Commemorating the 25th Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l The Rav on Religious Zionism Deena Rabinovich, EdD Director, Jewish Education Program,

THE FIVE DERASHOT AND THE RAV’S ENGAGEMENT WITH THE ZIONIST PROJECT

y husband has a relative movement, along with competing — between a passive quietism and who spent his public life modernist movements that they an active engagement with reality — fighting a bizarre war viewed as mortal threats to the Torah underlies a talk he gave during those Magainst Zionism and the State of way of life. It would not be unfair to years to the members of the Hapoel Israel. An offended family member assess their basic attitude as a passive HaMizrachi group, and which forms once asked this relative: What one, resting on the bedrock principle one of the essays in the collection now would the Jews who were interred in that God would protect His people so known as Hamesh Derashot, “And Displaced Persons camps after the long as they remained faithful to His Joseph Dreamt a Dream.”3 Shoah have done without the help of laws. This “quietism” (to adopt the In this essay, the Rav analyzes two various groups who smuggled them description that Lionel Trilling once 1 Biblical characters, Joseph the to Palestine? He was completely ascribed to Chazal) is precisely what Dreamer and Abraham the Builder. unruffled by the question: They could Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik came Through his analysis of Joseph the have stayed right where they were, to reject as he gradually moved away Dreamer, or as the Rav depicts him, he replied, and learned Torah. This, from the negative reaction of his family Biblical Joseph, the Rav develops of course, is an extremist’s response and peers to Zionism. He addressed the tension between goral and yi’ud, and it would not be fair to view it as this fundamental distinction between between a Jew who “is responding to the position of the broader Yeshivish a fatalistic approach [goral] and an the initiatives taken by others as they community (which in 1946 was activist approach seeking fulfillment attempt to impose their vision of the shattered), then or thereafter. of the destiny [yi’ud] of the Jewish Jews’ place upon him,” and a Jew who people in the essay “Kol Dodi Dofek” The traditional communal rabbinic 2 “chooses his own identity”; between a leaders, though, in the decades prior to based on a talk he gave in 1956. Not “Jew as object of the will of others or World War II, had rejected the Zionist surprisingly, that same distinction as subject of his own will.”4

8 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5778 The young Joseph dreamt two dreams. occupations. He insisted that they The Joseph of 5662: The first dream featured sheaves of transition into farmers and builders. …unconsciously sensed that it was grain, encircling and bowing down He wanted the family to learn how forbidden to rely on a continuation of to Joseph’s sheaf in the middle. to cut stone and work with wood the status quo, that great changes were The second dream featured the and metals, and not only rely on the about to occur in Jewish life for which we sun, the moon and eleven stars, all production of woolen products. In would have to be prepared. He sensed bowing down to Joseph. In the Rav’s short, he tried to prepare his family the advent of an era when there would be reading, the context for the dispute to adapt to new conditions.9 Joseph no yeshivot in Brisk, Vilna, and Minsk; between Joseph and his brothers wanted his brothers to become Jews when America would be turned into was the Divine prophecy issued to “of destiny and purpose,” Jews who a place of Torah; and when Israel, the Abraham that “your descendants choose their “halakhic covenantal State of Israel, would become the core will be strangers in an alien land.” identity” even if this behavior also center of Torah.14 The brothers, though, focused on requires “historical, even political, the fact that “Jacob dwelt in the land behavior.”10 The Rav’s peers and, more important, his family, were opponents of Zionism of his father’s wanderings.” In their Joseph’s brothers strongly disagreed. view, life should continue as it had, in any form, including the religious They relished the “holiness and variant.15 During his early years in and it was not their job or Jacob’s purity”11 of their life in Canaan. to plan for changed circumstances America, the Rav was affiliated with They valued the freedom to live in Agudah. At some point after the war, that might arrive some time in the isolation