Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., December 07, 2008 Kislev 10, 5769 | | Israel Time: 08:43 (EST+7)
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Renegade Chabad rabbi 'right of Kahane' plans run for Knesset
By Nadav Shragai
Tags: israel news, meir kahane

Meet Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, head of the World Headquarters to Save the People and Land of Israel (SOS Israel), director of the Chabad educational institutions in Kiryat Gat, author of more than 40 books on a wide range of topics in rabbinical law and Torah and the man who a few days ago said that "the state of Israel is the enemy of the Jewish people," before softening his stance a bit. He is further to the right than the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, a person who thinks Ariel Sharon is "Haman" and a "false Messiah" and that the foreign minister is "the second Isabella," perhaps the successor to the first Isabella, who is credited with the Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews from Spain.

Now Wolpe, one of the heads of the Messianic faction of Chabad, is registering a new political party, "Eretz Yisrael Shelanu - A United Jewish Party for the Wholeness of the Torah, the Land and the People."

If he makes it past the Central Elections Committee - Peace Now has already filed a request to disqualify him - and if he survives, politically, the police investigation on suspicions of incitement, evasion of military service and disobeying orders for having given cash prizes to families of soldiers who refused to take part in the evacuation of Jews - we shall see him running for the Knesset, perhaps with Baruch Marzel of the Jewish Front, the successor to the banned Kach movement.
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Wolpe's style and his path are not exactly the official Chabad movement's cup of tea, and in the past Chabad spokesmen have come out against him and have expressed reservations about his way and his style. But Wolpe, together with his colleague in the United States, Rabbi Yekutiel Rapp, is gaining more and more popularity, especially among the public that has decided to divorce itself from the state of Israel.

Wolpe himself talks about this openly in his book "Between Light and Darkness." In it, he calls upon the religious Zionists to disengage themselves from the state, because there is no proof that it is "the start of the Redemption," and proposes relating to the state as though it were British rule, as something technical. "Do not recite the prayer for the welfare of the state or the Hallel [prayer of thanksgiving] on Independence Day," he wrote. "We are in the diaspora, and we are anticipating the kingdom of the House of David."

Wolpe believes that the power to carry out the disengagement was given to Sharon by the same public that decided that the state of Israel is its state and that the government of Israel headed by Sharon was its government, the same public that blessed him from the depths of its heart every Sabbath before an open Torah scroll as a part of the prayer for the welfare of the state.

"All the limits have been reached," wrote Wolpe. "Therefore the holy one, blessed be he, has set over us a king as harsh as Haman. The holy one, blessed be he, is expecting us to internalize the truth that the establishment of the democratic state has nothing to do with the redemption, and in fact it is entirely a rebellion against the God of Israel, the Torah of Israel, the people of Israel and the land of Israel. Only when we stop believing in the sanctity of the state and its institutions will we be able to plead from the depths of our hearts: Speedily cause the offspring of David, thy servant, to flourish, and let his radiance be exalted by thy salvation."

In contrast to the prevailing perception in religious Zionism, Wolpe believes that Zionism and the state have in fact distanced "the beginning of the Redemption" and it appears that this was manifested most clearly at one of the SOS Israel assemblies, when a large audience sang the Neturei Karta anthem with Ariel Zilber: "We do not recognize the heretic Zionist regime and its laws do not apply to us."

Wolpe and his organization are the ones behind the giving of cash to soldiers and their families who refuse to take part in uprooting outposts in the West Bank and Jewish areas in Hebron. Wolpe is also the one who is behind the continuing campaign Yesh din veyesh dayan - "There is a law and there is a judge," the SOS Israel version of "Crime and Punishment." The crime is "the crime of the disengagement" and the "expulsion," and the punishment takes different forms: ousting, resignation, illness, a commission of inquiry, conviction of a crime or just plain political failure.

The list of the victims of the "disengagement curse" has been composed by Wolpe and his colleagues and more than a million copies have been distributed in synagogues around the country.

