Chabad Rabbi Promises Violent Defense of Settlements – "It is Good to Die for Our Country"

Ynet reports:

…"The struggles for the other settlements will be ten-fold what there was in Amona. It is good to die for our country," said SOS Israel chairman Rabbi Dov Wolpe, echoing the reputed last words of legendary Zionist activist Joseph Trumpeldor…

"There is talk of President Bush's vision of two states for two peoples - may the all-merciful protect us," Wolpe said. "On the day after his election President Peres said we must cede the territories. If the president of the United States would have said after his inauguration that Seattle and Manhattan should be handed over, what would (the American public) call him?"

"A traitor," the demonstrators shouted back.

Wolpe continued to say that "only the coming of the messiah can save us, not the High Court (of Justice), which is collaborating with the Arabs."…

First of all, this statement of Rabbi Wolpe's, "only the coming of the messiah* can save us, not the High Court (of Justice), which is collaborating with the Arabs," makes clear his anti-democratic stance.

Rabbi Wolpe's previous call for Olmert's murder was later justified by Rabbi Wolpe who claimed he only wanted Israeli law enforced. Nazi collaborators, Rabbi Wolpe argued, can be punished with the death sentence. Israel's government "collaborates" with the Palestinian Authority and seeks territorial compromise. Therefore, Rabbi Wolpe's twisted logic runs, Israel's leaders are traitors who should be killed.

Here Rabbi Wolpe argues the courts, which are charged with deciding that law, have decided in a way he dislikes. Therefore, the courts are "traitors," just as Olmert, Livni, Ramon, and Barak are "traitors." And you know what should be done with traitors according to Rabbi Sholom DovBer Wolpe.

Rabbi Wolpe has a very checkered recent past:

…In 2006 [Rabbi Wolpe] offered a free copy of one of his book "From Light to Darkness" to anyone that pledged to refrain from celebrating Independence Day.^[20]

In 2007, he told a conference in Jerusalem that "the remedy for the disengagement is to understand that the State of Israel is a terrible thing. We should not bless or praise the state that was founded by criminals and heretics like Herzl."^[21]

In December 2007, Wolpo stated that his followers will secede from Israel if the Israeli government withdraws from Judea and Samaria^[22]…

Who was Joseph Trumpeldor Rabbi Wolpe quoted yesterday?

…[I]n January 1920 [Trumpeldor] was called to the northern Galilee to help organize the defense of the settlements there which had come under increasingly fierce Arab attack. On March 1 he was mortally wounded while participating in the defense of the settlemenents at Tel Hai; his dying words were: Ein davar, tov lamut be'ad arzenu ("Never mind; it is good to die for our country").

…His life story served as an inspirational model to both the pioneering socialist youth movements and the right-wing youth groups. One of the largest and most successful of the latter was named in his honor: Betar, an abbreviation of Berit Trumpeldor.

By quoting Trumpeldor in this way, Rabbi Wolpe is equating the evacuation of settlements in the West Bank by the legally elected government of Israel with Arab attacks against Jews in pre-State Palestine. And he is promising violent rebellion.

He should be arrested, put on trial and, if found guilty, jailed for a very long time – unless Israel heeds Rabbi Wolpe's call to use the death penalty far more freely than it has to date.

In that case, sedition, one of the crimes Rabbi Wolpe has committed, is punishable by death.

As Rabbi Wolpe himself said about Olmert, Livni, Ramon, Barak and others – let the bastard hang.

* Wikipedia notes this about Rabbi Wolpe's messianic beliefs:

In 1984 Rabbi Wolpe wrote a book proclaiming the Rebbe as Moshiach.[3] However, after a public address by Rabbi Schneerson in which he said that “such a book can cause hundreds of Jews to stop learning Chassidus, and [cause them to] oppose the Baal Shem Tov and his teachings," [Rabbi Wolpe] did not publish the book. However, in 1991, Rabbi Wolpo asked the Rebbe if perhaps now is the right time to publish the book. Rabbi Schneerson answered, “after having it edited by three friends he may publish it.” The book was then edited and published in 1991, and the first unbound copy was sent to the Rebbe.

Note the Rebbe's response to Rabbi Wolpe, said in public before hundreds if not thousands of hasidim, does not say, "I am not the messiah." It says promoting me as the messiah will hurt outreach and fundraising. That is the essence of the divide in Chabad to this day.

Comments

[Misnaged]

Herzl a kofer? Without him "Rabbi" Wolpe, yimach sh'mo, who is a perfect kofer himself with his un-Jewish beliefs would be still living in galuth. I wish him the most imminent deportation from Israel.

[Yochanan Lavie]

All these anti-Zionists will fight till the last Israeli.

