Lecture 3: The Rav and the State of Israel In the 1920's, contrary to their claims, Agudat Israel did not exist in the United States. America was viewed as a place to go to lose one's Yiddishkeit. If you went to America, it was 100:1 that you would not stay religious. By the late 30's, European refugees brought Agudat Israel to the U.S. It originated in Europe in 1919, claiming that "Any Zionist cannot be a good Jew, and cannot join Agudat Israel." The idea was that by gathering Jews together in conventions and retreats, their faith could be strengthened in the face of modernity. Initially, it had few members, but when they convinced the Gerer Rebbe to join, all his Hasidim followed, giving the movement great strength. Rabbi Silver brought the movement to America in 1937. The Rav then became active in it, because Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky, the rav of Vilna, had told him to establish Agudat Israel in America. In 1940, Rav Soloveitchik gave a hesped for Reb Chaim Ozer, which was a gem of Agudah ideology. He stated that rabbis must rule the Jews both spiritually and temporally. He showed this via the Choshen, one of the garments of the High Priest. This was the breastplate which held the Urim and Tumim, the gems which would light up showing how the Kohen Gadol should rule in political and criminal matters. Just as the Kohen Gadol was in charge of the religious life of Israel, so he was in charge of the political life of Israel. During that period, the Zionists were organizing huge anti-Hitler rallies and protests. The rabbis of Agudat Israel forbade people from participating in these rallies, for fear that such noise would only serve to enrage Hitler, and encourage him to kill more Jews. This hesped was Rav Soloveitchik in support of this pure Agudat Israel philosophy. Why did the Rav support Agudah if his father was Mizrachi? In part, it was youthful rebellion, as the Rav confessed in 1955. Rakeffet's theory is somewhat different: Agudah in Berlin was the organization for young Jewish intellectuals, where the Neo- Orthodox were fully integrated into German society. So it was the only real social group the Rav could join. In 1946, the Rav became the honorary president of Mizrachi. Why the switch? The Rav gave a drasha in the 1950's which has since become the foundation of Rakeffet's philosophy. This was the only drasha ever refuted by Rav Shach, in the 3rd volume of his collected works. The drasha was on the theme of Joseph and his brothers. It was published in Hebrew in "Chamesh Drashot", and in English as "The Rav Speaks." What was the nature of the conflict between Joseph and his brothers? They all knew they would have to go to Egypt eventually, as had been foretold to Abraham. Joseph wanted to prepare against that eventuality, but his brothers did not, thinking themselves safe in Canaan, the land of their fathers, with plenty of good grazing for the flocks, etc. As the events turned out, Joseph went down to Egypt and prepared the way for his brothers to come down, working his way into the government, preparing a place for them to live and thrive when they could no longer live in Canaan. This is exactly the argument between Mizrachi and Agudah: Agudat Israel was content with Vilna and the other European centers of Torah. But if Mizrachi had not prepared the way, built up the Land and State of Israel, there would not have been anyplace for the refugees from Hitler to go. The Shoah would have killed Judaism. But the Rav goes further than this. He spoke of the Tanur shel Achnai story, where Rabbi Eliezer keeps trying to bring Divine proof of his position, but the Sages say that "The Torah is not in Heaven." The result of this event was that Eliyahu met God and asked Him what He had thought at that time. God laughed and said "My children have defeated me, my children have defeated me." This story always brought tears to the Rav as a child. This idea, that the Torah is not in heaven, is beautiful, and is true with respect to Halacha. But in Hashkafah, there are no rules, no logic, only the attempt to divine what God really wants. The only way to find out what God wants is in hindsight: after something happens, only then can you know what God intended. This is how we see Divine Providence and its workings, and by seeing this, we know what God wanted. Divine Providence showed that Joseph was right, that they had to prepare. Thus he sees that Mizrachi's ideas must be right, because if there had been no chalutzim, no yishuv (religious settlement in Jerusalem), there would have been no place for the survivors to go. This is why the Rav became a Mizrachi-ite. The Rav gave a speech to the