“Whereas some Hasidim are strong Zionists and see in the State of Israel a sign of the coming of the Messiah, the Hasidim of Williamsburg are anti-Zionist. They reject everything and everyone that is associated with the new state. They conceive that the existence of the State of Israel is a threat to their traditional perception of the Messiah, because ‘all of it must emerge through holiness.’ ”
