"One thing, my father was not a Zionist despite what the Mizrachi may say. They have The Rav Speaks, c'v'yochel, which is a story in itself. If you are talking about Cultural Zionism, he thought it was ridiculous. The Torah was given in Chutzeh l'Aretz, the Babli was in Chutzeh l'Aretz, all the Rishonim were in Chutzeh l'Aretz. What are you talking about? If you are talking about the political framework, which existed in a shtetl, being a minority, in an alien society, obviously had to change. And you needed a state. Jews needed a state. That's a political statement. From the point of view of the need of a state that will always be open to Jews (that) was perfectly clear to him. But in terms of cultural Zionism, he thought it was beneath contempt. I can only say I was not brought up in a Zionist home. Ahavas Ha'Aretz is one thing. Zionism is something else."
Dr. Haym Soloveitchik, "Haym Soloveitchik: How Modernity Changed Our Relationship to God," 18Forty, 1:09:43-1:10:37
Dr. Soloveitchik is the only son of the famed Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, a towering scholar and Jewish leader who is portrayed regularly as being a Zionist as he had some positive regard for the creation of state in the land of Israel that is run by Jews. However, As Professor Marc Shapiro said, "The thing about the Rav is, that he's a Zionist, but I hope I don't offend anyone when I say this, he's the most non-Zionist Zionist you can find. That is, who ever heard of a Zionist who never went to the State of Israel. Whoever heard of a Zionist that everyone who told him I want to go on aliyah, he said don't, stay here." Letters from The Rav (Part 1) || Dr. Marc Shapiro - YouTube 29:00.
Dr. Soloveitchik takes it a step further and says that his father wasn't a Zionist at least not in the cultural sense. The difference between his depiction and that of Dr. Shapiro might be semantics regarding the word Zionist. So let me unpack Dr. Haym Soloveitchik's comments. He's saying that the poverty and societal alienation as well as the persecution in the shtetl was untenable for many. They needed a place to go where they could be Jews. As it turned out, the Americas, Oceania, and Europe have turned out to be decent places, and more people could have gone there even after WWII if the Zionists had not pressured Western governments to limit immigration. But I won't go into that now. Let's say you need a place to go. Israel can be that place, although there are great dangers there, physical and spiritual. But if you were coming from a DP camp after World War II and had no other place to go, or if you are coming from war torn Ukraine today, Israel might suffice.
But you don't have to go there, you aren't required, and it may not be a good idea as we see from Rabbi Soloveitchik advising many people not to go. Cultural Zionism, which is Zionism with all the flag waving and talk of ingathering of exiles and it being the land where all Jews belong even today and even more, the place where you are required to be, all that kind of talk was ridiculous in the eyes of Rabbi Soloveitchik, according to his son. The Torah, which is our life as they say, was given outside of the land. The major commentaries on the Torah, written and oral, were all delivered outside of the land. Israel is there if you need it, but it's not the essence of Judaism as cultural Zionists, some even students of Rabbi Soloveitchik, (foolishly) believe. It's a political matter.
So what does that say about Aliyah pushers? They would be "beneath contempt" as they are the biggest propagators of cultural Zionism. (I'm applying his words to them.) As a person who came to Israel largely under the spell of Aliyah pushers, I can tell you that they are beneath contempt. They mess with people's lives. They literal con artists. The country of Greenland got its name from Eric the Red who was trying to promote immigration to a land mass covered in ice. He called it Greenland to fool people. Aliyah pushing is the same. Describing as Jewish a secular, violent, and anti-religious society with a population known for its obnoxiousness and lack of derech eretz, one that was designed to change Jews into what is the opposite of Jews is like calling a barren island that is covered in ice Greenland.
I have been told by a former student of Midreshet Rachel, the women's wing of Shapell's, a school for baalei teshuvah, that the Zionist part of the staff there, which is most of it, takes the students (or took them in her year) to Yad Benyamin, which is a largely Anglo community in the Shomron, but one which is one of the most picturesque and well-kept in Israel. It still is nothing compared to any normal American or European city but it is a step-above the typical dumpy Israeli town. I haven't been there, but this is what she told me. She said they did this before they started talking about Aliyah so that when they did, the students had Yad Binyamin with its community center and artificial waterways (and a pool perhaps?) in the back of their minds -- no matter that hardly any of the students would be able to afford the housing there or manage to survive in a location that is so remote from jobs; no matter that most of the places 'olim' go are crusty, crowded, and nothing like Yad Binyamin.
And Greenland isn't really green. Greenland is five times the size of California. Its estimated population is 56,800. California has 40 million people, 666x the population of Greenland. Now why would that be? Is it because California looks like this:
And Greenland looks like this:
As you see, Greenland isn't really green. And Israel isn't really Jewish, not most of it anyway. If you need to go there, if you are trying not to be kidnapped into the Ukrainian army and prefer instead to be kidnapped into the Israel army, neither of which cares about its soldiers as we learned this year, then it's there for you. But if you live in the Americas, Western Europe, Oceania, or South Africa research before you fly your family to the ice sheets of Greenland, I mean the secular state of israel. Don't go for the sake of cultural Zionism, because you adore that flag or harbor fantasies about the Israeli army being the most humane in the world or because you want to get in early on the ingathering of the exiles or because the future of the Jewish people (before Moshiach) is there, or because you want to "live the dream." All of that is cultural Zionism and it is 'ridiculous.' It can easily become a nightmare.
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