from the other nations. They future. Joseph understood, though, though, he had a change of heart and cherished the opportunity to learn became associated with and ultimately that his two dreams foretold a rapidly Torah as they grazed their sheep. approaching future, a future in which the leading rabbinic figure of the both the security of Jacob’s family They looked upon the future as a American religious Zionist movement. and a continuation of their way of continuation of the present. They The name for the Religious Zionist life was in danger. For Joseph, the perceived all problems from within the Movement, or Mizrahi as it is called wheat represented a new economy framework of their life in Canaan, the in Hebrew, was coined from “merkaz and the celestial beings a new secular land of their fathers’ wanderings … ruchani,” or spiritual center, and refers culture. The combination of the two They did not need new frameworks or 12 to the movement that was founded dreams meant that the decree of Brit novel economic methods. in 1902 [5662] by Rabbi Yitzchak 5 ben haBetarim would soon begin. The brothers wanted to maintain the Yakov Reines and others. Rabbi The children of Abraham would find status quo. Reines’ nascent movement was itself themselves strangers in a strange land, Like the Biblical Joseph, the Joseph a response to a platform introduced no longer living lives in “holiness and of 5662 (= 1902), i.e., the visionaries by the Fifth Zionist Congress that purity.”6 Soon, Jacob and his family who founded Mirzahi that year, had taken place the previous year, a would have to confront a new society “had a dark foreboding of something platform that adopted the concept with “great and powerful technology terrifying, an apocryphal vision of of Cultural, or Spiritual, Zionism. creating wonders and changing the catastrophe, of cataclysm, of tempest Cultural Zionism, led by, among foundations of our life.”7 and imminent destruction.” The others, Leo Motzkin, Martin Buber, Joseph feared that, “[i]f we will not sheaves of wheat hinted that the and Chaim Weizmann, looked to be prepared for new conditions, the Jewish people: revitalize Jewish culture via the environment will swallow us! Our .16 Secular learning …would be enveloped by a new intellectual forces will completely and secular concepts of economic order. The lion’s share of Jewry assimilate” and only by preparing for would replace part of the Orthodox would be centered in the Western world, the future that we be able to survive.8 program so that the State of Israel and society would be based on science would not turn into a theocracy.17 Joseph advocated that it was necessary where … every scientific discovery will for Jacob’s sons to put aside their be publicized by the newspapers as the In contrast, Religious Zionism, building shepherd’s staff and embrace new greatest sensation.13 on the ideas of the Mevasrei Zion, the “harbingers of Zion,” sought to:

9 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5778 Restore not only Jewish political freedom but also Jewish religion in the light of the Torah and its commandments… Judaism based on the commandments is a sine qua non for Jewish national life in the homeland.18 While even the Mizrahi movement was beyond the pale for his family members and the rabbinic world from which he came, the Rav, like his Biblical namesake, looked back at the prewar landscape and concluded that the Mizrahi leaders had been correct. By identifying with Mizrahi, he was legitimizing a secular state of because of his Jewishness is regarded as interpretation shall become the Israel and justifying cooperation with 26 secular Jews in its maintenance. How having died al Kiddush haShem. He ‘law’ [historical development].” did the Rav justify that decision? The regarded this as precedent for his belief This ruling is beyond dispute. In the most basic value was based on his that anyone who gives up his life in the controversy between Joseph of yore inclination toward “yi’ud” rather than defense of the State of Israel should and his brothers thousands of years “goral,” of choosing to control our be viewed as having died al Kiddush ago, God decided in accordance with haShem.21 Joseph’s interpretation of the historical destiny, to whatever extent possible, 27 rather than be victims of fate, “that a After all, “the Nazis persecuted all process. Similarly, in the debate over Torat Hayyim addresses the realities Jews, irrespective of their religious establishment of the State of Israel, of the world rather than seeks an commitment or lack of same,”22 