The list starts with Sharon, who has sunk into a coma in the wake of a stroke, goes on to his son Omri, who has served a prison term, enumerates a long series of public figures who were involved in the disengagement and have been harmed in one way or another and ends with the last of the afflicted: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

In recent years, Wolpe has become the bluntest spokesman of the extreme right, though his recent remarks about the state of Israel as "the enemy of the people" roused the ire of Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, the head of the Nir Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba, who has protested strongly against him.

Wolpe sees the late Lubavitch Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson as the messiah who will be revealed in the future. Of United States President George W. Bush and Olmert he has said in the past that they are bringing about a Holocaust. In his opinion, the media are serving the enemy; the presence of Shas in Sharon's government was "a crime that will never be forgiven until the end of all generations.

"Anyone who gives weapons to the Palestinians is tantamount to a spiller of blood and a collaborator with the enemy and transgresses the prohibition thou shalt not stand in thy neighbor's blood," he says.

Wolpe might not get into the Knesset, but his influence among groups like the hilltop youth and disengagers is increasing. Alongside rabbinical figures like Rabbi Yitzhak Greenberg and Rabbi David Dudkevitz, Wolpe is acquiring a position of honor for himself.
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  1.   Rabbi Wolpe is not a politician 04:53  |  Jack 02/12/08
  2.   You call Volpe anti zionist? But the State itself is anti zionist 05:08  |  Chris Goldberg 02/12/08
  3.   An equally extreme opponent to fight against extreme Peace Now 05:39  |  Jon 02/12/08
  4.   Wolpe Anti-Zionist? 05:51  |  Dovy 02/12/08
  5.   Haaretz thank you for this article. Wolpo is absolutely right 06:43  |  John Nichols 02/12/08
  6.   Given the pro enemy Israel government, he is absolutly right! 06:44  |  Alan Davis 02/12/08
  7.   Which sane gov. releases terrorists? Rabbi, we all support you 06:46  |  Charles Edwards 02/12/08
  8.   This gov. arms terrorists, right? So why complain about the Rabbi 06:49  |  James Hawley 02/12/08
  9.   When will Israelis rebel against a state endangering their lives? 06:51  |  John Fielding 02/12/08
  10.   Somebody has to do something about radical left-wing fanatics 06:52  |  Ari 02/12/08
  11.   Haaretz, the truth hurts, right? Thank you for this article 06:52  |  Sandra Bishops 02/12/08
  12.   Prisoner Release a `Spit in the Face` of Mumbai Terror Victims 07:01  |  Dovid Bloch 02/12/08
  13.   Lubavitcher Rebbe 07:14  |  Translator 02/12/08
  14.   Article or Editorial? 07:33  |  Garry 02/12/08
  15.   We national-religious voters won`t vote for them this time either 07:44  |  Avi 02/12/08
  16.   Thank you Haaretz- beautiful article 07:45  |  Prof. Morris Cohen 02/12/08
  17.   Being pro the land and against the state is just dumb 07:53  |  Zev Cohen 02/12/08
  18.   Wolpe`s a real meshuginnah 08:24  |  Tzodek 02/12/08
  19.   The state versus God 08:42  |  Moshe 02/12/08
  20.   Meretz Has Called PM Sharon worst things than Haman! 08:52  |  Baruch Gold 02/12/08
