Zionism

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گوشه هايي از عقايد و اقدامات صهيونيسم

شواهدي از متون يهودي:

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عقيده صهيونيسم


"هر کس که یک یهودی مومن است... باید در اسرائیل زندگی کند و هر کس که خارج از آن زندگی کند، دیگر یهودی نیست."

مطلب فوق، عبارتی است که بارها گروه های یهودی از جمله بن گوریون (یکی از چهره های اصلی جنبش صهیونیسم) به منظور تشویق یهودی ها برای مهاجرت به "اسرائیل" از آن استفاده کرده و از دین به عنوان ابزاری برای گسترش صهیونیسم سود می بردند.

سرزمین فلسطین برای اسرائیلی ها حکم پوست شتر را دارد که در صورت گرسنگی و تشنگی منقبض و کوچک و در صورت سیری منبسط و بزرگ می شود. سرزمین فلسطین نیز اگر ـ به قول یهودی ها ـ "امت برگزیده خداوند" در آن ساکن شود، گسترش خواهد یافت و اگر یهودی ها از آن مهاجرت کنند، دچار انقباض خواهد شد.

اسرائیل در نگاه یهودی ها از نیل آغاز می شود و تا فرات ادامه دارد که این مسئله در نقشه هایی که تهیه کرده اند و همچنین در کتاب هایی که به دانش آموزان شان تدریس می کنند، هویداست. آنان مدعی هستند که این سرزمین ـ از نیل تا فرات ـ را خداوند به حضرت ابراهیم بخشیده است (حضرت ابراهیم جد مشترک عرب ها و یهودی هاست.) و پس از آن اسماعیل (نیای عرب ها) آن را از برادرش اسحاق (نیای یهودیان) دزدیده است و از همین رو عرب ها که در حال حاضر در این منطقه ساکن هستند، دزد به شمار می روند و این حق طبیعی یهودی هاست که برای بازگرداندن سرزمین خود تلاش کنند. ضمنا اسرائیلی ها بر این باورند که اشغال این منطقه آغاز استقلال شان است.

استفاده از دین، در واقع به راهکار گروه های یهودی برای انتقال شمار بیشتری از یهودیان از سرتاسر جهان به فلسطین و تحقق رویای استیلا بر بیش تر مناطق فلسطینی است. گروه های صهیونیست، از دین در امر شهرک سازی و اسکان یهودیان در فلسطین بهره برداری می کنند. گفتنی است که اساس جنبش صهیونیسم بر دو اصل استوار است. نخستین اصل، مقوله زمین بدون ملت و دومین اصل نیز کشتار و آواره کردن صاحبان اصلی زمین است و این دقیقا همان کاری است که اسرائیلی ها مشغول انجام آن هستند و صاحبان اصلی فلسطین را آواره و زنان و کودکان آنان را می کشند.

در این میان ممکن است برخی نیز این پرسش را مطرح کنند که چگونه یک سرباز اسرائیلی به خود اجازه می دهد که یک کودک بی گناه فلسطینی را بکشد؟

برخی از خاخام ها در توجیه این رفتار می گویند که این کودک بزرگ می شود و سلاح به دست گرفته و با ما مبارزه خواهد کرد. زنان فلسطینی نیز کودکانی را به دنیا می آورند که با گذشت زمان بزرگ می شوند و به مبارزه با یهودیان خواهند پرداخت. باید گفت که این تفاسیر کاملا مطابق با عبارتی بود که "مناحیم بیگن" به کار می برد و می گفت: "من می جنگم... پس هستم"

اگر به بررسی ریشه های اصلی تفکر صهیونیسم بپردازیم، می بینیم که تفکر صهیونیسم در اصل یک تفکر غربی است که توسط دو مسیحی مطرح شد که خود از یهودیان متنفر بودند.

دکتر عبدالوهاب المسیری در کتاب خود تحت عنوان "یهودیان و یهودیت" می گوید: "پیدایش تفکر صهیونیسم به یهودیان ربطی ندارد بلکه اساس شکل گیری آن اندیشمندان استعمارگر غیر یهودی بودند."