and … the Creator of the universe … escape from them.”19 for that reason the Rav admired the decided that the [historical] “law” One of the Rav’s closest students and Zionist leadership for its “significant will be as the Joseph of 5662 [religious leading interpreters, Rabbi Walter achievement in the ongoing struggle Zionists] had predicted — in accordance Wurzberger, wrote as follows: to create a focus of Jewish identity with the view of him who had little faith for Jewries which have lost their in the future of East European Jewry and The Rav’s z.t.l. endorsement of Religious traditional moorings in the modern who dreamed of another land and other Zionism is also closely related to his belief world.”23 conditions.28 that taking the initiative in ameliorating natural, economic, social or political The Rav’s core belief was the primacy The Rav felt that the “Divine conditions, far from being a usurpation of in expressing Jewish Providence … employs secular Jews of divine prerogatives, represents values; he insisted that halakha as instruments to bring to fruition a religiously mandated activity of demands a sense of identification His great plans regarding the land of with all Jews, regardless of their Israel,”29 and as such, we must work becoming partners with God in the 24 process of Creation.20 religious convictions or practices. He with those who are actively building distinguished between standards for the Jewish State. In reflecting about Equally important was the fact adjudicating halakhic decisions and his choice to identify with Mirzahi, he that the Rav also looked at all standards for determining hashkafic believes that “there would be no place Jewish people as Bnei Avraham, or historical decisions. The former for Torah in Israel today were it not for a “nationalistic dimension of is determined by man, since once the Mirzahi.”30 Jewishness” that: God gave the Torah to man “the 25 If Joseph the Dreamer saw the need …comes also to the fore in the Rav’s rabbinic majority reigns supreme.” to plan for a new reality, Abraham the frequent references to the halakhic The latter, however, is determined Builder erected the altars and offered opinion that anyone who loses his life by God, who “decides as to whose the sacrifices upon which the Land of

10 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5778 Israel was acquired. Upon his arrival under the leadership of Joshua.34 a point. Our identity is at stake if we in the Land of Israel, Abraham built When discussing this altar, the Rav cooperate to a point of watering down altars on four separate occasions as the refers to ordeals of the early Zionists ideals and sacrificing the basic tenets Torah describes, and it was through in working the land of Israel, and of the Torah. this focus on sacrifice that he acquired equates their work with suffering on We, the members of Mizrahi, put into a kinyan in the Land of Israel. The first behalf of acquiring the Torah since: practice the philosophy formulated by altar that Abraham built was upon his There is no contradiction between Abraham in his declaration to the lads. entry into the Land, and on this altar building up the land and building up of To build a State of Israel, we march he sacrificed his sense of belonging. the Torah, between breaking up the earth together with all the parties, because we Loneliness, “the loss of contact about the olive trees and clearing rods, believe that the State of Israel is the road between man and the world in which and building yeshivot … The crown of that leads to Mount Moriah, and it is he grew up, the world in which he was Torah bestows upon us our uniqueness clear to us that we cannot succeed in this educated and in which he spent his and our individuality.35 journey alone.39 childhood,” notes the Rav, “is one of the tragic experiences that can break a The third altar that Abraham built While the Holocaust and the man.” 31 also relates to the idea of children establishment of the State of and preparing for their future. After Israel convinced the Rav of “the In parallel, the sacrifice of loneliness Abraham separated from Lot, God correctness” of Mizrahi’s paths, was once again offered in the late appeared to him and promised him the Rav notes the following caveat, nineteenth and early twentieth that his children shall be greater in extending the concept of sacrifice: century by members of the early number than the dust of the land. God I built an altar upon which I sacrificed aliyah movements, and by anyone commanded Abraham to walk around sleepless nights, doubts and