The Charedi call to war (YWN) |
That might sound shocking to those who are aware of the
Charedi attitude toward the State of Israel in general, and the IDF in
particular. But it shouldn’t be. Not because of the IDF’s newly formed Charedi
brigades known as Chashmonaim. Which they overwhelmingly oppose despite the fact that this brigade fully accommodates
Charedi needs. It isn’t shocking because they are not talking about the
existential war against a mortal enemy being fought by the rest of the Israeli
people. They are talking about what they consider a war against the Torah!
The vast majority of eligible young people from every other
Jewish demographic in Israel is involved in prosecuting that war, either
directly on the battlefield; through vital ancillary services; or because their families
that can’t sleep at night worrying whether they will ever see their loved ones alive again! Every demographic - except the Charedi world,
whose attitude toward the IDF is that it should be avoided like the plague. So
opposed are they to IDF service that they even oppose joining the Chashmonaim
brigades - considering it a weakening of their communal dedication to full-time
Torah study.
The war they are fighting is much bigger in their eyes than
the war in Gaza. It is a war against their young men being drafted. To them, this
is the existential threat. This is the war they are fighting. As noted on YWN:
“Roshei Yeshivah, Rabbanim, and public figures in Eretz Yisrael and the Diaspora harshly condemn these escalatory steps as the crossing of a red line in the persecution of the Olam HaTorah. These reckless actions by the State of Israel are liable to severely harm its legitimacy to serve as a representative of the Jewish people.”
That their coreligionists across the full demographic
spectrum - from observant to secular - are risking their lives for the sake of all
Jews (including Charedim) is irrelevant in the face of the perceived onslaught
that IDF service brings to their Torah world.
And now that a couple of their students who refused to honor
their draft notices have been arrested, all hell is about to break loose.
That life and limb have been lost by so many… That countless
soldiers are returning from lengthy tours of duty with PTSD… That families have
been torn apart after losing loved ones in combat… All of that barely registers
as a ‘blip’ on the Charedi radar screen. As long as they can wake up in the
morning, daven with a minyan, have breakfast, spend the day in the safety of
their study halls, go home, eat supper, and sleep in comfortable beds - only to
repeat the cycle the next day - all is well in their world.
But let one of them get arrested for shirking their
duty as a citizen of a nation at war, and suddenly it’s a crisis of
historic proportions.
It is already well established how deeply resented the
Charedi community is by the rest of Israel. Including 65% of all non-Charedi
Orthodox Jews, according to a recent poll. I can only imagine the disruption
these protests will cause to the lives of people already suffering far more
than the protesting Charedim ever have, as a group.
If this community thinks they will get any sympathy
for their cause from any other segment of Israeli society, they are making what
may be the saddest mistake of their entire 77-year existence as a separate
demographic in Israel.
If Israelis were angry before, I would not be surprised if
the coming protests increase that anger so dramatically that today's resentment
will look like a lovefest by comparison. This includes non Charedi Orthodox Israelis. I am beginning to feel the same way.
And see nothing good coming out of these protests. If anything, they are
bound to backfire. Big time.