman. They have no shame. They do not
care one whit for the rest of humanity. Elderly survivors of the Holocaust may as well be nonexistent. What these savages
have done is torment the tormented. They are criminals of the highest
order - murderers of the soul!
Holocaust survivors that have lost entire families -
parents, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents aunts and uncles… have been
told by these savages that Hitler should be thanked for their place of refuge,
the State of Israel. People that have survived some of the worst tortures by man imaginable
have been struck in their collective hearts by a giant dagger that was forged
in the Satmar Rebbe’s cauldron of anti Zionist hatred.
That’s right. I said the Satmar Rebbe. This is the philosophy
of the Satmar Rebbe taken to its ultimate extreme.
I want to be absolutely clear about this. The Satmar Rebbe,
had he been alive would have been one of the first to condemn this act. He was
probably more sympathetic to Holocaust survivors than most other Jews – having been
a survivor himself. Legend has it that he once said that anyone with tattooed
numbers on their arms has already assured themselves a place in Olam Habah –
even if they are no longer religious. Quite a statement – if true.
And yet I blame him for the philosophy that generated this
violence. It is his hateful attitude about the illegitimacy of the Jewish State
that has been burned into the brains of every single Satmar Chasid and other
Chasidim that see him as their philosophical leader. Like Toldos Aharon and
Neturei Karta.
Make no mistake about it, the vile and disgusting creatures
who did this, used the Satmar Rebbe’s attitudes about Zionism as justification for their actions. The legacy of hatred and antagonism toward the Zionist
State left by the Satmar Rebbe is one of their most sacred beliefs.
This of course does not mean to say that every follower of
Satmar would do or condone anything like this. As I said at the outset – they are
probably as upset about what happened as anyone else and condemn it just as
much. But their philosophy of hatred against
Zionism stands as a pillar of faith among them all. It does not take all that
much to convert some of that hatred into action. From simple anti Zionist rhetoric
at one end all the way to the kind of thing that happened here.
Again, I want to be absolutely clear. Although I strongly
disagree with them, I nonetheless have no problem with the Satmar view that
considers the existence of the State of Israel illegitimate. As a theological issue,
they are entitled to interpret the Gemarah they base this view upon as they best
understand it. Elu V’Elu Divrei Elokim Chaim.
But the vehemence the Satmar Rebbe expressed at Zionism in his
writing combined with his descriptions of how the Sitra Achara (evil incarnate)
is from its very inception to the continued existence of the State is behind what drives savages like this to go to such extremes. This hatred is evident all
over the place in Satmar-like enclaves like Meah Shearim.
Although nowhere near the extremes that happened at Yad
VaShem, one can nevertheless see the hatred of Zionism in virtually every reference
to Israel. It is in the air. It is
palpable. Things like the big banner I saw crossing the main street of Meah Shearim
declaring that “All Torah Jews support the peaceful dismantling of the State”
are but one of many demonstrations of this attitude. Or in greater extremes like those evil Jews from
Neturei Karta that hugged Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at his
Holocaust denial conference. Or when Rabbi Amram Blau’s widow, Ruth, cultivated a
relationship with Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini calling him a holy man.
Although I believe in individual responsibility and these
disgusting pieces of trash are indeed responsible for their own actions, one
cannot ignore where they are coming from. To say that the Satmar Rebbe does not
share any of the blame for generating the type of hatred that desecrated Yad VaShem
would be the same as saying that Pope Urban the 2nd does not share
the blame for the atrocities of the Crusaders.
There are no apologetics to be made here. Believe it! It is
the Satmar Rebbe’s angry and hateful attitude for the State that is the
justification behind the attacks of these savages.