reservations who left behind family, friends, all four corners of the land which his … The Mizrahi must understand and community, who through their descendants will be given.36 sacrifice helped to acquire and possess that Jews like me … who joined the land of Israel. All the builders The fourth and final altar is the the movement and who draw their of the land built “sacrificial altars.” one built on Har HaMoriah, where nourishment from the ancient Talmudic During the War of Independence, Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his soil of Abaye and Rava, are in the during the pogroms of Tel Chai and son Isaac. Abraham was commanded category of Joseph. They are required Jaffa and Hebron, “when Jewish to take Isaac together with two lads,37 to sacrifice on this altar their peace of blood flowed throughout the length whom Rashi identifies as Ishmael mind as well as their social relationships and breadth of the land of Israel; and Eliezer.38 Why was it necessary and friendships. The Mirzahi must also when the Arab bullet and the Arab for Abraham to take his son by understand that we do not use the phrase knife did not distinguish between Hagar [Ishmael] and his aide de camp “Zionism plus religious” or “religious the Hebron students and [Eliezer]? And furthermore, why Zionism.” For us, there is only one leftwing kibbutzniks … the entire were the two young men only able to unique noun — Torah. Israel is holy and Jewish settlement erected that great accompany Abraham to the foot of the dear because the Torah sanctified it and altar whereby the ancient possessory mountain? The Rav sees this story as a because the Torah’s future is tied to it.40 act of Abraham in respect of the land paradigm for how we are to along This switch was not an easy one for of Israel and the Lord of Israel was with non-religious Jews, especially the Rav to contemplate. He faced 32 repeated.” those who toiled to make the land of opposition from his family and his Israel habitable. There must have been The second altar that Abraham built peers. The switch was representative some reason why Abraham needed his of his intellectual honesty and desire was constructed between Bet El and two companions. Perhaps Abraham 33 to provide a haven for the Jews. Ai. Rashi, referring to the midrash would not have survived the journey in Bereishit Rabbah, explains that to the mountain of Moriah if had But there is a limit to cooperation. In Abraham was praying for the welfare gone alone with only Isaac. We must matters which relate to Mount Moriah, of his future children when they cooperate and work with those we to matters that relate to halachic would be conquering the city of Ai live with. But we only cooperate to observance, we advance alone. There is to

11 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5778 be no compromise regarding … the final practice.”46 He did attempt to make It is over one hundred years since the goal of our twice millenial journey back aliyah in 1935 when he made what formation of the Mizrahi, seventy to the land of Israel and the ultimate was to be his only visit to Israel, years since the founding of the State transcendental-eschatological purpose “wishing to build his home and of Israel, and 45 years since the and destination.41 his future” in the Land of Israel. 47 Rav penned this article. Much has What, then, is the Rav’s view on He did not receive the position of changed, and much remains the same. Zionism? The essay “And Joseph Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv and moved Not everyone who lives in Israel is a Dreamt a Dream,” penned 60 years to Boston where he founded the Zionist and not all Zionists believe after the formation of the Mizrahi School in 1937. Yet it that the focal point of the State of Movement, makes clear that the appears that he did consider another Israel should be Mount Moriah and Rav saw Zionism as an extension of visit in the 1960’s. In a poignant the service of God. We tend to take for letter of response to Miriam Shiloh granted the existence of the State of his general belief toward “man as an 48 initiator, as active agent, as one who of Givat Washington, he responds Israel and perhaps are not fully aware makes historical processes happen to her query about why he never of the significant contributions Israel and promotes the achievement of made aliyah, especially since “now is has made in the worlds of science and social and historical objectives.”42 How a propitious time as well as a time of culture. There are still sacrifices — far does this belief translate