Hassidut Belz

Delineating the political and cultural attitudes of Belz Hassidism from its inception to the present, the author traces a pattern of behavior that exposes the disputable coherency of their value system. Their consistent campaign against the Eastern European Jewish Enlightenment created a culture of mixed messages and moral relativism. Woven into the history of the community were social and political wars in which the end justified the means. This became particularly evident with the backdrop of a rapidly changing and dangerous Europe during the 1940s - the Belz radical opposition to Zionism set the stage for political turmoil and tested the quality of the community's leadership. The Belzer Rebbe chose to flee to Israel rather than remain with his flock, to whom he had assured relative safety in Nazi Europe. This seemingly hypocritical decision raises the question: Would the reconstituted Hassidut Belz community in Israel maintain anti-Zionist values or would they redefine their value system into one with consistency and moral clarity? This work seeks to answer this question, among others, in its examination of the Belz Hassidic community.

An IDF veteran, Shael Siegel was educated in the United States and Israel. He has rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Theological College and holds graduate degrees in Jewish Philosophy. He lives in Florida with his wife Semadar and his two daughters live in Israel. He is the author of Crossing the Rubicon: Life Through A Rearview Mirror.