By PAUL LUNGEN
Staff Reporter
Orthodox Jews around the world reacted angrily to the participation of a half-dozen members of the Neturei Karta sect at a Holocaust-denial conference in Tehran.
Concerned that the Neturei Karta, who resemble other Torah-observant groups, would bring disrepute to their communities, Orthodox spokespeople distanced themselves from the what they termed a “fringe” group who had openly embraced the Iranian leader President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is pledged to Israel’s annihilation.
The Neturei Karta are giving Orthodoxy a bad name while strengthening the position of Jew haters and those who would destroy Israel, they say.
Rabbi Dovid Schochet, president of the Vaad Harabonim in Toronto (council of Orthodox rabbis), said the participation by the Neturei Karta in the Holocaust-denial conference “is horrible. It’s like embracing Hitler after he killed the Jews and saying we’re your friend.”
Rabbi Moshe Lowy, who heads Agudath Israel in Toronto and who serves on the Vaad’s rabbinical court, said “what they did was an act of chilul HaShem (desecrating God’s name), disgusting, repulsive. To sit down with someone ready to murder Jews at a conference denying the Holocaust… I don’t think they have any rabbis backing them.”
Rabbi Yoseph Zaltzman, senior rabbi of the Jewish Russian Community Centre, likewise called it a chilul HaShem, saying, “When a Jew goes and shows friendliness, acceptance of any outward enemies of the Jews, it is a disgrace of God’s name, especially as they are dressed as Orthodox Jews.
“It’s showing to the world that ‘I’m friends with the man who wants to destroy five or six million Jews [in Israel],’” he added.
In Montreal, Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem congregation, stated in a written piece that “virtually all Jews are appalled by the support that the Neturei Karta gives to Israel’s anti-Semitic enemies.”
Rabbi Steinmetz noted that “Rabbi Moshe Hirsch, the group’s elder statesman, has close ties to the Palestinian leadership and was on [former Palestinian president] Yasser Arafat’s payroll.
“The Neturei Karta maintain close ties to Iran as well. In June 2000, Rabbi Yisroel David Weiss supported Iran’s accusations that 13 Jews had spied for Israel – this, while governments around the world protested these false arrests.”
Rabbi Steinmetz stated that “because of their bizarre behaviour, they have been condemned multiple times by haredim, and they are viewed by them as infuriating oddities. Simply put, the Neturei Karta are a fringe group, far less relevant than the Hare Krishna.”
According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, Neturei Karta, which translates from Aramaic as “Guardians of the City,” number between 1,000 and 5,000 worldwide. They are concentrated mostly in Jerusalem, with others residing in Ramat Bet Shemesh, Safed, Bnei Brak, New York City, Vienna and Antwerp. There is a small community near Montreal.
The Neturei Karta’s website describes the group as originating in Jerusalem. The group “refused and still refuse to recognize the existence or authority of the so-called ‘State of Israel’ and made [and still make] a point of publicly demonstrating their position, the position of the Torah and authentic unadulterated Judaism.”
“The Neturei Karta refuse to recognize the right of anyone to establish a ‘Jewish’ state during the present period of exile.”
That, the Neturei Karta believe, will only come about when “a universally accepted Moshiach” arrives.
Neturei Karta spokespeople at the conference in Tehran said Israel’s existence posed a greater threat to the Jews than Holocaust deniers.
Rabbi Steinmetz suggests that as other Orthodox groups accepted Israel, the Neturei Karta became more isolated and “in turn, [their] theology grew even more radical and the behaviour of its leaders increasingly bizarre.”
“For the Neturei Karta, anti-Zionism is the focus of their theology, and as a consequence, they demonize all Zionists as disciples of Satan.”
Rabbi Schochet believes the Neturei Karta have gone beyond the pale by siding with those who wish to destroy Israel. “They embraced someone who is an enemy, who wants to destroy all the Jews.”
What’s more, the Neturei Karta’s actions in Iran have tarred other Orthodox Jews with the same brush.
“It gives the unenlightened Jews the wrong impression of Orthodoxy. This is not Orthodox, this is a minority,” he said.
Rabbi Zaltzman, who is affiliated with the Chabad Lubavitch movement, agreed that the sect’s actions “give Orthodox Jews a bad name. But the bigger problem is disgracing God’s name. Now Iran can say, ‘I’m not so bad. Jews agree with me.’
“No matter if you’re a Zionist or you disagree with the government [of Israel], what does that have to do with treason and going against six million Jews living in Israel?” he asked. “To align with the number 1 enemy in the world… there are no words.”
In a news release, the Agudath Israel of America called the Neturei Karta “a disgrace to the Jewish people.”
“Neither their professed determination to protect the interests of Jews nor their haredi garb can obscure the fact that all they accomplish is to offer succor and support to people who eagerly wish to do grave harm to Jews,” the Agudah stated.
In New York, the Orthodox Union, representing mainstream Orthodox congregations, condemned the Neturei Karta as a disgrace to Judaism and unrepresentative of the Jewish people.
“We can only hope that the world is smart enough to recognize that the presence of these individuals is proof only that Ahmadinejad will stoop as low as necessary to demonstrate his hatred of the Jewish people and Israel and that no matter how low he stoops, there is always some enemy of Israel he will find – even if that enemy happens to be Jewish,” the OU stated.
Satmar leaders of Congregation Yetev Lev in Brooklyn denounced the Neturei Karta as “reckless outcasts.”
The Jews who went to Iran “trampled on the memory of their ancestors and people. They embraced the disciplines and followers of their murderers,” they said in a statement.
The Neturei Karta are often confused with the Satmars, who also are anti-Zionist but acknowledge that six million Jews died in the Holocaust. The Satmars say there is no connection between them and Neturei Karta, which sent six delegates to the conference under the banner “Jews United Against Zionism.”
Neturei Karta spokesperson Rabbi Weiss claimed the numbers of those killed in the Holocaust are exaggerated. He said, “Zionists are using the Holocaust to brazenly and offensively oppress a people.”
The Satmars from Congregation Yetev Lev responded in their statement by saying that “the unavenged blood of the millions of Jewish victims cries out in pain and abhorrence to these reckless outcasts, ‘How can you sink so low?’”
With files from CJN News Services
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