در نگاهی به اعلامیه "بالفور" که در آن به یهودیان وعده تشکیل یک میهن ملی داده شده بود، به این نکته پی خواهیم برد که با وجود آنکه اندیشمندان غیریهودی نقش ویژه ای را در برپایی دولت یهود ایفا کردند، ولی هدف شان خدمت به منافع خودشان بود و در صدد آن بودند که اروپا را به هر شکل ممکن از دست یهودیان که در واقع یک مشکل اقتصادی، تجاری و سیاسی برای شان به شمار می رفتند، نجات بخشند.

یک گروه یهودی به نام "ناتوری کارتا" که هر ساله پرچم اسرائیل را آتش می زند، مدعی است که تورات بازگشت به فلسطین را حرام اعلام کرده است چرا که این اقدام صهیونیست ها باعث نابودی یهودیان می شود و تشکیل سرزمین "اسرائیل" نباید با ویرانگری، خونریزی و کشتار صورت گیرد. بازگشت اسرائیلی ها به سرزمین موعود باید توسط مسیح "یهودی مخلص" صورت گیرد و یهودیان باید تا آن زمان صبر کنند و پس از ظهور مسیح، به فرماندهی و رهبری او وارد سرزمین موعود شوند.

تنها نکته ای که اشاره به آن در اینجا ضروری است، توجه به تفاوت اساسی میان یهودیت و صهیونیسم است. یهودیت یک عقیده است که گروهی از مردم به آن باور دارند، ولی صهیونیسم یک جنبش استعماری است که ضرورتا هر یهودی به آن اعتقاد ندارد.

با این همه تاریخ نشان داده است ملت هایی که محور شکل گیری شان استعمارگری، اشغال و شهرک سازی بوده است، وقتی که موفق به از بین بردن صاحبان اصلی یک سرزمین نشده اند، سرنوشت شان نابودی و زوال بوده است.

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صهیونیسم

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"اسرائیل"

كلمه "اسرائیل" به حضرت یعقوب (ع) نسبت داده می شود و در تورات داستانی آمده است كه مفادش این است كه آن حضرت با مردی درگیر شد و این درگیری كه در منطقه ای در اردن به نام "یبوق" رخ داد، تا صبح ادامه پیدا كرد، هنگامی كه آن مرد دید كه قادر به شكست یعقوب نیست از وی خواست كه او را رها كند. یعقوب به او گفت كه تا زمانی كه او را مبارك نگردانیده است، رهایش نمی كند و او نیز پذیرفت و گفت:" دیگر نام تو یعقوب نخواهد بود، بلكه اسرائیل خوانده می شوی، زیرا با خداوند و مردم كشتی گرفتی و پیروز شدی. (سفر پیدایش صص 20 تا 23 و پس از آن)

لفظ اسرائیل از دو كلمه سامی و كهن یعنی "اسر" به معنای غلبه و "ایل" به معنای اله یا الله تشكیل شده است. این نام بعدها افتخار ملی قوم بنی اسرائیل لقب گرفت و آنان خود را به این كلمه منسوب می كردند و می گفتند: " خانه اسرائیل" یا "آل اسرائیل" یا "بنی اسرائیل" و همان گونه كه در روایت های تلمود دیده می شود آنان بسیاری اوقات این عبارت را مختصر می كردند و می گفتند "اسرائیل" و نام عبری فلسطین نیز "ایرتس یسرائیل" یا "سرزمین اسرائیل" است.

به رغم آنكه تئودور هرتزل رهبر سیاسی جنبش صهیونیسم و رئیس نخستین كنگره آن كه در سال 1897 در شهر بال سوئیس برگزار شد از نامیدن كتابش كه تفكراتش را در آن مطرح كرده به "دولت یهود" ابایی نداشت، اما منادیان جنبش صهیونیسم هنگام نگارش هر مطلبی درباره فلسطین كلمه "سرزمین اسرائیل" را درباره این سرزمین بكار می برند تا بر تعلق این سرزمین به "فرزندان یعقوب" یا "بنی اسرائیل" كه به ادعای صهیونیست ها آبا و اجداد اولیه آنها هستند، تاكید كنند.

