Jewish Anti-Zionism as Political Theology

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Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, one of the most celebrated Hasidic masters of the twentieth century, is known not only for founding the world’s largest Hasidic dynasty, but also for his strongly held anti-Zionist views. His work articulates a Jewish political theology against Zionism built on the foundations of traditional Jewish sources, and its influence remains strong within the ultra-Orthodox Satmar community and beyond. Dense with references to rabbinic, medieval, and modern sources, Teitelbaum’s writing is notoriously challenging even for scholars of Torah to parse. In this volume, Shaul Magid provides a richly annotated translation of selections from the books Vayoel Moshe and ‘Al Ha-Geulah ve 'al Ha-Temurah, making Teitelbaum’s major political writings accessible to English-speaking readers for the first time.

Shaul Magid is Professor of Modern Judaism in Residence at Harvard Divinity School and author of nine books, most recently Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical and The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance, and over two hundred scholarly and popular articles.