Shaul Magid, "The Political Theology of R. Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe"

Pearl and Jack Mandel Lecture in Jewish Studies
It is well-known that after the establishment of the state of Israel, Yoel Teitelbaum became the most prominent spokesperson for ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionism. Few, however, have carefully scrutinized his voluminous writings on the subject. In this lecture I argue that Teitelbaum was actually a pre-millennial messianist and had a well-developed political theology that placed Zionism as the final test for Jews to overcome in order for messiah to arrive. Zionism was, for him, an anti-Christ. I distinguish between his two major works on the subject: Vayoel Moshe, a halakhic work written in the 1950s and 'Al Ha-Geulah ve 'al ha-Temura (On Redemption and Exchange) written in response to the Six-Day War.