هنگامی كه جنبش صهیونیسم در تاریخ 15 ماه مه سال 1948 میلادی تشكیل دولت یهود را اعلام كرد آن را "اسرائیل" نام نهاد و این نام را در بالای صفحه اول "روزنامه رسمی" كه به همین نام بود، ذكر كرد، اما پس از آنكه موجی از انتقادات علیه كابینه رژیم صهیونیستی به خاطر استفاده از این نام آغاز شد، مقامات صهیونیست كلمه "دولت" را به آن افزودند و حكومت خود را "دولت اسرائیل" نام نهادند، اما همه رسانه های صهیونیستی نام این دولت را به اختصار "اسرائیل" می خوانند.

صهیونیست ها استفاده از كلمه "دولت اسرائیل" را بر كلمه ای كه هرتزل برای آن انتخاب كرده بود (دولت یهود) ترجیح دادند كه برخی از دلایل این تصمیم به قرار ذیل است:

1. ایجاد هماهنگی میان نام دولت و نام عبری فلسطین كه "سرزمین اسرائیل" نام دارد.

2. ترجیح ویژگی نژادی این دولت با كلمه "اسرائیل" بر ویژگی دینی آن كه "یهودی" است.

3. بی علاقه گی صهیونیست ها در یادآوری مرزهای مملكت قدیمی یهود كه فقط بخش جنوبی فلسطین را شامل می شد و سواحل دریا را در بر نمی گرفت. این امر نشان دهنده خوی توسعه طلبی و استعماری صهیونیست هایی است كه می خواهند بیشترین مساحت از اراضی عربی را به زیر سلطه خود درآورند.

این نامگذاری مشكلاتی را برای قانونگذاران صهیونیست ایجاد كرد، زیرا ویژگی "اسرائیلی" از ملت (كه صفت مذكور در عبری بود) به "دولت" (كه در زبان عبری یك صفت مونث است) انتقال یافت. این انتقال موجب شد كه این صفت به همه عرب ها و مسلمانان و مسیحیانی هم كه در داخل "اسرائیل" زندگی می كردند اطلاق شود. این امر مقامات صهیونیست را ناچار كرد كه همه عرب های مقیم در این سرزمین را در شمار شهروندانی قرار دهند كه از تابعیت "اسرائیلی" برخوردارند.

بر اساس قانون "بازگشت" مصوبه 5 ژوئیه 1950م. همه یهودیان مقیم خارج از "اسرائیل" نیز "اسرائیلی" تلقی می شوند.

به صورت كلی باید گفت كه "اسرائیلی" طبق این مفهوم به همه یهودیان مقیم داخل و خارج "اسرائیل" اطلاق می شود، البته مشروط بر آنكه صهیونیست و پایبند علاقه به "اسرائیل" باشد. به همین سبب لفظ "اسرائیل" در اصطلاح سیاسی معاصر معنایی غیر از معنای "اسرائیلی" پیش از به وجود آمدن جریان صهیونیسم گرفته است. باید این نكته را نیز یادآور شویم كه در چارچوب تعریف مفاهیم مرتبط با این اصطلاحات نباید اصطلاحاتی مانند "دولت اسرائیل" و "سرزمین اسرائیل" یكی تلقی شود.

"دولت اسرائیل" یك اصطلاح سیاسی با معنای معینی است و حال آنكه "سرزمین اسرائیل" یك اصطلاح جغرافیایی است، زیرا دولت "اسرائیل" ممكن است در همه این سرزمین یا بخشی از آن یا حتی در بخش هایی كه هیچ ارتباطی با "سرزمین اسرائیل" ندارد (مانند منطقه شرم الشیخ و جولان) تشكیل شده باشد. بنابراین از نظر تفكر صهیونیستی "دولت اسرائیل" چارچوب مورد نظر تلقی می شود.

