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A collection of letters and polemical articles against the selection of R. Joel Titlebaum as rabbi of the community. Only edition of a very rare polemic - majority of copies were destroyed by the Rebbe's disciples.
R. Joel Titlebaum (1888–1979), son of R. Hananiah Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum, served in communities in the Carpathians and northern Transylvania, and from 1928 at Satmar (Satu Mare). He became involved there in fierce controversies with both Zionist circles and Hasidim attached to other zaddikim, who violently opposed him. During the Holocaust, in 1944, he was saved in the rescue train arranged through R. R. Kasztner and from Bergen-Belsen reached Erez Israel. In 1947 he settled in the Williamsburg quarter of Brooklyn, New York, which was the center of a hasidic congregation that continued the way of life of a hasidic town in Hungary. In 1953 R. Teitelbaum became rabbi of the ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta community in Jerusalem, although he remained in New York and only visited Israel every few years. Later his ties with the community weakened and it ceased to regard him as rabbi.
R. Teitelbaum continued to be one of the most vigorous opponents of Zionism and the State of Israel, and engaged in intensive activity against the latter both in Israel and abroad, in his writings and sermons, and by demonstrations. While his opposition to Zionism and the State of Israel was based on halakhic grounds, most of which had been raised from the beginning of the Zionist movement, he added objections to the way of life and the social and political order in Israel, which in his opinion contradict the principles of halakhah. According to R. Teitelbaum, Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel constitutes a violation of the three oaths which the people of Israel was made to swear (see Ket. 3). This has delayed the coming of the Messiah and complete redemption, and resulted in all the troubles affecting the Jewish people in the 20th century. Hence R. Teitelbaum denounced the secular character of the state, objecting to its democratic regime and legislature as not being founded on halakhah.
An eminent scholar and sharp polemicist, R. Teitelbaum combined extreme fanaticism with a forceful personality. His public stand and at time his actions gave rise to much dissension and opposition. He succeeded in gathering round him a large hasidic community, exercising authority over his Hasidim even in matters which were really political. |
