Sunday, July 6, 2014

The Sins of Satmar


Sir, - One of the cardinal challenges with which Judaism confronts Man is the dictate of imitatio dei: to serve God by imitating His ways. The Psalmist describes Him as "Healer of the broken-hearted and the One Who binds up their sorrows."

As one who purports to be a rabbinical leader of a large Hasidic sect, not only has the Satmar Rebbe failed to follow these rather clear postulates, but he has chosen to add grief and pain to the shattered hearts of those holy and awesome families in the midst of their mourning by ascribing to them the blame for the death of their sons.

Instead of calling on these princely couples to do tshuva for sending their sons to learn Torah in the heartland of Jewish history, it would behoove the Rebbe to consider his own need of tshuva for pursuing a warped and decayed doctrine that denies sanctity and merit to God's miracle that is the State of Israel due to its not being established by the Messiah.

I fear that the dreadful and divisive statements of the Satmar Rebbe, when the entire nation is prayerfully weeping over its fallen sons, will give cause to the Messiah to further delay his long-awaited arrival.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Flickr user diluvi]