Five Years Later: What Has Eretz Hakodesh Done?

Five Years Later: What has Eretz Hakodesh Done?

Read this very detailed 2 part article from harehbetzba.com disecting all the promises that were made by Eretz Hakodesh how they would “protect the Kedusha of Eretz Yisroel.” from the threat of the Reform movement pertaining to the kosel, Geirus, Shmittah, The Draft and more. The articles include letters and references from gedolei yisroel.

Part 1 HERE

Part 2 HERE

The idea of a frum party entering the World Zionist Organization (WZO) was first floated in 2019. It was rejected by dozens of Roshei Yeshiva because “no matter the supposed financial gain, it is forbidden to support, join, and identify with an organization whose purpose is to remove Torah as the foundation of the Jewish people. Joining the WZO is an immense Chillul Hashem, and by doing so, Eretz Hakodesh rendered itself illegitimate from its inception” (Here, also see here from talmidim of R’ Aharon Kotler, and here for background on Eretz Hakodesh and statements from previous Gedolim).

But never-the-less they pushed forward with the promise that they would “protect the Kedusha of Eretz Yisroel.” Repeating again and again that this isn’t something they want to do, but something they have to do. In a powerful letter responding to claims that R’ Chaim Kanievsky had permitted voting in the WZO as a horoas shoh in order to “save Kedoshay Yisroel”, a claim that was obviously rejected by the above mentioned rabbonim and roshei yeshiva, R’ Aharon Feldman writes: “Protecting kodshey Yisroel means stopping the assaults on Chareidi Judaism by the Israeli government in matters of the Kosel, geyrus, marriage, recognition of Reform etc. But this is an incorrect presentation of the issue; they will not save kodshey yisroel. . . This is nothing less than a fantasy. . . The advocates of Eretz Hakodesh have misled the Chareidi public, including several prominent Rabbonim, with a campaign designed to convince them to follow their fantasy,” (see the full letter here). Now we can look back on the previous five years and see exactly what a fantasy it was..........

In Conclusion

The roshei yeshivos and rabbonim who opposed Eretz Hakodesh did so afilu im timtze lomer, even if everything they said was true. They said that we are forbidden to join an organization created specifically to redefine the Jews as a nationalist political group and not as the Am H-shem. We are forbidden from signing a declaration that the state of Israel is central to the existence of Klal Yisroel. And we are forbidden to join umbrella groups that include the Reform and Conservative. This is all even if Eretz Hakodesh would actually have been able to use the vast resources of the WZO to accomplish all of the things above. As R’ Elchonon said in the name of the Chofetz Chaim (1 & 2), ““Better for the majority of yeshivas to close ח”ו than to join [The Jewish Agency].”

But, with hindsight, it is clear that this is not a case of simple people making a seemingly reasonable decision to advance Torah values from within an otherwise unappealing organization and the rabbonim coming to remind them of the correct Torah hashkofah and historical precedent. This interpretation is, as R’ Aharon Feldman said, just a fantasy. They’re not stopping the Reform, they’re not saving the Kosel, they’re not making all the farmers in Eretz Yisroel keep shmittah, and they’re not doing anything to prevent actual dangers to frum Jews. Were they overly optimistic? Was it a lack of skillful askonus? No, to quote R’ Aharon Feldman again, “The advocates of Eretz Hakodesh have misled the Charedi public, including several prominent rabbonim.” And when we see their deception in one area, their dubious claims of rabbonim who supported them only to pull back their support shortly afterwards becomes all the more understandable.

So, what have they been doing for the last five years? Their successes might be more telling than their failures source