[Avodah] letter of RSRH

[Michael Makovi]

> BTW, I get the feeling that quite a few passionate devotees of RSRH have no
> idea that his Kanous included Zionism and wouldn't be surprised to learn
> that if push came to shove many of them would dump RSRH - rather than their
> own Zionist hashkofos.
>
> R' SBA

I think even more of his followers are active devotees of his Zionism
too. (Actually, I wonder if were he alive today, he might simply be
the very mainstream Agudat Yisrael/non-Zionist; given that his
son-in-law and the descendants thereof were extremely involved in the
Agudah, this seems like a safe assumption until someone takes the time
to do a detailed analysis.)

In any case, his Zionism wasn't a promiment part of his hashkafa
(IMHO), but neither did he make it a secret. His Horeb on brachot,
Chumash on the birkat hamazon pasuk, and Siddur on the fourth bracha
(all three discussing bar Kochba) all make it very clear that he
eschewed practical human action to bring geula. I simply say, "No one
[even Rav Hirsch] is perfect". ;)

Mikha'el Makovi