Time: Tuesday evening. Place: Western Wall Square, Evening Prayer: "And guard our going out and our coming in for life and peace"... And then, the cry is heard! Everyone runs to find shelter, abandons everything, and within a few seconds there is no one left in the square.
Well, we are in "exile.".
Time: Thursday evening. Place: The great Beit Midrash of the Satmar Hasidim in Kiryat Joel in Monroe. Thousands of Hasidim are marking the 35th anniversary of the passing of their great rabbi, the author of "Vyuel Moshe" zt"l. At the Hilula meal, the Rebbe of Satmar, Shlita, attacks Operation Protective Edge. It seems to me that there is calm abroad.
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Well, "freedom.".
And again, we are all inside the "Wilson Arch" Some are waiting to hear the explosion, and some continue to pray. A group of immigrants from France are in shock. They only made aliyah to the Holy Land in the last two weeks and this is their first visit to the "Western Wall" after their aliyah.
Well, they probably also understood that we are still in "exile.".
And in Kiryat Yoel, the Rebbe continues to attack the parents of the boys who send their children to study in the settlements, the founders of the yeshiva, and almost declares them murderers. For a brief moment, I imagined his followers suing them in the Hague court.
Well, they have "freedom.".
We hear the explosion and continue the routine of fear, and I wonder if Baal and Yoel Moshe's great fear has vanished? Do we forget that we are in exile? After all, this is what fear is: that we will forget that we are in "exile.".
And in the land of freedom, one of his heirs continues to attack us with "the Zionist lust in the heart, the lust to roam all over the country, the lust for the right to live wherever I want, and for no one to tell me where to go." The next day, Friday, not in the settlements! Four-year-old Daniel Tragerman did not have time to reach the protected area and paid the price for "lust.".
Even before he understood what "freedom" was.
We have no part or inheritance! In what?
And that happened too, and not far from here. The image of the saint Rabbi Avraham Wals, the late, comes to mind. The saint, who was entirely according to the Satmar system, never visited the "Western Wall" here, because so ruled the "Va'el Moshe" of Satmar. Although he grew up his entire life in "Meah She'arim" - a fifteen-minute walk away - his residence and his studies in Talmud Torah, small yeshiva, large yeshiva and comprehensive were in this neighborhood. As is known, these institutions are not funded by the Ministry of Education, as is the practice of the author of "Va'el Moshe", who forbade receiving any funding from the State of Israel.
Because of this country, the Satmar Rebbe explains, we are still in "exile.".
And in a world of freedom, their leader suggests demonstrating everywhere and declaring that we, the ultra-Orthodox, are firmly opposed to the State of Israel, to inform the Gentiles that we have no part and inheritance... I wondered what? We have no part in fear? We do! We flee together with the "Zionists" to a safe place at the time of the alarm! Maybe we will declare and ask the nations of the world to ask the Palestinians not to shoot where there are ultra-Orthodox, maybe?!
Then we too can enjoy a little "freedom.".
Thank you Satmar followers in Monroe for reminding us that there is something better. I listened to the leader's words with his overconfident confidence, saw the crowd of thousands who had gathered, reveling in the pleasures, and I understood! The time has come to emigrate to the United States, to live each under his own vine and fig tree, and in my free time to wallow a little in Zionism.
The sweet taste of "freedom.".
But, as you mark the 35th anniversary of the passing of the great leader, the author of "Vuel Moshe," perhaps it's time to translate his books into Yiddish or English. It seems to me that you've gone a bit too far in forgetting the Diaspora. You've forgotten that when "it is forbidden to provoke nations," then it is also forbidden to provoke in the State of Israel.
And so the Reverend Admor of Tolodot Aharon, the author of Divrei Emuna, zt"l, the distinguished disciple of the author of "Vyuel Moshe," related in this vein: When the Shabbat demonstration took place in Jerusalem against Egged, our Satmar Rebbe, z"a, told me, "The Neturi Karta think that Jerusalem is theirs. They don't know - he told me in this vein - that we are captives to them" (free translation from Yiddish: 3 Sivan 1986).