We need a revival of the Allon plan, IMHO.

[David]

All this spitting on Israel would be in sufficiently bad taste for a Jew in Galus, but a Jew who spends his time living in the Israeli state, enjoying the freedom provided by Israeli laws, and the security provided by the Israeli army really ought to be ashamed to blather like this.

[Ariel Sokolovsky]

B"H

All this spitting on Israel would be in sufficiently bad taste for a Jew in Galus, but a Jew who spends his time living in the Israeli state, enjoying the freedom provided by Israeli laws, and the security provided by the Israeli army really ought to be ashamed to blather like this.

Posted by: David | January 11, 2008 at 08:11 AM

Dear David!
I admire your sense of humor.
Thank you for enumerating the reasons justifying Rabbi Wolpe's remarks.
No peace , no liberty, no security, no equal justice under the law as bad or close to some communist dictatorship.
Yet there is a Judge and there is justice:
see the video here: http://rebbegod.blogspot.com/
2007/06/yesh-din-veyesh-dayan.html

And hopefully robbery, destruction of families continues terrorist attacks broken government promises etc. towards Jews living in the Holy Land will not be allowed to happen again:
http://moshiachtv.blogspot.com/
2008/01/never-again.html

The only reason the government of heretics can be allowed to exist is if they still have some common sense left and defend the people if it does exactly the opposite for years it is not any better than British mandatory government and all methods to stop this nonsense are justified according to Torah law as long as they have a good chance of success and not the opposite.

PS. Shmarya Rabbi Wolpe is from the descendants of the Alter Rebbe and you surely remember that he two was accused of undermining the Russian government by
helping Jews in the holy land which was under Turkish rule http://www.chabad.org/
library/article_cdo/aid/215527/jewish/Supporting-Israel-in-1798.htm

It is very ironic that now one of his descendants is accused of undermining goyish puppet government in the banana republic in the holy land. G-d willing R. Wolpe and not this evil post-Zionist dictatorship will remain standing.

[Paul Freedman]

Shmarya: I agree 100% myself with you on this analysis--these guys engage in metaphorical "pilpul" to "prove" that this or that person is a "traitor" or "criminal"--but it ends up that the "crime" is not, at end, a crime as defined in any sense by the legal code of the actual State of israel but a theological crime as defined by whatever religious "jukiim" are up the nose of this or that faction of neo-Bar-Kochbians. It may be (and we probably disagree) that the politicization of radical messianism will force a break that theological radicalization did not.

[Paul Freedman]

But I don't know how Israeli law defines "incitement"--there are free speech issues involved in criminalizing statements of intent that fall short of actual calls to action--say handbills announcing formation of a militia and calling for purchase of firearms, etc.

Personally, I don't think we know what was going on inside the brainpan of the Rebbe in his declining years--but I continue to disagree with you that the Messianic conflicts, teases, and uncertainties of the Rebbe have been converted to a messianic certainty today in the community that is hidden for fund-raising purposes.

Once the guys in the yellow Caddies start riding shotgun with blackmarket Uziis across the byways of the West Bank the status quo will have to adjust, one way or the other.

[MP]

Scott,
The lie about the 'fund-raising' conspiracy of hiding the 'true' belief and the idea that the rest of us secretly agree with the meshichists is the thing that you are really not going to be forgiven for. You are slandering tens of thousands of people who hold no such beliefs. We do not hold it to be theological certainty that the Rebbe is still Moshiach after this passing, nor do we have any idea how the coming of Moshiach will happen. The meshichisten have taken some esoteric ideas and turned them into a crass, vulgar, primitive and, most importantly, untrue cult. But in the process of to distancing myself from these people, I do not have to make any declarative statements of the kind that you or ilk want to hear. Chassidim do not say, "Rebbe is d...". See Kesubos 104a - כל מאן דאמר נח נפשיה דר', ידקר בחרב - Nor do I wish to say, "Dovid hamelech is dead, never mind the "chai vekayam'"... That you turn this spiritual sensitivity into a 'proof' that people like me actually agree with the meshichisten, puts you in the same category with them...

[Yochanan Lavie]

Paul: At least the yellow is highly visible color. I'd be more alarmed if they were camoflague.

[Paul Freedman]

YL: :-) LOL!!!

MP: I myself have never accepted that "fund raising" is the deal here and think that new models will emerge re: outreach, communal financing, career options etc. And I woudn't expect you to even second my secular belief that the Rebbe's Messiah Now! campaign was a mistake. But so far AFIK Chabad has not found a way to programatically confront the radical, political-nationalist strain of messianic expectation outside the precincts of 770 although crude Elohistiim is disavowed.

[MP]

Paul,
No we have not yet found a way to do anything with the radicals... But as they become more radical, it will be easier to do, I suspect.

