The Eda Haredit

By PEGGY CIDOR
The Eda Haredit, also known as the Badatz, is a prominent anti-Zionist community living in Jerusalem. The community includes several haredi groups. The Eda Haredit was founded by Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld in 1919. In 1945, Agudat Israel, formerly aligned with the Eda Haredit, broke away from it. The Eda considers Zionism to be heretical and opposed to Judaism. It forbids voting for the Knesset and forbids accepting any funding from the Israeli government (such as subsidies for schools and unemployment benefits) or to accept Israeli citizenship. On the door of most members' homes is a sign that reads: "Here lives a non-Zionist Jew." Since the creation of the State of Israel and even before, the members of the Eda Haredit have waged an ideological war against what they call the "heretic Zionist government" and have accused Zionism of causing many of the disasters that have befallen the Jewish people, including the Holocaust. The groups of hassidim in the Eda Haredit are Satmar; Dushinsky; Toldos Aharon; Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok; Spinker; Brisk; Sanz-Tshokave; and a group of Braslav.