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| Charedim in the IDF (TOI) |
The implication of this is clear. The greater the existential threat, the more united we get. No matter how far we are politically and religiously - the words ‘Am Yisroel Chai’ - ‘the people of Israel live’ resonates with all of us. That sentiment has been on everyone’s mind ever since that brutal attack by the barbarians of Hamas.
Even while Israelis are trying to live their lives as normal as possible, the danger to their very existence has not been this dire since the Holocaust. It’s true that most of the civilized world supports Israel in it’s time of crisis. But there are also huge numbers of people that see Israel as war mongering baby killers about to embark on a mission of unprecedented carnage in Gaza.
That feeling has been bolstered by the media focus on what Israel has already done in Gaza. There are almost daily reports about food shortages and the lack of water. Images of entire Gaza neighborhoods being leveled by Israeli bombs; its people carrying blood covered babies with no where to go. People crying bitterly over the loss of their homes. Or worse the loss of their parents, children, brothers, sisters, - and entire families.
Palestinian sympathizers all over the world see all this and are enraged! Angry protests, many of them violent - have been taking place all over the world against - not only Israel but the United States. I saw this first hand yesterday as I passed by a busy intersection in my neighborhood here in Chicago. A small group of Jews waving Israeli and American flags were involved in an angry shouting match with people driving by in a car waving a Palestinian flag. If they would have had guns, I’m sure they would have been fired. I don’t recall ever experiencing anything like that.
With this kind of danger facing us all, I long for the disunity of just a few weeks ago, when we were at relative peace and had no clue what was coming. Unity like this I do not need. Not that it will last anyway if past is prologue.
There is another interesting phenomenon related to unity going on. Arutz Sheva reports the following:
Approximately 120 haredim enlisted Monday morning in the IDF.
The group, which arrived at the Tel Hashomer draft office, is expected to undergo a short basic training, after which they will be placed in various positions, such as paramedics, ambulance drivers, heavy equipment drivers, or packaging food.
Since the start of the fighting on October 7, when terrorists breached the Gaza-Israel border fence and rampaged Israeli towns, massacring and kidnapping, over 2,000 haredim have requested to join the IDF and take part in the war effort.
There are a lot of people making all kinds of predictions about this being a sea change in the Charedi attitude about the army. They see it as a grass roots change that will influence Charedi leadership about army service. I wish I could agree. But I don’t. Their leadership has been vehemently opposed to army service ever since the founding of the state. First because of their desire to maximize Torah study. Second (and perhaps more importantly for them) they see the IDF as a Zionist social engineering tool to disabuse Jews of religious observance turning them into secular Israelis.
This has been disproven. The Hesder program has not disabused anyone of religious observance. Same thing Nachal Charedi. But they say that there are indeed young people from observant homes that do become negatively influenced religiously by their IDF experience. That there are so many that have not - even in the regular army - is ignored. Also ignored is that those who are negatively influenced have in many cases already started going down that path.
One might think that the sudden spate of Charedi enlistees signals an eventual change in the way Charedi leaders will view army service. But I tend to doubt that. Just before the war Charedi politicians submitted a bill to the Knesset that would equate Torah study with army service. Thus exempting them all from army service forever. They have already said that when this is all over they will re-submit that bill. I believe them. I don’t think it will pass. But their views on army service will be the same then as they were before.
Sadly I am not as optimistic as Rabbi Adlerstein. I hope I’m wrong but I do not see the current unity as permanent. Nor do I see Charedi leadership budging on their view of army service. Once this is all over, it will be back to business as usual. I hate to be ‘Debbie Downer’ at a time like this. But I just call ‘em as I see ‘em. again
At least for the time being it’s good to see a unity that includes Charedim who see army service as a moral obligation at this time of crisis.
May God protect all of our men and women in uniform as they proceed on their holy mission.
