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8.22.2006

ZIONISM / ANTI-----aguda ,satmar & brisk

The positions of the Satmar Rav and Rav Aharon Kotler, and the Brisker Rav ZTL are all Divrei Elokim Chaim. At Rav Aharon Kotler's funeral in Lakewood, the Satmar Rav gave the most amazing hesped, and when the Satmar Rav was offered the job of Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem (after the petirah of Rav Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld), he declined, and when they asked him for a recommendation, he told them to ask the Brisker Rav. They surely disagreed - very strongly sometimes - but they did agree that they are all authentic Gedolei Yisroel.

As far as majority, it’s impossible to determine. According to the Satmar Rav, the majority was on his side (!). He writes this in Vayoel Moshe. (He said that the Belzer Rebbe R. Yisachar Dov, for example, is equal to many of his opponents put together.) Part of this dispute is who counts as a godol and who’s bigger than who to begin with (did you include, Rav Yehuda Greenwald ZTL, for instance, in the cheshbon?). It’s impossible to determine majority here once you bring in the quality factor, which you can’t avoid.

He also says that the principal of "rov gedolim" does not apply in such cases, for various halachic reasons.

Second, even within a given "camp" there are disagreements regarding various issues. The Agudah is not a monolithic entity. Many Gedolim disagreed with others within the Agudah, and what the Agudah decides to do when the dust clears does not mean that all their Gedolim agreed with it.

Sometimes, things are done in any political organization, the Agudah included, that is explicitly against the wishes of their Gedolim. The Satmar Rav actually mentions this - that the acts of the Agudah do not necessarily represent the opinion of their own Gedolim - as a reason not to consider those Gedolim as automatically supporting the Agudah.

You have to consult the Gedolim themselves to see what they say, and to determine if their position has not been distorted or ignored by some laypeople (see also Letter of Rav chaim Ozer, printed in the back of the Igros Chazon Ish, the he learned from "experience" that in organizations, the organization do not always follow the wishes of their Moetzes. Rav Shach also has a letter to this effect, almost duplicating, word for word, Rav Chaim Ozer's statements.)

In such cases, you should follow your Rebbeim. If you are in doubt as to who you should have as your Rebbeim, then you are fully entitled to follow those who find more favor in your eyes. You have to choose somehow, and its better to choose based on who you hold is bigger, or more correct, rather than whatever the newspapers say you should do.

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