Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal changed his mind

B"H

Many chassidic groups have an anti - Zionist agenda and still stick to their point of views. The great Hungarian chassidic Rabbi, Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal, however, changed his mind in the middle of the Holocaust. Especially the Israeli national religious movement takes this rabbi as an example that there are people who are able to change their minds.

Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal was born in Hungary in 1885. His father was a great Rabbi in the Chassidut Zanz.

Rabbi Yissachar was a Talmid Chacham and took rabbi positions in different places. When the Mukatcher Rebbe at this time published a thesis against Zionism, Rabbi Yissachar Teichtal joined and also wrote a view pages. He was against the re - settling of Israel before the time of Meshiach.

When the Holocaust started and Rabbi Yissachar faced all the suffering of the Jewish population, he changed his mind. In 1943, he wrote his famous book "Ein HaBanim Smeicha", where he admitted to have erred. He apologized for his former anti - Zionist opinions and supported a resettlement of the Holy Land. All the reasons for anti - Zionism are not valid anymore due to the Holocaust.

In these days, we celebrate the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal. He died on 10 Shevat 1945 on a train transporting prisoners from Auschwitz to Mauthausen.