The Land I Will Show You, sec. 2, chapter 2

The Oaths as Prohibition

Mar 19, 2023

(For the previous chapter of “The Land I Will Show You, click here. For the ToC, click here.)

Transgressing the oaths is the most severe sin that there is, in the opinion of Rabbi Yoel of Satmar, and this sin is in fact the cause of the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust, which happened as a punishment for the Zionist movement:

Since, due to our great sins, in recent years we have born great and bitter troubles, that never happened to the Jewish people in its whole history… there is no need to search in hidden places for the sin that brought this trouble upon us, as it is explicit and clear in the words of Chazal, who told us explicitly that they derived from verses that by transgressing the oaths not to ascend as a wall and not to hasten the end, Heaven forbid, I will abandon your flesh like the gazelles and like the hinds of the field, and in our great sins this is what happened: Apostates and heretics made all sorts of endeavors to transgress these oaths and to ascend as a wall and to take rule and freedom before its time, on their own, which is hastening the end, and they attracted the hearts of most of the Children of Israel to this impure idea… this is why this trouble befell us, what Chazal said explicitly that we will be abandoned like the gazelles and like the hinds of the field, may the Merciful One save us!… and had there not been among the Children of Israel only that sin, isn’t it clear and explicit in the words of Chazal the bitter punishment that occurred?[1]
Action to hasten the end before its time is evil and bitter more than all sins – even the most severe of the severe – in the whole entirety of the Torah.[2]

This sin is more severe than any other sin because it involves heresy, denial of Hashem’s providence. The essence of the sin involved in actions of hastening the end is nothing but the sin of heresy, while the oaths are intended only to increase the punishment for the sin itself:

For there is in the very idea of Israel taking power by themselves before the coming of the Messiah, heresy and denial of the ways of Hashem, for only He, Hashem, subjugates and redeems, no one but Him is our redeemer in the messianic era.[3]
One who thinks that it is possible to forcefully leave exile on our own, and that it is within our power, is completely against the faith in Hashem and His holy Torah.[4]
Leaving exile before the time is denial against the Torah and faith.[5]
The very matter of hastening the end is denial of the holy Torah about which the rule is that one must be killed instead of transgressing, as is the law when facing apostasy, and therefore it is much more severe than the prohibition of an oath… there is no question why an oath was needed, which is to increase the punishment, may the Merciful One save us, even more than heresy and disbelief.[6]

What heresy is involved in these actions? Disbelief in the redemption that was promised to take place through the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself:

Included in the belief in the coming of the Messiah is also the belief in all the promises said in the verses regarding redemption, as is obvious. And it was already explained that it is explicit in many verses that the redemption is only in the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He… for those who take redemption on their own before its time against the oath of the Holy One, blessed be He, and think that they, through human might, can annul the decree of the Holy One, blessed be He – this is absolute denial of the holy Torah and of faith.[7]
And I have already quoted the words of Chazal who said about the verse “Know shall you know” (Genesis 15:13): “Know that I have scattered them, shall you know that I will bring them in, know that I subjugated them, shall you know that I will redeem them” (Bereshis Rabbah 44, 18)… in matters of the redemption one must know that only the Holy One, blessed be He is active, and we have no permission to do anything, only repentance and good deeds, and that is why the verse went to pains to say “Know shall you know,” for this is unlike other matters… and that is why the verse warned us to know this with clarity that if with this they take it on their own, unlawfully, it is certainly heresy and absolute denial, may the Merciful One save us!… for it impossible to begin the Torah before we have a clear knowledge of this.[8]
For taking steps to annul His decrees – may His name be blessed! – is denying a root-principle.[9]

To summarize: The belief in the coming of the redeemer includes a belief that the Holy One, blessed be He, will Himself redeem us; activism and human redemption oppose this principle of faith; thus the great severity. Those who rise up to return to Eretz Yisrael en masse rise up against one of the Torah’s principles, which is more severe than all other sins, and their transgression is awful and bitter.

Thus did Rabbi Yoel explain the severity of the oaths, and on the basis of this understanding he established his opinion equating Zionism with heresy. We will return to the idea itself and treat of the question whether we should specifically wait for redemption and not act on its behalf; here, we are dealing only with the subject of the oaths. As we shall see, there is a completely different approach to the subject – and it is grounded in proofs and reason.

(For the next chapter of “The Land I Will Show You,” click here.)

The Hebrew book is available for purchase from me directly, in Judaica stores, and online, here:

Ha'Aretz asher Areka

Unapologetics

Discussion about this post