Letters on Zionism by the great Sages of the previous Generation
The following is a letter written by the great Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, known as the Ohr Somayach:
May G-d cry out from from His holy habitation and give forth his voice for there have arisen NEW REBELS AND TRAITORS, thinking to establish a State... and have promised to deliver Israel from all its troubles in the Exile.
I cannot utter with my lips nor write down what is in my heart concerning these unstable people.... We should pay no attention to Herzl, because this Zionist vision is driving - G-d forbid - Israel to destruction.
It is our duty to preserve ourselves from being captured and mingled with the empty utterances of Herzl and Nordau and their cabal. I am astonished that the Mizrachi rabbis...will not unite with all those who have taken on themeselves the task of weakening the Zionist traitors. They actually uphold the Zionists and themselves will come to revile all those opposed ot this abominable Zionist movement, who teach that the only hope to Israel springs from the ZIONISTS WHO REJECT OUR HOLY TORAH.
Meir Simcha Hakohen
The following is a letter written in 1904 by Rabbi Yosef Rozen of Dvinsk, known as The Rogatchover:
Heaven forbid that we should test G-d and strive with him concerning the length of the Exile in order to be masters in the Holy Land.
To those who share these Zionist views but profess to be believers, whose lips drip with Torah and piety, I have this to say: Do you not know that Zionism and self-rule are VANITY AND PURSUIT OF EMPTINESS AND IMITATION? Why do you despise the Torah and stretch out your hand to transgressors tainted with HERESY, and why do you not consider in whose company you go?
How long will the Zionists be permitted to lead into a trap? One need not fear contention and discord with them, since they have already brought it about. In the book, Gates of Repentance, paragraph 59, we find 'HE WHO DOES NOT ENTER INTO CONFLICT WITH THOSE WHO STAND ON A BAD PATH IS PUNISHED FOR THEIR TRANSGRESSIONS AND FOR ALL THEIR SINS.
I have already written letters to those who ask whether there is any substance in the books of the Mizrachi rabbis Rabinovitz and Reines. I have replied that according to Jewish Law the two works of the above-mentioned rabbis are an abomination and desolation, according to the Torah.
May the day come when we are not subjugated and oppressed by HERETICS ORIGINATING FROM THE JEWISH PEOPLE - ESPECIALLY SEEING THAT THEY SPREAD EVIL TIDINGS ABOUT US.
Yosef Rozen
The following is the letter of Rabbi Yehoshea Dzikover, who wrote about the Zionists early on:
...As to the claim of these hypocritical rabbis that it is our duty to love aven heretics, with the sayings of our Sages which they cite in support of this, it should be pointed out that they have distorted their holy words into the opposite of what they meant.
In my opinion, the benediction in our prayers against the informers applies to the Zionists, who defame us by alleging that the Jewish People is treacherous, G-d forbid, to kingdoms, and is in revolt against governments. THERE ARE NO SLANDERERS AS DANGEROUS AS THE ZIONISTS. In the words of King Solomon: "Thorns and traps on a crooked path, he who would preserve his life will keep away from them."
The following is a letter written by the famous Rabbi Tzadok Hakohen of Lublin, Poland, before World War II:
Concerning the Zionists can be applied the verse: He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who beholds clouds will not reap.
The Zionists sow wheat and reap thorns, and EVEN SHOULD THE WORK OF SATAN PROSPER, eventually there could be a horrible end, G-d forbid.
The Jewish People appear to be in this hour like a ship sailing in the heart of the sea without oars in a tempest. The helmsmen have been struck by blindness.
Do we not know that the whole purpose of the eventual Redemption is to improve ours ways and observe the Torah with all the protections our sages ordained for us? WHAT HOPE IS THERE FOR US IF THOSE WHO BLASPHEME THE TORAH SHOULD, HEAVEN FORBID, BECOME MEN OF POWER AND INFLUENCE?
BUT THE CONCLUSION IS TO BE DRAWN THAT IF THE ZIONISTS GAIN DOMINION THEY WILL SEEK TO REMOVE FROM THE HEARTS OF ISRAEL BELIEF IN G-D AND IN THE TRUTH OF THE TORAH. ALL THE INTENT OF THESE INCITERS AND SEDUCERS IS TO CAST ISRAEL INTO INFIDELITY, WHICH IS DESTRUCTION.
Tzadok Hakohen
The following is a letter from R. Chaim Grodzensky, the great Rabbi of Vilna, to Rabbi Gidman of Vienna in the winter of 1907:
Your honor knows that in the matter of the Zionists and Mizrachi I am in correspondence with the Sages of the generation, and ALL OF THEM have decided that Zionism is the work of Satan, with all its seductions and provocations, to turn Israel from the good path. A great danger arises from Zionism for the entire world Jewish community, Those who venture to defend the Zionists ARE NO BETTER THAN THEY.