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[Rasputin]

No one has had to create any antagonism between our Torah and Zionism because such antagonism exists by virtue of the essence of Judaism itself, which can never tolerate the heresy of Zionism..

in this Pdf document you can read some Torah quotes translated from hebrew directly:

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/scriptures/torah/tanach.pdf

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/scriptures/scriptures/scriptures1.pdf

rabbis views:

-"The Torah] forbids us to strive for the reunion or possession of the land by any but spiritual means"
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch (the most renowned German Jewish leader of the nineteenth century)


I always asked myself why many zionists leaders Th, hertzel, Ben Gurion (who spoke religion) were atheists?!!

[mike435]

keep this in mined "jewish" is a living breathing title

jewish i dentity is achived in many ways

you can be jewish and be many other things

they are all interrlated
jewish is like ashereshte a whole bunch of thingd messed up together


that is why hertzel was also jewish even thogh he was an athiest
and that is why an antisemit jew is still a jew
and these anti zionist jews are still jews but not zionist
and zionist can even be non jews like soe christian communitys

[Rasputin]

Religious Zionism

Religious Zionism has fallen on hard times. The dramatic de*cline of its fortunes in the face of an unprecedented resurgence of the more extreme right-wing Orthodoxy calls for Cheshbon Hanefesh -an agonizing reappraisal of our ideology as well as our strategy and tactics. But we cannot do justice to this task without taking account of the historic context of these developments.

The impressive gains made by the Charedim at the expense of the Datiim are not isolated phenomena but reflect world-wide trends that can be observed in various religious communities. A tidal wave of religious fanaticism has engulfed not only Iran and the Arab countries but has unleashed in many parts of the world a mil*itant fundamentalism which rejects modernity with a vengeance. It skillfully exploits the malaise induced by profound disenchant*ment with the modern secular value system, which is blamed for the horrors of Auschwitz, Hiroshima and Chernobyl. The plea to return to a pre-modern approach to religious faith strikes a respon*sive chord within a generation that has lost its faith in human pro*gress and which has counted and weighed science and technology and found them wanting as avenues to human fulfillment.

Jews have added grounds for disenchantment with the values of modernity. The trauma of the Holocaust, reinforced by the sordid spectacle of Israel's isolation on the international scene and com*bined with renewed outbreaks of Antisemitism in various coun*tries, have left us with gnawing doubts about the worthwhileness of our much-vaunted Western civilization, which made possible the perpetration of crimes unequalled in human history. We have good reason to be turned off by such a culture and to turn inward. But the more we move in this direction, the more we are attracted to ideologies which categorically reject the blandishments of such a benighted civilization. Obviously the greatest beneficiaries of this disillusionment with modern secular values are the champions of the most traditional approaches to Judaism, which claim to brook no accommodation with modernity and therefore enjoy the advantages of being perceived as the most authentic bearers of the Jewish religious tradition.

Amidst such a climate of opinion, the more moderate elements which seek some form of co-existence between Judaism and modernity face a serious handicap in the battle for the soul of the Jewish people. They are stigmatized as compromisers, guilty of distorting the Torah in the attempt to accommodate the demands of the secular world. It is highly revealing that numerous individu*als with a Torah 1m Derech Eretz background have abandoned this ideology in favor of what they regard as a more authentic brand of Judaism. They view Torah in Derech Eretz as a Horaat Shaah -an emergency measure that was legitimate only as a temporary ex*pedient to forestall the total assimilation of German Jewry. But even many who continue to sanction exposure to modern culture do so solely for pragmatic reasons and insist that the religious ideal is represented by the "Torah world," which has managed to avoid contact with the corroding acids of modernity.

