"The Land of Israel for Jews Only if it Contains Charedim"

What the Kings of the Arab Nations Said to Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld zt"l Regarding the Land of Israel

The Daily Chizuk (strengthening) from the Gaon and Tzaddik, our teacher Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – Monday, 16th of Tammuz 5784

One can travel to all the graves of the Tzaddikim (righteous ones) that we have here; we have 613 graves of Tzaddikim here, just like in Morocco.

They asked the Baal Shem Tov, "Are there people at your level in this generation?"

He answered, "Yes, the Tzaddikim in Morocco are at my level!"

For all the Tzaddikim in Morocco, a whole palace is built over every grave, like Rabbi Amram ben Diwan who is buried in the village of Asjen.

Rabbi Amram ben Diwan was Ashkenazi; he was a Shadar (an emissary of the Rabbis from the Hebron community to Morocco). He had one son who was very ill. The son was so sick it is impossible to describe; he was moribund (on the verge of death). Finally, [a Tzaddik] came to him in a dream and told him, "Bring him into Me'aras HaMachpelah (the Cave of the Patriarchs)."

Rabbi Amram replied, "It is impossible to enter Me'aras HaMachpelah; it belongs to the Arabs, and we are only allowed up to the seventh step." Eventually, he bribed the Arab guard, giving him several boxes of gold dinars so that he would let them enter.

After receiving the money, the Arab began to scream, "Jews in the cave!" When Rabbi Amram and his son entered the cave, the Arab betrayed them—all Arabs are traitors, do not believe the Arabs!

It is forbidden to enter the Great Hall in Me'aras HaMachpelah; only three times a year is it permitted to enter the Great Hall; they do not allow entry to the Great Hall. Once, we used to enter freely, but slowly they closed it off to us. They wanted to close all of Me'aras HaMachpelah; they said that Me'aras HaMachpelah belongs to the Arabs and also the Kotel (Western Wall) belongs to the Arabs.

They said that everything belongs to the Arabs because Muhammad tied his horse, Al-Buraq, to the Kotel and then he ascended to heaven. When the British conquered the Land of Israel, they asked who the Kotel belongs to; they said it belongs to the Arabs. Just as they closed Me'aras HaMachpelah to us, now they have closed Meron.

In short, the Arabs came to the British and said everything is ours because this is where Muhammad tied his horse. But the Jews said, "Ask Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld (who was the first Rabbi of the Edah HaChareidis in Jerusalem)." All the Arabs' claims are fabricated. The horse is called Al-Buraq and it's all fabricated—Muhammad was never in Jerusalem, he didn't come with the horse to Jerusalem, he didn't ascend to heaven from the Kotel; it's all fabricated.

[caption id="attachment_62445" align="alignnone" width="353"] Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld was the first Rabbi of the Edah HaChareidis in Jerusalem[/caption]

So the Arabs claimed the Kotel was theirs, and Me'aras HaMachpelah was theirs, and the Land of Israel was theirs, because the British conquered it from the Turks.

Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld traveled with Jacob de Haan (a Dutch-born Jew, a jurist, journalist, poet, and author in the Dutch language, a Zionist activist who, after immigrating to the Land of Israel, joined the Charedim and subsequently acted against the Zionist movement. He was assassinated by the Haganah in what is considered the first political assassination in the Land of Israel in modern times) to Amman. King Saud of Saudi Arabia and the Sheikhs of Syria and Lebanon came and said to Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld, "We will give the Land of Israel as a gift if it contains only Charedim (ultra-Orthodox Jews)."

[caption id="attachment_62444" align="alignnone" width="351"] Jacob de Haan was murdered by the Haganah[/caption]

Because there was the Balfour Declaration, but they were waiting for the agreement of the Arabs. So Rabbi Jacob de Haan traveled together with Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld, and they met with all the kings—the kings came to give the Land of Israel to the Jews if it contained only Charedim.

This was the Balfour Declaration; the Ohr Somayach (Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk zt"l) says it was like the Declaration of Cyrus; it is a sign of the Geulah (Redemption). And all the Arabs agreed to give the Land of Israel only to the Charedim, not to the Zionists. The Zionists (from their perspective) are not Jews; the Zionists are not Jews, they aren't called Jews at all.

They had already signed that there was agreement from Abdullah, King of Jordan, from the King of Saudi Arabia, from the King of Syria, from the King of Lebanon and Egypt—they all signed that they would give it to the Jews if Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld stood at the head of the Jewish people. If he would be the Rosh Yeshiva (head of the academy), if he would be the leader, then they would give everything to the Jews.

And then in the month of Adar, Jacob de Haan left Shaare Zedek Hospital after the Maariv (evening) prayer, and there three members of the Haganah were waiting for him and shot him. This was Golomb, after whom Golomb Street is named.

His note and his signature are in the safe of the Haganah to this day, showing that he gave the order to murder Jacob de Haan.

So they already wanted to give the Land of Israel to the Charedi Jews; Rabbi Israel [of Rhuzin] said that we missed out—they wanted to give us everything.