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Anti-Zionist Broadsheet. The title “The cry of the daughter of my people,” is from the verse, “Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people coming from a far country; Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved idols, and with foreign vanities?” (Jeremiah 8:19). The text of the broadsheet bemoans the current condition of the Jewish people, noting that “darkness covers the earth” (Isaiah 60:2) and the light of Torah and faith is, God forbid, crushed. All the ills of the land are because of the rule of the heretical Zionists over Erez Israel, who rebel against the King of Kings. It states in bold letters, that we have nothing to do with the rebellious Zionists, we have nothing to do with their state, and we have nothing to do with their challenges to the nations of the world. Not only that, but they make known that to the contrary, that they are opposed to the Zionists and to their state. The broadsheet continues in considerable length in this vein.
Neturei Karta (Ha-Edah ha-Haredit) are ultrareligious opponents, mainly in Jerusalem, who regard the establishment of a secular Jewish state in Erez Israel as a sin and a denial of God, and therefore do not recognize the State of Israel. Their name, which is Aramaic for "guardians of the City," derives from a passage in the Jerusalem Talmud (Hag. 76:3) stating that religious scholars are the guardians and defenders of the city. Most of them come from the old yishuv, but they have been joined by some immigrants from Hungary, disciples of R. Joel Teitelbaum of Satmar. Neturei Karta broke away from Agudat Israel in 1935, when the latter attempted to restrain extremist demands for an independent ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem community completely separate from the rest of the "Zionist" community. The group first adopted the name Hevrat ha-Hayyim, after R. Joseph Hayyim Sonnenfeld. It aimed at creating "a circle free from the influence of the contemporary spirit and its fallacious opinions," and a condition of membership was "the education of sons and daughters in the traditional Jewish manner, without any change (girls' schools which teach Hebrew do not provide education in the traditional Jewish manner)." The last phrase alluded to Agudat Israel's Bet Ya'akov girls' schools, where the language of instruction is Hebrew. The most consistent members refuse to accept an Israel identity card, to recognize the competence of Israel courts, and to vote in municipal or general elections. Although they consist of only a few dozen families - concentrated in the Me'ah She'arim quarter of Jerusalem and in Bene Berak - they gained some support in wider Orthodox circles by creating periodic religious controversies, such as their demonstrations against Sabbath violation and mixed bathing. In 1966 Neturei Karta split, following the marriage of their leader R. Amram Blau to a convert, Ruth Ben-David. |
