Religion Magazine

The Satmar Rebbe Can Come Visit Israel. Or Not. Who Cares?

By Gldmeier @gldmeier
The Satmar Rebbe has come to Israel.
And I don't care.
The Haredi press is making a big deal about this, and the Haredi community is talking about it, and debating the visit, non-stop. Who is going out to greet him, who is not, is it good he is coming, is it bad, is it true to his ideology or is he selling out, is he benefiting form the State of Israel or is he not... blah blah blah...
Some people like to keep fighting the battles of history. The Satmar Rebbes lost their fight. The Jewish community overwhelmingly supports Israel, in one capacity or another. The vast majority of Haredi Jewry supports the State of Israel in some capacity, whether a lot or a little. The Satmar ideology is irrelevant today, except to the tiny number of Satmar chassidim out there, and even to many of them it is irrelevant.
Many of us like to argue about Israel as if the issues of 70 years ago, or 100 years ago, or 50 years ago are still relevant today. They are not. The fights are history, as are the ideological opinions of Satmar.
the Satmar Rebbe can come and visit and spend his good money in Israel while denying he is supporting the State if that is what makes him happy. Or he can stay home in New York and visit London instead when he wants to travel. I really don't care. He and his opinions are irrelevant to almost everybody. He is just another tourist.
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