Reply To: Zionism, Why the Big Debate?

“In a talk he gave to the annual conference of the American Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi in the mid-1950s, the Rav explained why he had abandoned the Agudath Israel outlook and espoused that of the Mizrachi. Later published under the title “And Jseph Dreamt a Dream,” Rabbi Soloveitchik equated the Mizrachi viewpoint with the actions of the biblical Joseph and the Agudath Israel with Joseph’d brothers. Joseph sought to prepare his brethren for the new life they would encounter in Egypt, The brothers did not understand Joseph, because they looked upon the future as a continuation of the present. They understood their problems within the framework of their life in Canaan, the land of their father’s wanderings. Similarly, the Mizrachi was concerned with building the future of Torah in the Land of Israel, whereas Agudath Israel was primarily focused upon the continuity of Jewish Life in its current Eastern European Centers. The Holocaust convinced the Rav that the Mizrachi position was correct.”

(The Rav The World of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik p.54)