Vayoel Moshe is a Hebrew book written by Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum

Joel Teitelbaum

Joel Teitelbaum, known as Reb Yoelish or the Satmar Rav , was a prominent Hungarian Hasidic rebbe and Talmudic scholar. He was probably the best known Haredi opponent of all forms of modern political Zionism...

, leader of the Satmar

Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)

Satmar is a Hasidic movement comprising mostly Hungarian and Romanian Hasidic Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants. It was founded and led by the late Hungarian-born Grand Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum , who was the rabbi of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary...

 Hasidic movement, in the year 1961. It made his case that Judaism is against Zionism

Zionism

Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

.

The name of the book is a statement in the bible that also notates his name and his grandfather's name—Joel

Joel

Joel or Yoel may refer to:* Joel , origin of the name including a list of people with the first name* Joel , a prophet of an ancient Israel** Book of Joel, a book in the Jewish Tanakh, and the Christian Bible...

 and Moshe respectively. However, he had other reasons for this naming as well. The source for the title is Exodus 2:21, "And Moses agreed to stay...an alien in a foreign land."

This book is considered one of utmost importance by many Haredim, especially Satmar Hasidim and other members of the Edah HaChareidis in the Land of Israel as well as the Central Rabbinical Congress

Central Rabbinical Congress

The Central Rabbinical Congress is a rabbinical organization that is a consortium of various Orthodox Jewish groups including the Satmar Hasidic group...

 in North America. Satmar Hasidism has many institutions, buildings and neighborhoods named after it.

It is primarily a book of Halacha, Jewish law. However, it draws on Rabbinic Jewish philosophy as well.

Although it did not originate with him, before World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 most Hasidic rabbis, as well as some other prominent Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

 rabbis opposed Zionism. While others had written about the issue in other publications - Torah commentaries and books of Halacha - Rabbi Teitelbaum was the first to write a book specifically about this subject.

Structure

The book consists of three parts:

1. Maamar Shalosh Shevuos (Treatise about the Three Oaths

Three Oaths

The Three Oaths is the popular name for a Midrash found in the Talmud, which relates that God adjured three oaths upon the world. Two of the oaths pertain to the Jewish people, and one of the oaths pertains to the other nations of the world...

), which is also the main part of the book, is a classical Judaic sources and citations book sourced and interpreted by Teitelbaum on everything about those Three Oaths.

This teaching is originally based on the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

 in tractate Ketubot 111a, which discusses a passage from the Song of Songs

Song of songs

Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It may also refer to:In music:* Song of songs , the debut album by David and the Giants* A generic term for medleysPlays...

 in the Tanakh

Tanakh

The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...

(Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

) in which God made the Israelites promise "to wait for Him before arousing his love" as "King Solomon in Song of Songs

Song of songs

Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It may also refer to:In music:* Song of songs , the debut album by David and the Giants* A generic term for medleysPlays...

 thrice adjured the daughters of Jerusalem not to arouse or bestir the love until it is ready." The Talmud explains that we are bound by three strong oath

Oath

An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...

s mentioned in Ketubot 111a - 1. that the Jewish people are not allowed to ascend to Eretz Yisrael by force; 2. that the Jewish people are not allowed to rebel against the nations of the world; 3. that the Jewish people may not by their sins delay the coming of Moshiach, the Jewish messiah.

2. Maamar Yishuv Eretz Yisroel (Treatise about settling the Land of Israel), which establishes all halachic concerns regarding Jews emigrating to Israel, known as Aliyah

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

.

3. Maamar Loshon HaKodesh (Treatise about the holy tongue). That it is forbidden for Jews today to speak Modern Hebrew

Modern Hebrew

Modern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....

. This was written as a personal answer to the chief rabbi of Montreal at the time, Rabbi Pinchas Hirschsprung

Pinchas Hirschsprung

Rabbi Pinhas Hirschprung was a Polish rabbi of Hasidic ancestry, who later emigrated to Montreal, Canada, where he served as Chief Rabbi.- Life :He was born to Rabbi Chaim Hirschprung in the city of Dukla, in Poland in 1912...

, and it was later added into this book.

Other arguments

1. Rabbi Teitelbaum refers to religious Zionism
   Religious Zionism
   Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious faith...
   
    as a major desecration of God's name.
2. Blames Zionism for worsening, and the aveirah of Zionism for being a cause of, the Holocaust.
3. Refers to Zionist leaders such as Theodor Herzl
   Theodor Herzl
   Theodor Herzl , born Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl was an Ashkenazi Jew Austro-Hungarian journalist and the father of modern political Zionism and in effect the State of Israel.-Early life:...
   
    as 'heretics'.
4. Argues that any participation in the Israeli elections is one of the worst sins and halachically a Jew must rather be killed than vote.
5. Blames some of the bloodshed in the middle east on the Zionists.
6. Rules that it is forbidden to accept any money from Israeli government programs.
7. Asserts that the way of the Baal Shem Tov is forgotten today, and we do not understand fully what Hasidus meant.
8. Declares not to accept stories of Hasidic Rabbis as the Halacha.