Religious Zionism can hardly be expected to thrive in an atmo*sphere, in which the rejection of modernity is hailed as the hall*mark of religious authenticity, separating the high grade "ultra*Orthodox" from the low grade plain Orthodox. After all, Religious Zionism can hardly boast to represent unbroken continuity with tradition. It cannot be gainsaid that the Zionist revolution marked a radical break with the past. It is a matter of historic record that for many centuries Jewish life was completely under the spell of a quietistic pietism. It was taken for granted that the fate of the Jew*ish community hinged solely upon its spiritual merits and that hu*man efforts expended in the sphere of political action were exer*cises in futility. Jewish suffering could come to an end only through Providential intervention. The hardships and travails of the Galut were not caused by socio-economic or political factors but constituted punishment for sinful conduct. Hence, only spiritu*al regeneration (usually narrowly defined in terms of more inten*sive Torah study, more concentration in prayer and more meticu*lous performance of Mitzvot) could lead to Redemption. To take matters into our own hands rather than to await passively the ar*rival of the Redeemer was denounced as heritical renunciation of faith in the Providential design of history.

When seen against this background, the advocacy of human ef*forts designed to bring about fundamental changes in the socio*political situation is tantamount to the adoption of a secular value system. Since the State of Israel reflects Zionist ideals which are totally incompatible with the quietistic stance which for many gen*erations had held sway in the Jewish community, anyone who at*taches religious significance to such a state is viewed with suspi*cion. Their "sin" is compounded by the acceptance of the idols of modernity such as democracy, freedom of conscience, etc. Because the Datiim are charged with making illicit concessions to modem secularism, they are branded as the spiritual inferiors of the Charedim, who are deemed to represent the ultimate in Orthodox commitment (witness the term ultra-Orthodox).

Even more detrimental to the self-image of modern Orthodoxy which represents the ideological centerpiece of Religious Zionism is the widespread belief that they do not merely permit the intru*sion of non-Halakhic values but that apart from ideological differ*ences they are much "cooler" in their religious commitment than their Charedi counterparts. Whether this perception is correct, as Professors Charles S. Liebman and Eliezer Don-Yehiya contend, or false, hardly matters. The mere fact that many modern Orthodox believe it to be factually true gives rise to an inferiority complex which saps the vitality of Religious Zionism. Laxity in religious ob*servance and lack of fervor hardly make for an attractive religious option.

To recapture its appeal to the religious imagination, Religious Zionism must shed its self-image as a movement championing compromise and moderation at the expense of passionate commitment. It can no longer afford to be perceived as a synthesis betwen two disparate elements, namely religion and nationalism. Instead, 1) it must project itself as a genuinely religious movement and convincingly demonstrate that the nationalism it espouses is not of 19th century vintage, but is rooted in the Torah idea of the Covenant.

In the brilliant formulation of the Rav (R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik), the Berit Avraham (the Covenant with Abraham) mandates that we identify with every Jew and that we form a special attachment to Eretz Israel as the land of our destiny. Regardless of all differ*ences of ideology and culture, Jews form a community of fate. Since the Torah is addressed to each and every Jew, we have no right to restrict our concern to the protection of the interests of

the religious community. We are charged with responsibility not merely for the preservation of isolated religious enclaves but the creation of a society which will foster loyalty to the Torah on the part of the entire Jewish community. Our task is to transform the entire Jewish community from a community of fate into a com*munity of faith. Hence, our readiness to cooperate with non*observant Jews in the advancement of common goals such as Yishuv Haaretz and defense of the state stems not from relative in. difference to religious values, but is rooted in the profound convic*tion that the advancement of the material welfare of Klal Yisrael -as Rav Kook never tired of pointing out -represents not secular but truly religious concerns.