  21.   Renegade??? 08:56  |  Prof. Norman Landow 02/12/08
  22.   What I always wanted to know about Israel......... 09:53  |  Swiss (Dino) 02/12/08
  23.   Sick of You Arm-Chair Right-Wingers 09:53  |  Raffi 02/12/08
  24.   At least he`ll put some colour into the place, cheer it up 09:56  |  Harvey 02/12/08
  25.   Norman Landow and the Rebbes teachings 10:36  |  Zev Chohen 02/12/08
  26.   Keep religion separate from government, with religious freedom 11:03  |  Ivar 02/12/08
  27.   At least he`s not left of Hamas like yours 11:21  |  name calling 02/12/08
  28.   "in the past Chabad spokesmen have come out against him" 11:51  |  PETER SM 02/12/08
  29.   Ironically..he may be right (not only right wing) 12:26  |  Meir Gush Etzion 02/12/08
  30.   LANDOWYou are an expert on who understands the Rebbe best because 12:27  |  PETER SM 02/12/08
  31.   Hetzlacha Rabbi Wolpe - Mashiach Now!! 13:08  |  Allon 02/12/08
  32.   Free and democratic elections 13:14  |  Motic 02/12/08
  33.   This is uniquely jewish 13:22  |  Axel 02/12/08
  34.   "Alongside .. Rabbi Yitzhak Greenberg" It`s Ginsberg,Einsteen 13:48  |  Siggie 02/12/08
  35.   Right of Kahane? 13:59  |  Mark Lincoln 02/12/08
  36.   Thank You Haaretz 14:20  |  Tehillah 02/12/08
  37.   Dov Wolpe is wrong 14:46  |  yaacov 02/12/08
  38.   Right meets Left 15:08  |  sh 02/12/08
  39.   Renegade - PEACE NOW 15:24  |  George Kaplan 02/12/08
  40.   A;as there is much truth in Rabbi Wolpe`s words. 15:49  |  Chaim 02/12/08
  41.   The Electoral Threshold 16:34  |  ML Bentovim 02/12/08
  42.   Lets hope and pray he gets top job, G-d knows we need it. 16:55  |  Harvey 02/12/08
  43.   Kol Hakovod to Rabbi Volpe 18:41  |  Nachman 02/12/08
  44.   GO FOR IT 18:57  |  zionist forever 02/12/08
  45.   Protect the Land and People of Israel 19:17  |  Avi 02/12/08
  46.   Rabbi Kahane 20:00  |  Connie 02/12/08
  47.   Swiis Dino, response 20:40  |  judith 02/12/08
  48.   Not that odd Axel 21:14  |  Mark Lincoln 02/12/08
  49.   Whatever else, on 1 point Rav Wolpe is correct? 21:19  |  bat yam 02/12/08
  50.   I wonder... 21:24  |  Colin Wright 02/12/08
  51.   #23 Raffi: thanks for talking sense 22:15  |  Sam 02/12/08
  52.   #23 Raffi. You don`t protect Israelis by appeasing murderers. 22:25  |  Chaim 02/12/08
  53.   # 47 judith 22:26  |  Swiss (Dino) 02/12/08
  54.   Somebody has to do something about left-wing radicals anarchists 23:36  |  Bennie 02/12/08
  55.   Bar Kokhba,Sabbatai Zevi,Abulafia, Schneerson..... 23:45  |  examiner 02/12/08
  56.   I WAS WITH HIM UNTIL.... 23:57  |  B. Roffman 02/12/08
  57.   Evil 01:28  |  Baz Mann 03/12/08
  58.   Wolpe blasphemes against the Lord 03:31  |  Isaiah 03/12/08
  59.   Right, Left, Either Believe Jews Have a Right to Survive or Don`t 03:49  |  UsedToPostHere 03/12/08
  60.   Profs Cohen and Landow 03:53  |  Steve 03/12/08
  61.   Wolpe: solution to left-wingers who would destroy Israel 03:53  |  Ari 03/12/08
  62.   Of All Places..... 06:08  |  Gray 03/12/08
  63.   RE: Colin 06:32  |  judith 03/12/08
  64.   G_d Bless Rabbi Wolpe 10:06  |  Matt 05/12/08
  65.   Good luck 09:01  |  Magnus K. 06/12/08
  66.   He get`s my vote ! 13:43  |  Michael 06/12/08
  67.   Shame on #56 21:03  |  Leibel Reuvenovitch 06/12/08
  68.   Everybody, but Abulafia 01:01  |  Zev Davis 07/12/08
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