into action, spiritual crisis” [she had just taught too many of them. But without the especially in light of his reluctance to his essay “Kol Dodi Dofek” to her dream that Joseph dreamt, without his recite Hallel on Yom Ha’Atzmaut and students]. His response, dated 17 plans for a new future, where would his opinion toward aliyah? Tammuz 1967, says the following: we be today? Last year we decided, my wife z”l and Many have commented that the Rav’s Endnotes reluctance to recite Hallel on Yom I, to come to the Land and to spend six months there, to see the Land and Ha’Atzmaut stemmed a variety of 1 Many of the survivors did make it halakhic considerations. Rav Aharon the nation dwelling there. But many to mandatory Palestine, although the Lichtenstein, the Rav’s son-in-law, thoughts are in the heart of man, and intransigence of the British who were noted that one major consideration what happened happened, and my sighs enforcing the White Paper of 1939 frustrated the effort at every turn. There is a large was the Rav’s understanding of bal are many and my heart grieves! …How could I now ascend to , and growing literature on the actions of tosif, the prohibition of adding mitzvot President Truman and his administration to the Torah.43 Another consideration when I am a man of a harsh and bitter following his receipt of the report prepared is the concept of meharef u-megadef, spirit? G-d is not manifest when one is by Earl G. Harrison and his committee violation of the Talmudic principle depressed, upset and pained. describing the desperate situation of the Jewish survivors. See, for instance, Angelika that “He who recites Hallel every day Madam need not justify her words. I, too, am a simple Jew. In the language of the Konigseder and Juliane Wetzel, Waiting for is a blasphemer,” since he is seeing Hope: Jewish Displaced Persons in Post-World God’s presence in the miraculous and Sages of Yavneh (Berachot 17), I would War II Germany (Northwestern University not in the providential.44 Rabbi Moshe say: I am a teacher, and many work Press 2001). A quick glance at some of Meiselman, the Rav’s nephew, notes with the community in the field of Torah the literature reveals that disappointingly, though not surprisingly, the actions of the that if the Rav was present at a minyan education, as teachers. My work is in the large city of New York, in an institution administration in trying to get England to where Hallel was being recited on YH, admit Jews in to Palestine is now mired in “he simply stood there, silently, with with many students, and their work the same controversy as every other event his tallit over his head, until Hallel was is in Givat Washington or in another relating to Jews settling the Land of Israel, concluded.”45 community in a small institution. in the battle between left, right and center Whether one does much or little, so long over the legitimacy of the Zionist enterprise What was his attitude toward aliyah? as one directs his heart toward Heaven. and the generosity (or duplicity) of the Rabbi Meiselman notes that he heard various nation-state actors depending on The work all of us do is dedicated to one’s perspective. According to the Holocaust the Rav discuss that the “Ramban’s nurturing the values of Judaism, the Encyclopedia of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial version of the mitzva to settle the ancestral tradition and the Torah of our Museum, some 136,000 displaced Jews Land of Israel is not mainstream masters, authors of the tradition and its resettled in Eretz Israel, and over 80,000 in halakha and is not relevant in sages. the U.S.

12 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5778 2 Rav cites this very so and he was cut off from the mainstream draws an analogy from JT Megillah 1:7 about point, “the status of man as initiator, as active Yeshiva world, according to his daughter. (p. reciting Hallel on Purim. agent, as one who makes historical processes 216). That lesson was not lost on the Rav 44 Rabbi Moshe Meiselman, happen and promotes the achievement of and it was not at all obvious that he would Communications, Tradition 33,2, 1999. In social and historical objectives,” as the “alpha embrace Mizrahi. the original article, which appeared in 1998 and omega of all forms of Zionism,” and as 16 Jewish Virtual Library, http://www. in Tradition 33, 1, Rabbi Meiselman notes the key for understanding the Rav’s attitude jewishvirtuallibrary.org/religious-zionism, that the Rav explained that there are two toward Zionism. http://www.gush.net/ retrieved February 5, 