[Rasputin]

Part II

Even more necessary for a healthy self-image is 2) the recognition that Religious Zionism, for all its discontinuity with some of the at. titudes which predominated in the pre-Emancipation era, is no less authentic than the quietism advocated by the Neturei Karta. To be sure, during the height of Jewish powerlessness, especially in the wake of the Expulsion from Spain, Jews gravitated towards an ex*treme pietism. So deeply engrained was this aversion to any form of political activism that large segments of Hungarian Orthodoxy went as far as to oppose any type of intervention or negotiation with governmental authorities for the purpose of securing more political and economic privileges for the Jewish community.

But there is little justification for the assumption that Judaism mandates total disparagement of human efforts. While containing a pietistic streak and exhorting the believer to leave some things to God, Judaism, contrary to Spinoza, Feuerbach and Marx, does not engender the kind of self-alienation which robs man of his dignity. Many Jewish authorities interpret the Torah in such a manner that religious faith leads to the responsible use of power rather than the evasion of responsibility in areas where human action could make a difference.

There is certainly no echo of the Promethean myth in the Jewish tradition. Far from representing an unwarranted intrusion into divine prerogatives, self-reliance and creativity constitute the ful*fillment of the task entrusted to man. Created in the image of God, he is summoned to become a co-creator with Him We need only remind ourselves of the enormous role assigned to Yishuv Ha-olam in the Maimonidean scheme or of s.R. Hirsch's enthusiasm for the Emancipation on the ground that it made possible the implemen*tation of the Torah im Derech Eretz ideal in order to realize that there are Jewish authorities who place a premium upon activist in*volvement in the world rather than quietistic submission to harsh realities. Especially striking is the Rav's thesis that creativity in the area of science and technology is not a secular value but a reli*giously endorsed legitimate exercise of human dignity in keeping with the divine blessing of Ve'kivshuha. It should also be noted that for Rav Kook, the settlement of the land and other activities aiming at the amelioration of the material conditions of the Jewish people were not secular pursuits at all. They were considered an integral part of the spiritual Regeneration that paved the way for the Redemption.

While Religious Zionists must overcome their debilitating religious inferiority complex and especially their readiness to settle for lower standards of religious observance, they must 3) be wary of overreacting and claiming a monopoly on valid approaches to Torah. There is no need to delegitimize alternative perspectives. Within the framework of Torah there is ample room for pluralism We may even see in right-wing extremism a much-needed correc*tive to the value structure of a basically secular culture. But we must resist attempts to discredit our religious philosophy as an ac*commodation or, as Professor Neusner put it in a recent book, as "selective piety:' We have every right to insist that our openness to the values of modernity and our readiness to embrace some of the elements of its culture do not compromise our spiritual integrity. While the Yeshiva world defines the "four cubits of Halakhah" in an extremely narrow fashion; we can invoke the authority of the Rambam to justify a broader perspective and 4) welcome whatev*er modem values can be harnessed in the service of our religious mandate. We have every right to maintain that we represent con*tinuity with the tradition of a Rambam, Ramban, Meiri, etc., which can best be summed up in the telling phrase of S.R. Hirsch as the "inner Revelation" which enhances our comprehension of the divine tasks assigned to us.

We are convinced that this kind of understanding of Torah as a Torat Chayim -addressed not merely to a religious elite but to all segments of the Jewish people as a blueprint for life in the here and now -holds the greatest promise for reclaiming the loyalty of Klal Yisrael to Torah. But to achieve this goal, we must pursue it not with cool detachment but with the fiery commitment befitting the Esh Dat. It is up to us to demonstrate that our "moderation" reflects not lack of passion but our fervent commitment to our Torah ideals.

[Rasputin]

Yehoshua Yagel, leading Zionist rabbi, dies at 91

Rabbi Yehoshua Yagel, who headed the Midrashiyat Noam yeshiva high school since its founding in 1945, died Saturday night, following an illness. He was 91.

Midrashiyat Noam, located in Pardes Hannah, was the first yeshiva high school in the country and has become one of the flagship yeshivas of religious Zionism in Israel. Yagel emphasized the value of friendship and loyalty among students and graduates of the yeshiva, and opened the doors of his institution to students from low-income families. He also maintained close ties with the ultra-Orthodox world, and many Midrashiyat Noam graduates went on to study at ultra-Orthodox institutions.

