Page 13 - HaMizrachi Tisha B'av 5782 USA

MOVING BEYOND THE

CHAREDI–DATI LEUMI DIVIDE

An Introduction by Rabbi Aron White

On September 28, 1971, a Mizrachi-Hapoel HaMizrachi declaration signed by over 800 rabbis
was published in Der Tog-Morgen Journal, a Yiddish New York newspaper, calling on American
Jews to join Mizrachi and support its many schools and kibbutzim in Israel.

The signatories predictably included Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Rabbi Aharon Soloveitchik
and Rabbi Joseph Lookstein, the leading Religious Zionist rabbis of the era. Younger rabbis who
would later gain great prominence, including Rabbis Norman Lamm, Aharon Lichtenstein and
Shlomo Riskin, also signed the declaration. But the letter also included some surprising signatories.
Rabbi Naftali Neuberger, the Executive Director of the Ner Yisroel Rabbinical College for over six
decades, joined the declaration, as well as Rabbi Eliyahu Machlis, a leading figure within Torah
UMesorah and head of the Bensonhurst Vaad HaRabanim.
What led rabbis from a wide spectrum of Orthodoxy to join together in support of Mizrachi?
Though we cannot speak for those who are no longer alive, the declaration itself may hold
the answer. It called upon the Jewish community to support Torah education, fund religious
communities in Israel, and fight for legislation in the Knesset that would follow halachah. What
Orthodox rabbi – whether Religious Zionist or Charedi – wouldn’t sign such a declaration?

In this edition of HaMizrachi, we step back to reflect on the complex relationship between the
Religious Zionist and Charedi communities. Though our communities differ in significant ways,
we share far more in common as Orthodox Jews committed to Torah and mitzvot. Our writers,
both Religious Zionist and Charedi, honestly and openly explore these differences and what our
communities can learn from one another.

In the spirit of Tisha B’Av, may we learn to disagree with mutual respect and love, and do our
part to speed the coming of the redemption.

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