Exile is a place of responsibility
A full Jewish life in the Diaspora is built through Torah, prayer, family, education, livelihood, charity, communal institutions, and responsibility toward the surrounding society.
When the prophet Jeremiah addressed the Jewish exiles in Babylon, he told them to build houses, plant gardens, raise families, and grow. He then joined their welfare to the welfare of the city: seek its peace, pray for it, and recognize that its peace makes Jewish life possible.
This is an active account of exile. Jews are meant to establish durable lives, contribute to peace and order, and pray for the place that gives them a home. Longing for redemption lives alongside the duties of the present.
Foundational texts: Jeremiah 29:4–7 joins homes, families, growth, and the welfare of the city. Pirkei Avot 3:2 instructs Jews to pray for the welfare of government.
One people, many countries
Jewish peoplehood is carried by Torah, covenant, ancestry, conversion, shared memory, and mutual responsibility. It joins Jews across countries while leaving each community to meet its own civic circumstances and political judgments.
A Satmar family in New York, Montreal, London, Antwerp, or Melbourne belongs fully to the Jewish people while living as citizens or residents of a particular country. Its obligations are concrete: obey the law, honor the peace of the country, care for neighbors, and preserve a Jewish life that can be passed to the next generation.
Religious solidarity crosses borders. Civic loyalty is practiced where a person actually lives.
A Satmar-related educational organization, Torah Jews–Natruna, therefore describes Jewish peoplehood as a covenant rather than a passport and explicitly speaks of Jewish loyalty to the countries and cities in which Jews reside.
Satmar-related public expression: See Torah Jews–Natruna’s explanation of Jewish peoplehood and its statement on civic loyalty. These contemporary organizational statements illustrate one public expression within a community that contains varied political judgments.
Citizenship has a purpose
Satmar communities vote, meet public officials, petition government, build coalitions, and advocate for schools, religious practice, housing, safety, social services, and the material needs of families. These are ordinary instruments of citizenship.
The aim is preservation and contribution. A community protects its way of life while respecting the civic standing of its neighbors. It can thank public leaders, retain moral judgment, seek accommodation under law, and recognize that other citizens and communities seek their own accommodations.
Recognize the peace, liberty, and public order that allow Jewish families and institutions to flourish.
Participate in the country as citizens and neighbors, rather than treating Jewish religious authority as political sovereignty over the wider society.
Use lawful political means to protect religious freedom, education, safety, livelihood, and the ability of families to live by their convictions.
These forces can pull in different directions. Civic faithfulness balances active loyalty with an independent voice, communal protection with respect for neighbors, and gratitude with continuing moral judgment.
Shared Torah leaves room for judgment
Jewish history contains striking disagreements about the welfare of the countries in which Jews lived. During Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi supported the Russian czar, fearing the spiritual effects of a French victory. Other Hasidic leaders, including Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, the Seer of Lublin, and the Maggid of Kozhnitz, prayed for Napoleon’s victory.
The episode illustrates the range of judgment available within a shared Torah world. Major rabbis weighed spiritual danger, material freedom, war, and political change differently, often expressing their intervention through prayer and religious judgment. Jewish peoplehood held their disagreement while leaving political judgment with the communities and leaders facing their particular circumstances.
Historical example: The YIVO Encyclopedia’s entry on Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov describes the Hasidic division and the leaders who prayed for Napoleon. Chabad’s account explains Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s support for Russia.
Satmar and Neturei Karta are distinct
Satmar and Neturei Karta can share a religious rejection of Zionism. They are nevertheless different communities, with different histories, institutions, leadership, scale, and forms of public action. Neturei Karta is not a branch of Satmar and does not speak for Satmar.
Satmar has organized large public demonstrations and speaks forcefully about Zionism. Its boundary with Neturei Karta concerns who carries communal authority, how opposition is expressed, and whether an action protects Jewish life or lends religious legitimacy to those who celebrate violence against Jews.
The boundary remains visible in contemporary Satmar leadership. In 2023, Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum condemned anti-Zionists who publicly supported Hamas’s murders: “It is a terrible desecration of God’s name to support murderers in the name of the holy Torah.”
Religious opposition to Zionism does not authorize support for the murder of Jews, and a person who appears beside Jewish enemies does not thereby represent Satmar.
History also requires precision. Rabbi Yoel worked with members of Jerusalem’s older anti-Zionist community, and some early writings appeared in Neturei Karta publications. Later rebukes addressed real lines of conduct. An accurate account holds both the historical relationship and the enduring organizational distinction.
Sources for this distinction: Torah Jews–Natruna states directly in its FAQ that it is unaffiliated with Neturei Karta and that such groups do not represent it. Shaul Magid’s Jewish Anti-Zionism as Political Theology documents both the earlier relationship and Rabbi Yoel’s later opposition to cooperation with Iran. A 2023 report records Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum’s public condemnation.