2018. ways in which “man sees God in nature. Some alei/14-02ral-zionism.htm. see God only in the miraculous. However, 17 Dream p. 35; the Rav observes that his 3 In a private communication, the Toras our obligation is to see God in the everyday grandfather loved Zion but wanted no part Horav Foundation confirmed that this process of nature. It is in this context that of Weizmann’s dream. On this point the Rav talk was delivered in1962. The derashot we recite the daily section of Psalms recited did not change his position when he became a printed in the various editions over the years every morning, pesukei de-zimra, wherein we Mizrahinik. were delivered to the Mirzahi / HaPoel say hak natan ve-lo ya’avor, ‘He has given laws HaMizrachi membership between 1961 and 18 Jewish Virtual Library. (to nature) that cannot be violated.’ Hallel, 1966 (not 1962-1967 as the English volume however, is for the miraculous. The Rav 19 Walter Wurzburger [1994], “Rav Joseph indicated) but , except for the greetings showed that Rashi says that only a prophet B. Soloveitchik as of Post-Moderrn sent in December,1966, are not dated in the can distinguish between the providential Orthodoxy,” Tradition 29, 1, p.7. published volumes. The talks were given in and the miraculous. Hence, we may only Yiddish and four (plus the 1966 greetings) 20 Wurzberger, p. 10. say Hallel for a miracle identified by a were published in Yiddish in 1967. A Hebrew prophet as such. Everything else remains 21 Wurzberger, p. 12. translation of five derashot plus the greetings providential. Someone who says Hallel every was issued in1973 and an English translation 22 Blidstein, p. 29. day sees God only in the miraculous and of the Hebrew followed about ten years later . not in the providential. Similarly, the Rav 23 Blidstein, p. 34. Page references in this article are to the Toras maintained, someone who recites Hallel on Horav reissue of the English version in 2002. 24 Wurzberger, p. 11. non-miraculous events does so because he has 4 Gerald J. Blidstein [1989]. “On the Jewish skewed the importance of the providential 25 Dream p. 25. People in the Writings of Rabbi Joseph B. aspect of God. He, too, is a blasphemer.” Soloveitchik.” Tradition 24,3, p. 28. 26 Dream p. 25. 45 It is worth noting that when Rabbi 5 Bereishit 15, 13. 27 Dream p. 32. Meiselman consulted the Rav about what to do about reciting Hallel on Yom Ha’Atzmaut 6 “And Joseph Dreamt a Dream” in The Rav 28 Dream p. 32. when Rabbi Meiselman was the Speaks: Five Addresses on Israel, History, and 29 Dream p. 36. at YULA, the Rav advised him not “to the Jewish People. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik undermine his communal work.” As a result, 2002: Toras HoRav Foundation, p. 28. 30 Dream p. 36. writes Rabbi Meiselman, they would recite 7 Dream p. 28. 31 Dream p. 25. Hallel after the Kaddish Titkabel and not immediately after Shemoneh Esreh as would 8 Dream p. 28. 32 Dream p. 22. be customary on Yom Tov. This was a practice 9 Dream p. 27. 33 Bereishit 12, 8. also recorded by Rabbi Walter Wurzberger in his article “Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik as 10 Blidstein, p. 28. 34 Bereishit Rabbah 39, 16. Posek of Post-Modern Orthodoxy,” Tradition 11 Dream p. 28. 35 Dream p. 42. 29, 1, 1994. 12 Dream p. 29. 36 Bereishit 13, 14-18. 46 Tradition, 33:2, 1999 13 Dream p. 31. 37 Bereishit 22, 3. 47 Alei Etzion, 14, 2. During this visit, at a time when he was still affiliated with the 14 Dream p. 3. 38 Rashi ad loc based on Pirkay deRabbi Agudah Movement, he applied to be the Eliezer 31. 15 Rav Aaron Rakefet-Rothkoff, The Rav: The Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, but did not receive World of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Vol. II, 39 Dream p. 46. the position. pp. 112-116, (concerning R. Chaim, the Rav’s 40 Dream p. 36. 48 Rav Hershel Schachter, MiPninei HaRav, grandfather and R. Velvel, his uncle); it is true 2001, Bet Midrash of Flatbush, p. 254 with that the Rav’s father taught in the 1920’s in a 41 p. 47. English translation by Rabbi Mordechai Mizrahi seminary in Warsaw before coming to 42 Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, “Rav Torczyner on his blog “The Rebbitzin’s New York. Rakefet Vol. I p. 25-26; Shulamit Soloveitchik’s Approach to Zionism,” Alei Husband.” Meiselman, The Soloveitchik Heritage: A Etzion 14, 2 2006. Daughter’s Memoir (KTAV, 1995), 203-205. Rav Moshe was severely criticized for doing 43 In the article listed above, Rav Lichtenstein

13 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5778