Polish-bornYagel went at the age of 11 to study for three years at the well-known Slonim yeshiva, which his uncle headed. Later on, he went on to other yeshivas, studying with two of the most highly regarded ultra-Orthodox rabbis in pre-Holocaust Eastern Europe: Rabbis Elhanan Wasserman and Aharon Kotler.

Yagel, who received the President's Prize for life achievement in education eight years ago, moved to Israel in 1936 to study at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem. He moved to Tel Aviv in the 1940s.

Although he officially headed Midrashiyat Noam until his death, most of Yagel's tasks were carried out by others during the past decade. He did, however, continue to participate, until recently, in all meetings concerning the yeshiva's educational path.

Midrashiyat Noam graduates include Minister Eitan Cabel (Labor) and former ministers Yaakov Neeman, Benny Elon and Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz.

Adam Baruch, a journalist who graduated from Midrashiyat Noam, said Yagel succeeded in turning high-school yeshivas into a sort of training ground for post-high-school yeshiva study, rather than making a distinction between the two types of religious institutions.

Yagel's original intention was to create a yeshiva high-school institution that would prepare the young generation of that era for a life of Torah that also involved full participation in the state that was on the way to being created. This goal contradicted the ideology of the ultra-Orthodox "Old Yishuv," which mandated isolation from political Zionism.

Yagel is in large part responsible for the shaping of a new generation of religious Zionists before the advent of settlements - a generation of Torah-observant young people who were part of the fabric of Tel Aviv life, a generation of religious moderation whose educators chose to establish a "midrashiya" in direct contrast to a "yeshiva" of the old-school variety.

Yagel was buried on the Mount of Olives yesterday. He is survived by his wife and son, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

[Rasputin]

The Jewish people, from its inception, has been unique by its identity as a religious entity. Through the centuries its religious character had been a premise agreed upon by Jews and non-Jews alike. Our faith demands as the fundamental condition for recognition as a Jew, belief and adherence to the word of G-d, as was revealed to our forefathers on Mount Sinai. This is in itself, according to the tenets of the Jewish religion, sufficient to fulfill the definition of a Jew. Our religious and traditional history bears no aspect of racism. Hence, one of non-Jewish origin is capable of being proselytized and attaining the same status as a born Jew. Conversely, one of Jewish birth who does not recognize his being bound to the Jewish Torah, is by Jewish law a heretic, and therefore forfeits his spiritual birthrights as a Jew.

The purpose of the Jew is to bear witness to the existence of G-d, through his adherence to the Torah. The Al-mighty granted the Jews the land of Israel as the particular setting which would serve as the most conducive atmosphere to their performance of their duties to G-d.

The Jews in ancient times were banished from the land of Israel because they had failed to fulfill their obligations to the Al-mighty. Every Jew acknowledges this in his prayers (Umipnei Chatoeinu Golinu Meiartzeinu). They accepted the penalty of exile and were at that time expressed sworn by the Al-mighty not to accelerate their redemption on their own, and especially not to rebel against the nations under whose rule they were found. To the contrary, every Jew is commanded to pray for the peace and well being of the government of which he is the subject.

Through all the years of exile, pious Jews as individuals were attracted to reside in the Holy Land because of its innate holy character and the opportunity it offered for the observance of various precepts bound in the land. Jews as a whole continue to pray that the Al-mighty return his Divine presence to the Land of Israel, by the coming of the Messiah, who will build His Temple, from whence will emanate Divine Wisdom and ultimate spiritual fulfillment of the entire human race.

Through the many years that Jews resided in the Holy Land for this purpose, they enjoyed tranquil and cordial relations with the non-Jewish population there.

The Zionist movement which was formed at the latter part of the last century, sought to endow the Jews with a nationalistic character which was heretofore strange to them. It sought to deprive them of their historically religious character and offered in substitution of faith in G-d and adherence to the Torah, and belief in their ultimate redemption by the coming of the Messiah, a nationalistic ideology and the possibility of establishing through political media, a Jewish national homeland.

