Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz vs Satmar Rebbe

Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz was the founder of Torah U’Mesorah
and became principal of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in year 1921 CE.
His career in Yeshiva Torah Vodaas lasted 25 years.

He was known as “the premier architect of Torah in American history.”
He left this world in 1948 CE at the age of 62 years.

The quotes shown below are from his English-language biography.

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QUOTE 1:

In a conversation with the Satmar Rav, shortly after his talk
on the U.N. declaration, Reb Shraga Feivel [Mendlowitz]
was subjected to the sharpest criticism for his “Zionist leanings.”

Later he told his family, “I could have answered him
[the Satmar Rav] Chazal for Chazal, Midrash for Midrash,
but I did not want to incur his wrath,
for he is a great man and a tzaddik.”

He added with a twinkle, “And besides, he has a fiery temper”…

SOURCE: Reb Shraga Feivel: the life and times of
Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, the architect of Torah
in America (chapter 26, page 335 to 336)
by Yonoson Rosenblum for Artscroll / Mesorah, year 2001,
based on Aharon Sorasky’s Shelucha DeRachmana,
ISBNs: 157819797X, 9781578197972, 1578197961, 9781578197965

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QUOTE 2:

Once full-scale war broke out after the State of Israel
declared its existence on May 14, 1948 [CE]
Reb Shraga Feivel’s [Mendlowitz] thoughts
were never far from Eretz Yisrael.

A group of students saw him outside the Mesivta building
one day, talking excitedly with Rabbi Gedaliah Schorr
and gesticulating rapidly with the newspaper held in his hand.

“If I were your age,” he [Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz]
told the students, “I would take a gun and go to Eretz Yisrael.”

SOURCE: Reb Shraga Feivel: the life and times of Rabbi Shraga
Feivel Mendlowitz, the architect of Torah in America
(chapter 26, page 338) by Yonoson Rosenblum for Artscroll / Mesorah,
year 2001, based on Aharon Sorasky’s Shelucha DeRachmana,
ISBNs: 157819797X, 9781578197972, 1578197961, 9781578197965

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QUOTE 3:

After hearing a well-known Rabbi give a fiery derashah
against the secular Jews in Eretz Yisrael, Reb Shraga Feivel
[Mendlowitz] expressed his displeasure with the tone of the speech.

“True, is it hard for us to reach the ahavas Yisrael of
Reb Yitzchak Levi of Berditchev,” he said, “but we are
commanded to keep far away from hatred of our fellow Jews.”

SOURCE: Reb Shraga Feivel: the life and times of
Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, the architect of
Torah in America (chapter 16, page 229)
by Yonoson Rosenblum for Artscroll / Mesorah, year 2001,
based on Aharon Sorasky’s Shelucha DeRachmana,
ISBNs: 157819797X, 9781578197972, 1578197961, 9781578197965

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QUOTE 4:

Hearing his criticisms of Zionism, someone once
told him [Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz],
“I too hate the Zionists. They should be cursed.”

“Chas v’chalilah (Heaven forbid)!” Reb Shraga Feivel [Mendlowitz] interjected.

“To the contrary: They should be blessed,
along with all those who are building up our Holy Land.

I only pray that they observe mitzvos.
But chalilah to curse or hate them.
They are tinokos shenish’bu (people who never
received a Jewish education and so were led astray).”

SOURCE: Reb Shraga Feivel: the life and times of
Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, the architect of
Torah in America (chapter 16, page 228)
by Yonoson Rosenblum for Artscroll / Mesorah, year 2001,
based on Aharon Sorasky’s Shelucha DeRachmana,
ISBNs: 157819797X, 9781578197972, 1578197961, 9781578197965

===============================
QUOTE 5:

“In 1948 [CE], after the Arabs attacked the newly declared
Jewish state and soldiers were falling on the battlefield,
several Roshei Yeshivah taunted Reb Shraga Feivel [Mendlowitz]
for having recited the blessing [HaTov VeHaMeitiv].

Reb Shraga Feivel turned to Rabbi Aharon Kotler,
who agreed with him that the U. N. resolution
[to establish a Jewish State in Eretz Yisrael in year 1948 CE]
was indeed worthy of the blessing [HaTov VeHaMeitiv].”

SOURCE: Reb Shraga Feivel: the life and times of
Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, the architect of Torah in America
(chapter 26, page 331, footnote 3, heard from Rabbi Nesanel Quinn)
by Yonoson Rosenblum for Artscroll / Mesorah, year 2001,
based on Aharon Sorasky’s Shelucha DeRachmana,
ISBNs: 157819797X, 9781578197972, 1578197961, 9781578197965

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PS: If you doubt that any of these quotes are accurate,
then I invite you to get your hands on a copy of the book,
and turn to the chapter numbers and page numbers
that I mentioned for each quote.
You will then see that everything I said here is true and accurate.