Jewish Anti-Zionism as Political Theology
The Major Writings of Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum
Translated and Annotated by Shaul Magid
University of California Press
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Pianeta Libri news. Turin, April 3, 2026 – Jewish Anti-Zionism as Political Theology: The Major Writings of Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum / L'antisionismo ebraico come teologia politica. I principali scritti del rabbino Yoel Teitelbaum, edited and translated by Shaul Magid, arrives at a moment when its subject has returned to the center of public debate, especially in the United States.
In universities, in the media, and above all within the American Jewish community (over seven million people), the debate on Israel, Zionism, and their moral implications is now open, often harsh, and increasingly divisive. Younger generations, in particular, show growing difficulty in reconciling the historical memory of Jewish persecution with the images and accusations linked to the contemporary conflict involving Israel, perceived by many in terms ranging from severe criticism to extreme labels such as genocide against the Palestinian people.
Published by the University of California Press, the volume provides direct access to the key writings of Yoel Teitelbaum, founder and leader of the Satmar Hasidic dynasty and the leading theorist of religious anti-Zionism in the postwar period. The works translated here — Vayoel Moshe and ‘Al Ha-Geulah ve ‘al Ha-Temurah — construct a compact and radical system of thought, grounded in a rigorous reading of rabbinic tradition.
The three Talmudic oaths (Shloshet HaShvu'ot), imposed by God on the Jewish people during exile, prohibit: forcing the end of days (the arrival of the messianic era), rebelling politically or militarily against host nations, and mass migration to Israel before the messianic time. Zionism, and thus the founding of the State of Israel, represents a direct violation of this prohibition. It is not a matter of political expediency, but of religious transgression. From this follows a vision of history that may appear extreme but is internally coherent: even the great catastrophes of the twentieth century, including the Holocaust, are framed within a theological logic of sin and punishment tied to the abandonment of divine order.
Vayoel Moshe develops this position through a detailed halakhic analysis (Halakhah being the normative Jewish tradition governing all aspects of daily life, distinguishing between the sacred and the profane), built through the accumulation of sources and interpretations. It is a difficult, deliberately repetitive text, aimed at demonstrating that anti-Zionism is not one ideological option among others, but a necessary consequence of Jewish law. ‘Al Ha-Geulah ve ‘al Ha-Temurah, written after the Six-Day War, abandons the juridical structure and adopts a more direct, polemical, and apocalyptic tone. Israel’s military success, interpreted by many as providential, is here reversed: it does not confirm but rather refutes redemption.
The translation is accompanied by a broad and precise critical apparatus that clarifies implicit references, reconstructs contexts, and makes accessible material otherwise reserved for specialists. The selection removes digressions and repetitions without altering the structure of the argument. What emerges clearly is not only the content of the theses, but the method through which they are constructed.
The value of the book lies precisely in its radicalism. It seeks no mediation and does not soften its conclusions. It forces engagement with a position that rejects outright the very idea of modern Jewish sovereignty. At a time when unease is growing within parts of the Jewish world regarding Israeli policies, and debate over identity, ethics, and power is reopening, this voice appears less marginal than once thought. Not because it is dominant, but because it captures a real tension: between the history of extreme persecution endured and the difficulty, for some contemporary consciences, in accepting the role of a ruthless destructive force now attributed to Israel.
A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, the University of California Press’s open access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org
for more information.
In conclusion, the UC Press volume offers the opportunity to read, without filters, one of the most radical and structured critiques of Zionism formulated from within the Jewish tradition itself. Almost simultaneously, Princeton University Press has also published the extensive anthology Jewish Anti-Zionism: A Historical Anthology, edited by Shaul Magid and Zev Mishell, a clear sign that the topic has returned to the center of academic and cultural discourse in the United States. It is a collection of texts illustrating the complex reasons why Jews have contested or rejected the Zionist ideal for over a century.
Yoel Teitelbaum (1887–1979), born in Transylvania and a survivor of the Holocaust, was the founder of the Satmar community in the United States, now among the largest Hasidic groups in the world. A charismatic and rigorous authority, he is known for his total opposition to Zionism, expressed in Vayoel Moshe and ‘Al Ha-Geulah ve ‘al Ha-Temurah and in a vast body of religious teachings. His work articulates an anti-Zionist Jewish political theology grounded in traditional rabbinic sources. Rich in references to rabbinic, medieval, and modern texts, his thought is notoriously complex and demanding even for scholars of the Torah, and continues to exert significant influence within the ultra-Orthodox Satmar community and beyond.
Shaul Magid is a scholar of Jewish thought and the history of religions, a professor in the United States, and the author of numerous works on mysticism, modernity, and Jewish identity. His research often focuses on countercultural currents, analyzed with historical rigor and without simplification. In this volume, he provides a richly annotated translation of selections from Vayoel Moshe and ‘Al Ha-Geulah ve ‘al Ha-Temurah, making the principal political writings of Teitelbaum accessible in English for the first time.
By Giovanni Paparo
Jewish Anti-Zionism as Political Theology
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