Well, If The Mayor’s Gonna Suspend One Chaplain…
In all the kerfuffle over a Muslim chaplain’s remarks about Zionism, it’s reasonable to wonder if there are chaplains other than Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil who might maintain the same controversial views about Zionism. I still haven’t seen that “Zionists in the media” quote put into context (which gives you a sense of how reactionary the reporting has been), so it’s hard to say just what his views on Zionism are, but I think we’ve got a rough idea.
So, if one’s looking for similar ideas among New York City’s chaplains, where does one go?
To the fellow imams? Maybe.
To the Catholics? No, you’re getting cold.
Okay, how about the Jews? Precisely.
Of the six rabbis employed by the Department of Correction, three showed up last week to support Jalil (the other three were said to be supportive, just too busy with Purim). It’s predictable that the press in attendance didn’t ask the rabbis for their own views about Zionism, even though one, Rabbi Leib Glanz, is a Satmar Hasid — a sect that is vehemently anti-Zionist. It’s pretty tough to find good information about most Satmar stuff on the Web, but if you search around enough, you find that, for one, Glanz is a leader of the United Talmudic Academy, and, for another:
The Satmarim, who are probably the largest Hasidic denomination today, aren’t as aggressive about their anti-Zionism as the Neturei Karta, but they’re every bit as vehement. When I taught part-time at the United Talmudic Academy (the Satmar day school system) during the early 1990s, the two worst insults the children knew were “Lubavitcher” and “Zionist” in that order, and when they went to visit their families in Israel, they flew TWA rather than El Al so that the “Zionim” wouldn’t get their money. They were also quite self-conscious about refusing to buy Israeli products; on one occasion when I walked into class with an orange, one of the students made me promise that it was from Florida rather than Israel. (It was an Israeli orange, but I thought it the better part of valor not to say so.)
March 28th, 2006 at 11:24 am
Like most things, this actually more subtle and nuanced. There are plenty of Satmars living in Eretz Yisrael. They don’t eat specially imported Florida oranges. They eat the local oranges and pay for them with Israeli Shekels. Same thing when they buy gasoline. I don’t know about the background of the Muslim chaplain. But the overwhelming majority of Stamars do not endorse anti-semites just because they are anti-zionist also.
March 28th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
What on earth is “Satmarim”? That’s a new one.
I don’t think the Imam was discipilned because of his personal views or buying habits.
March 28th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
Michoel - Read the post. It’s not about Satmars in Israel, but about those like Glanz.
March 28th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
The Satmars in Israel drink from the same ideological well as the Satmars in the US. And when the Satmars in the US travel to Israel to visit their cousins, they also eat Jaffa Israeli produce.
March 28th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
The Politicker’s Satmar Affairs Advisor, Isac Weinberger, tells me the anti-Zionist Jews I met on the steps of City Hall that day were not in fact Satmar, but another group. As for the Satmar, “They’re anti-Zionist, but not that militant.” I will, I swear, get this all straight one day.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:03 am
The Satmar Rebbe, zt”l, felt that it was an insult to the holiness of fruit from the Holy Land to bring it to Chutz La’Aretz. You can find this psak in Shu”t Divrei Yoel. He based this psak on many sources. Most poskim only hold this to apply for the produce of the Sabbatical year, however some hold that the holiness of the fruit of the Holy Land applies every year, and thus forbid the exportation of E. Israeli produce. That Satmar Rebbe, zt”l, held that this was the main reason to forbid the export of E. Israeli produce, and often downplayed the anti-zionist reason.