During the period of the British Mandate, the Balfour Declaration, which recognized the eventual possibility of founding a Jewish national homeland, in Palestine, was affirmed to be the British government. The Jewish Agency, who then was the Chief representative of Zionist interests in the Holy Land, was entrusted with the issuance of visas to the Holy Land, thus resulting in an increased Zionist immigration from various parts of the world, which ultimately succeeded in superceding in numbers, the veteran Orthodox dwellers.

Orthodox Jewry all over the world and the Orthodox Community in the Holy Land in particular, immediately sensed in this stage of Zionist success, the threat of grave danger for the religious future of Jews. The Arab inhabitants began to exhibit open hostility to their Jewish neighbors. The British government failed to distinguish between the Orthodox community, who for generations in habited the Holy Land, and the newly arrived Zionist immigrants.

With the acquisition by the Zionist nationalists of the power to organize communities in Palestine, they formed the Vaad Haleumi Leknesset Yisroel (National Jewish Council Committee). This committee ignored the rights of the Orthodox veteran dwellers who did not recognize this validity of Jewish nationality, and whose identification as Jews was solely with their loyalty to their religious heritage. The religious inhabitants, on the other hand, shuddered at the prospects of spiritual disintegration of World Jewry, with the new rise to power of the Zionist nationalists.

The Orthodox inhabitants actively objected to being subject to the authority of the secularists. They appealed their cause to the League of Nations, who consequently granted them a "Right of exclusion" to the subjugation to the Vaad Haleumi, which rights provided that any Jew wishing not to be incorporated into the Vaad Haleumi, may remain lawfully independent if he so stated his wish in writing. Thousands of Jews did so.

Such was the case until November 1948, when the United Nations finally sanctioned the establishment of a Zionist State. We do not doubt that their success in finally realizing their goal was due in great measure to their having misled the world into viewing the Zionist cause as the Jewish cause. The formation of the Zionist state resulted in the automatic deprivation of the autonomy heretofore possessed by the Orthodox inhabitants of the Holy Land.

The Zionists grasped in the acquisition of their new powers, the opportunity to openly disassociate themselves from any identification with Jews as a religion. They systematically began to orient the minds of their generations according to the tenets of Zionist nationalism. Through the Ministry of Religions they employed part of the Rabbinate to assist them in their aims.

The religious Jews who by virtue of their faith, clearly contradicted Zionist nationalism, and who had lived peacefully with their Arab neighbors for generations, became unwillingly identified with the Zionist cause and their struggle with the Arabs. They requested the United Nations that Jerusalem be designated as a defacto international city. They appealed to the diplocatic corps assigned to Jerusalem -- but to no avail. They were hence confronted with the choice of either becoming a part of the Zionist State, which diametrically opposed the interests of Jews as a religion, or abandoning the land of which their forefathers were the first Jewish settlers.

We find it of supreme importance to emphasize that we are fearful of the consequences of the Zionist rebellion against the Creator, as stated expressly in Jeremich, "For it is bad and bitter your renunciation of G-d..." We wish not to be affected by the behavior of this government who in the name of Israel, persist in their renunciation and utter disregard of religious Judaism such as is clearly attested by their laws expressly permitting wanton autopsies (Law of Anatomy and Pathology, 1953), forcible desecration of the Sabbath (Law of Emergency Labor Draft 1967: PPS 1, 19; 27, 36), profanation of Holy Sites by retaining non-religious custodians, desecration of Holy Cemetaries by Safed, Beth Shearim and elsewhere, and countless more examples, proof of which is readily available.

Insofar as all human being find necessary the protection of their rights as human beings, we hereby request all those that find it within their power, to aid us in reacquiring the rights we possessed prior to the formation of the Zionist State*, to remain lawfully independent of the Zionist authority.