"They see no women, not even at a kilometer's distance. We created such an environment in the army and now society must play its role and encourage (Haredi youths) to serve in the army. I don’t want the Haredi Nahal to be just a regiment, but an entire brigade."
This statement.... as reported by Ynet... was made by Major General Eleazar Stern at a news conference at Bar-Ilan University. Can anyone truly disagree with it?
I certainly don’t. At least not for the majority of Charedim whose exemptions are based more on fear of negative influences in the army rather than the merit of their learning. They can now join Nachal Charedi. That is a segment of the military that is entirely Charedi and is run according to the strictest of Halachic standards. There is no longer any excuse for every Charedi youth to be automatically exempt.
One of the biggest problems in the Charedi world is an economic one. As has been noted here in the past, it is one of the poorest segments of Israeli society. There are of course many reasons why this is the case. But one of the primary ones is that by law Israelis cannot legally join the workforce until they have completed their military obligation. There might be some legal exceptions to this. And there are probably a more than a few illegal exceptions where Charedim work off the books. But primarily this is the case. The fear in the past was that military service would ruin one’s Yiddishkeit. But that is no longer the case.
I would prefer a voluntary system like the one we have in the United States. But that is unrealistic under Israel’s current circumstances. They need a big army… standing and ready… trained to fight an enemy determined to wipe Israel and its Jews off the map!
Israel therefore needs compulsory military service.
I hasten to add that I do not believe that it should be mandatory for all Charedim. Or even other citizens whose services outside the military are vital to the nation. And learning Torah is no less vital than any other service. Certainly those that have the potential for achieving greatness in learning and/or the potential to becoming Poskim ought to be exampt. The Torah world needs that for survival every bit as much as it needs an army.
But… it does need an army too. The religious Zionist world clearly and correctly understands that. And so too did Mir Rosh Yeshiva Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz… a Gadol by anyone’s standards.
He famously thanked the Israeli Defense Forces for successfully defending the nation in 1967 at a Seudas Hoda’ah, a dinner that was held at Yeshivas Mir had after a near miss rocket attack. Rav Shmuelevitz said Israel needs both armies, the spiritual one that Yeshivos like his provide and the physical one of the IDF.
For that he was immediately disparaged by the more extreme Charedi elements. They were then as theyare now opposed to saying anything positive about the army. But that didn’t matter to him. He had the courage of his convictions. He said what he believed and believed what he said. Tocho K’Baro. No one could intimidate him. He wasn’t worried about losing his job as a respected Rosh Yeshiva. He was concerned only with doing the right thing and not how he was perceived by others even of his own community. That’s in part why he was a true Gadol.
I agree with him. We do need two armies, a spiritual one and a physical one. And it is no sin to serve in either army. If one is not learning on a relative high level one should lose his exemption and be drafted into Nachal Charedi.
This business about dodging the draft must end. There are far too many people who take unfair advantage of the draft exemption laws that shouldn’t be.
Once this mentality replaces the current one there is a chance that the economic situation will improve. Once military service is completed a Charedi man can seek work legally. This still doesn’t address the lack of preparedness he will have in the job market. But that is another subject. Perhaps one will follow the other and Charedim will be able to attend schools that will train them for good jobs. One can only hope.
And there is another benefit to joining Nachal Charedi. The secular public will no longer be able to look with disdain towards the Charedi public for being unwilling to put their children’s lives on the line. That will certainly have a positive affect on the relationships between the secular and religious communities in Israel.
To me it is a no brainer. The Torah world needs an army of people who are learning L’shma and doing it well. For everyone else, at most a deferment but then… fairly soon after high school… they ought to serve. There is no longer any excuse not to.