YU Alumni in 1956 on Yom Ha'Atzma'ut which has become his most widely read paper. It is required reading in the Israeli religious public schools. We are speaking, of course, of "Kol Dodi Dofek", (The voice of my beloved is knocking). Perhaps you know the story from Shir Hashirim. The boy comes and knocks at his girlfriend's house, and wakes her up. She says that she's asleep, could he come back later? She finally goes to see him, and he's gone, and she spends the rest of her life looking for him, and never finds him. It is a story of opportunity knocking, and it only knocks once, and then it's gone. This speech is the most messianic the Rav ever got. He writes of six "knocks" which we must listen to and learn from, in relation to the State of Israel, essentially six miracles: 1) Political: The issue of recognizing the State of Israel was the only time the United States and the Soviet Union ever agreed on anything in the United Nations. In fact, countries were racing to see which would be first to recognize Israel. 2) War: Israel's weak, ragtag, amateur army defeated the professional armed forces of SIX Arab nations, just like in the Chanukah story. 3) Theological: The Catholics used to teach in their schools that the Jews forfeited their right to Israel by denying Jesus. Our taking Israel back has proved that wrong. 4) Sociological: Israel's existence has saved millions of Jews from assimilation. Among Reform and Conservative Jews, the State of Israel gives them an identity which they did not feel from the religious aspects of Judaism. The Six Day War saved 3-1/2 million Jews from assimilation, Soviet Jews. This war was the first war ever televised in Russia. Seeing the Israelis hold their own and defeat the Arabs gave the Russian Jews an identity. Ask any of the refuseniks or emigres. 5) Attitudes: We stopped turning the other cheek whenever somebody attacks Jews. Now Jews have a state, which will speak up and perhaps retaliate when Jews are attacked. Jewish blood is no longer valueless. 6) Inclusion: The first act of the State of Israel after declaring independence was to abolish the White Paper (which restricted Jewish immigration to Israel under the British), and establish the right of return, that any Jew anywhere could become a citizen: "Israel absorbs us like a mother taking her children into her bosom." On 5 Sept 1972, an interview was published in the newspaper Ma'ariv with the Rav. He told the interviewer: during World War I, in Minsk, a student asked Reb Chaim Brisker whether, with all the Jews dying it would indicate the coming of the Moshiach? Reb Chaim said emphatically No! The student asked why not? Reb Chaim said that we should not try to justify the deaths of Jews. Better there should be no Moshiach and that Jews should live. The Rav extrapolated from this that we should not sacrifice Jewish lives for Israel, since living in Israel is not a yehareg- ve'al-ya'avor (die rather than violate) mitzvah. We see a Hegelian dialectic in the Rav's hashkafah here. Rav Kook and the Gush Emunim took a pure thesis position, he was a lechatchila (ab initio) Zionist. Jews should live in Israel in a Jewish state. The Rav, on the other hand, had as his thesis the Agudah position. The antithesis was the Holocaust. The synthesis was that one should support Israel, but that one should also save Jewish lives. Oddly enough, the Soloveitchiks in the United States are staunch Zionists, but those who went directly to Israel from Poland are virtually Neturei Karta. At one point, someone told him his granddaughter (by Rav Aaron and Tovah Lichtenstein) whom he had never seen, looked just like his late wife. The Rav cried at that, and resolved to go visit Israel. The RCA looked into the possibility and ramifications, with all the speeches he would have had to give at various institutions. They found that if the Rav went to Israel, his own relatives would have been compelled to demonstrate against him. He decided not to go, rather than cause a machloket (dispute) within his own family. In closing, the Rav said something very interesting about Shir Hamaalot. How do we interpret the second and third verses, Az yomru bagoyim, Higdil H' laasot im eleh, Higdil H' laasot imanu hayinu smechim. (Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things with these." The Lord has done great things with us, and we are made happy.) What is this repetition about? Think about it. Add a little punctuation. Before Israel, the goyim would say Higdil H' laasot im eleh? Is God magnified by working with these lowly Jews? Now we can say to them, Higdil H' laasot imanu, hayinu smechim! God is magnified by working with us, and we are happy!