[MP]

Paul,
No we have not yet found a way to do anything with the radicals... But as they become more radical, it will be easier to do, I suspect.

[Tarshisha]

A Chabad spokesman in Israel, Moni Ender, lashed out at Wolpe for his comments.

“This is not Lubavitch. Rabbi Wolpe is talking by himself. We have nothing to do with him. He makes dirt for Chabad,” Ender said.

From Yesterday Forward

“This is not Lubavitch. Rabbi Wolpe is talking by himself. We have nothing to do with him. He makes dirt for Chabad,” Ender said.

tks, tarshish. this is true and a predictable response. it's not that they think any different than him. they just don't say it, in order not to hit the many donors that are sold on them being angels who wouldn't donate to erev rov. gut woch!

[Yosef ben Matitya]

actually, it's not a bad idea. he can go ahead and jump from a cliff.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

"by the Israeli army really ought to be ashamed to blather like this."

there is no shame, david.
his sect, has the gall of offering paid courses here to "explain" to people, "what does israel mean to you?".
they collect money from unsuspecting people in order to brainwash them, and slandering the israeli government, the founders of the state and many of those jews who populate it. rubbish!

[Archie Bunker]

http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/011008/njChabadRabbisRip.html

Chabad rabbis rip ‘gallows’ talk

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

January 11, 2008

Local Chabad rabbis are distancing themselves from the comments of an Israeli Chabad rabbi who last week said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other Israeli officials should be “hanged from the gallows.”

The remarks by Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe led to widespread condemnation in Israel and calls on the attorney general to open an investigation into whether the remarks constitute incitement. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America issued a statement, saying the Jan. 1 remarks “are beyond the pale of legitimate democratic protest and have no basis in Jewish law or hashkafa [philosophy].”

The remarks also shone an unwelcome light on Chabad-Lubavitch, the hasidic movement perhaps best known in the United States for its outreach to non-Orthodox Jews in suburban communities.

Local Chabad leaders insisted Wolpe spoke for no one but himself.

“I find that totally unacceptable language for a Chabad representative,” said Rabbi Mendy Herson of Chabad Jewish Center of Basking Ridge. “Whatever one’s views on Prime Minister Olmert’s strategy, there are many concerned Jews who would find troubling that kind of language. In his mind, he must have seen himself as an individual, but not as a Chabad representative.

“I can’t believe the rebbe ever allowing it,” added Herson, referring to the late Chabad leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Wolpe made his remarks in Tel Aviv, addressing supporters of SOS Israel, an organization he heads that opposes the transfer of parts of the West Bank or Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority.

“The terrible traitor, [Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert, who gives these Nazis weapons, who gives money, who frees their murderous terrorists, this man, like Ariel Sharon, collaborates with the Nazis,” he said.

He continued, “[Olmert’s punishment] and the punishment of [Vice Premier] Haim Ramon, and the punishment of [Foreign Minister] Tzipi Livni, and all these people, like [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak, should be to hang from the gallows.”

Wolpe later said he meant the Israeli leaders deserved execution not by vigilantes but under the legal system for collaborating with Israel’s enemies.

Most of the local Chabad rabbis contacted said they heard about the statement, widely reported in the Israeli press, first from New Jersey Jewish News. They had not been questioned by supporters regarding Wolpe’s comments.

“It’s a bizarre statement to make. I totally disassociate myself from any such statement. It’s just irresponsible, said Rabbi Asher Herson of the Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey in Rockaway. “Obviously, I have concerns about the decisions being made now, but that kind of statement is off the wall.”

Wolpe is well known as a right-wing firebrand in Israel as well as a representative of a faction within the Chabad movement that believes Schneerson to be the Messiah.

Just last week, New York State’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of two of Chabad’s three main bodies in its legal battle with a Lubavitch congregation representing the “messianist” faction. The organizations won the right to eject the congregation from the worldwide headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Rabbi Moshe Herson of the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown did not return phone calls on the matter.

[Dr Fred]

Give the man a pointed stick and a one way ticket to Gaza.No 72 virgins; chulent and herring will have to do.

[Lev]

They fundraise and...it becomes difficult.
BTW, guys, do you know that pro-Jewish Russian Nationalists(sounds like very hot ice but this people really exist, see ari.ru, had English page) REALLY CONVINCED that the curse of the likes of Wolpe/o is what put Sharon in coma for evacuation of Gaza, and they hope that Russian wizards will put a similar curse on the plunderers of 90s.

[Anon]

--only the coming of the messiah can save us, not the High Court (of Justice), which is collaborating with the Arabs--

Doesn't Wolpe believe the Rebbe is the Messiah and didn't he come (and leave) alread?