JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Satmars for Obama’s Middle East policy

By Eric Fingerhut · July 8, 2009

The mayor of the largest all-Jewish town in the United States has sent a letter to President Obama praising his "noble efforts" to stop the "senseless bloodshed" in the Middle East." Kiryas Joel, N.Y. mayor Abraham Wieder is a member of the anti-Zionist Satmar Chasidic movement, though, so the opinions expressed in the letter don't apply to most others in the wider Jewish community. Wieder, whose town has a population of 20,000 Jews, writes:

 You have set out to stop the senseless bloodshed in the Middle East and to bring equitable and lasting peace to millions who have sadly never known it. As an American of the Jewish faith, and as mayor of the largest village inhabited by Orthodox Jews, I am writing to support your noble efforts. ...

Some Israeli politicians resist relinquishing any part of the holy land claiming religious prohibitions. This is wholly fallacious! In fact, after the destruction of Israel in 69 CE, Jews were commanded to await divine redemption and prohibited from conquering the land. To this day Jews yearn and pray for the divinely inspired return to Jerusalem. Israel retained its Almighty-bestowed holiness despite almost two millennia of Jewish Diaspora and despite being rules by a plethora of empires."

The modern State of Israel stands in contravention of the Almighty’s prohibition. Its effort to cloak itself in religion as a means of continuing the contravention of the Almighty is laughable if it weren’t so sad. If it seeks righteousness, it should cease sacrificing human life so flippantly, for the sake of land, in contravention of the Almighty.

The full letter can be read here. The group's press release is after the jump:

 
Mayor of Jewish Town Sends Letter of Support to President for Middle East Peace EffortMonroe, NY - July 7, 2009: Abraham Wieder, mayor of Kiryas Joel, New York, wrote a letter last week to President Barack Obama, praising his “noble efforts” to stop the “senseless bloodshed” in the Middle East.

The letter was written in reaction to the anti-Obama rhetoric of some religious pro-settler organizations, which have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks as the Obama administration continues to push the Israeli government to curb settlement growth in the West Bank as a prerequisite for a peace settlement.

Wieder’s letter reads in part, “Life is Judaism’s most precious commodity; its preservation and the prevention of bloodshed are its more central tenet. When life is in jeopardy all commandments that guide Jewish life must be set aside in order to preserve human life. My heart therefore aches over the endless loss of innocent life just to hold on to lands inhabited by one’s enemies. I therefore deeply respect and support you and pray that divine providence guides your every move.

“Some Israeli politicians resist relinquishing any part of the holy land claiming religious prohibitions. This is wholly fallacious! In fact, after the destruction of Israel in 69 CE, Jews were commanded to await divine redemption and prohibited from conquering the land. To this day Jews yearn and pray for the divinely inspired return to Jerusalem… The modern State of Israel stands in contravention of the Almighty’s prohibition. Its effort to cloak itself in religion as a means of continuing the contravention of the Almighty is laughable if it weren’t so sad.”
 
“This important letter comes at a time when many Jews in our community are upset over the militant Zionist groups who appear to be representing Orthodox Jews,” said Rabbi Dovid Shlome Eckstein, a rabbi representing the organization True Torah Jews and a close associate of Mr. Wieder. “Our mayor is doing his job in expressing our sentiments, and we hope the President gets the message.”    

Kiryas Joel, http://www.kjvoice.com, with a population of 20,000, is the largest all-Jewish town in the United States.

The acquisition of 800 acres of woods in 1974 in the town of Monroe in Orange County marked the beginning of Kiryas Joel. Leaders of the Williamsburg community set out to build housing for some of the lower income families in Wiliamsburg, whose large families required more space than the Brooklyn community afforded them. Most of the elderly residents in Kiryas Joel are survivors of the Holocaust, having escaped death at the hands of the Nazis.