DANGER: BASELESS HATRED AHEAD

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

Everyone is currently speaking about “quotas.” It would be appropriate to recall the holy position of the Rebbe on this matter, combining absolute and indisputable adherence to the values of Torah study, while taking a real good look at the reality of the situation, without any political consideration or interests.

1.

The Kadima Party’s election campaign is off and running with full force, all the way to the ballot box. This time their excuse is the ultra-Orthodox, who managed last year to escape the wrath of mass demonstrations – but not for long. This summer’s protests have been far more intense, and you can see the fire in the eyes of the demonstrators. They are demanding that all yeshiva students be subject to compulsory military service, asserting that Israel’s melting pot makes no distinctions among its citizens. They apparently have no concept of an eighteen-year old yeshiva student, entering his second year of yeshiva g’dola, totally immersed in the Talmudic teachings of Abayei and Rava. They can’t imagine how far his inner world is from the world of those young recruits arriving at the induction center at Tel HaShomer. Yet, they are determined to draft them, no matter the price.

The protesters are not the slightest bit interested in the real draft dodgers – the ones in Tel Aviv. Furthermore, they don’t care about the hard evidence showing that the army programs geared for the ultra-Orthodox communities are filled to capacity.

On the other hand, it seems that this approach is driving a wedge within Israeli society, causing deep resentment within the ultra-Orthodox community towards the citizenry at-large and contributing nothing towards a compromise on this most painful subject. It’s a pity that the two sides don’t implement the position of the Rebbe on this front-burner issue. Decades ago, the Rebbe responded to the growing demand made of the ultra-Orthodox community to become active partners on the war front. The Rebbe averred that Torah study represents the most important of values, and those yeshiva students who devote their time to its study should not ch”v be forced into army service. However, those who do not attend regular yeshiva programs cannot exempt themselves from their military obligations [in the words of the famous saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, “Who says that your blood is redder? Perhaps his blood is redder?”]

Everyone is currently speaking about “quotas” and the ultra-Orthodox also admit that conditions must be created to enable those who don’t learn Torah full-time to fulfill their duty to the country. It would therefore be appropriate to recall the holy opinion of the Rebbe on this matter, combining absolute and indisputable adherence to the values of Torah study, while taking a real good look at the reality of the situation, without any political consideration or interests.

2.

The recent saga began with the Kadima Party’s entry into the government. It declared that its sole objective in joining the coalition was the forcible conscription of the ultra-Orthodox into the army, or at the very least, the imposition of stiff and far-reaching economic sanctions. The timing couldn’t have been better for the Kadima Party, just prior to the expiration of the Tal Law, upon which the ultra-Orthodox had been depending in recent years.

Under the existing legislation, yeshiva students are permitted to continue their Torah studies until the age of twenty-eight, provided that they declare Torah study as their “vocation,” i.e., they have no other source of professional income. In ninety-nine percent of the cases, when a Torah scholar reaches the age of twenty-eight, he is already married with children, and is thereby no longer suitable for regular army duty. Thus, only someone who really wanted to join the IDF could enlist. The current arrangement essentially grants an all-inclusive “exemption” to all yeshiva students.

3.

No politician has been able to guarantee a “glatt kosher” army program for the young ultra-Orthodox inductee, appropriate for his spiritual and religious world. On the contrary, just last year, the headlines reported on the tumult caused when female singers performed for IDF soldiers. The religious servicemen were forced to partake in this immodest production, which also included female soldiers dancing on the stage, against all principles of tznius. This was not an isolated occurrence. Every religious soldier who has joined the IDF can tell you about countless incidents where he faced a serious conflict between his spiritual world and the rigid military establishment. The army prides itself on harsh discipline, and it doesn’t even try to understand the vantage point of the religious soldier.

These trials take place on a day-to-day basis: courses run by female soldiers, mixed singing, military assignments under female commanders. Army meetings between men and women are a standard procedure, and military service is conducted jointly. Now, take Avremele from B’nei Brak and place him on the military base at Tzrifin with half of his company comprised of women who aren’t necessarily stringent about keeping the limits of modesty….

Along with the issue of tznius, there are numerous other challenges accompanying the religious soldier and his lifestyle at every step of the way. For example, the army has to ask itself: Is it prepared to kasher all of its kitchens at a level befitting the ultra-Orthodox community? Will it erect mikvaos on all IDF bases? Will the daily times for communal prayer be set in accordance with the soldier’s spiritual needs (not merely the minimum obligations for a soldier who somehow manages to daven under the strict limitations of a ticking clock, as prevails today)? Only after the IDF announces that it’s ready to accept ultra-Orthodox recruits and adapt itself to the needs of the chareidi community, can they can start discussing conscription “quotas.”

In the meantime, it seems that even the national religious community, whose sons became the flag-bearers for service on the battlefield, has failed to reach any understanding with the army regarding the needs of the religious soldier. The public relations storm created by the IDF “girls’ chorus” was not due to ultra-Orthodox soldiers, but the national religious soldiers – those who lead the charge during every war or military operation and bear the torch of the army’s morale and motivation. Therefore, if the IDF isn’t smart enough to consider their needs, what will happen when tens of thousands of young chareidim flood the training camp in Nitzan?

4.

The recent crisis would have been totally unnecessary, were it not for the interference of all the outside political considerations. It all began with the fervent desire of Knesset Member Shaul Mofaz to join the government, for which he needed a good excuse – and what better excuse than hatred of the ultra-Orthodox? He utilized the zeal and passion of the unproductive summer protests, but instead of emphasizing last year’s call for social justice, they needed a more interesting pretext to whet everyone’s appetite…

The problem was that those leading the charge into battle had already forgotten that only a year ago, they were screaming solidarity and spoke about a just and united society. Does anyone honestly think that after such a campaign of hatred, in which they incited one sector against another, we can possibly live together? Where’s all the talk about the Israeli melting pot available for all – and how we are all one society?

It is most regrettable that specifically during “Bain HaM’tzarim”, the three weeks when the Jewish People commemorate the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash caused by baseless hatred, those same voices of divisiveness are again reawakened. They ignore the fact that the IDF neither needs nor is interested in most yeshiva students, and anyone who is suitable for military service quickly finds himself in one of the recently created programs for ultra-Orthodox recruits.

5.

The Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, already foresaw that the day would come when we could no longer avoid the question of military induction. The Rebbe tried to propose an idea that would save the ultra-Orthodox community from charges of draft dodging and provide a real contribution to the People of Israel. This happened when the Gerer Rebbe shlita visited the Rebbe MH”M on the 24th of Iyar 5737. During their conversation, the Rebbe demanded that kollel students should be sent out to Israeli cities and trained as teachers, thereby bringing real change to many of these places where there were no practicing rabbis.

The Gerer Rebbe: The problem is that it’s difficult to send out an avreich, as how would he deal with his children’s education?

The Rebbe MH”M: For a child to go to cheider, he already has to be four years old. Thus, when these kollel students go out … until the child turns four, when they will start thinking about his education – he will be able to serve as a rav on a moshav, etc.”

Another point: Every concept must be according to the ways of nature – and since there’s a great deal of noise, and they’re afraid of yeshiva students being drafted – this is a chance to invalidate the claims, the confusion, etc. They claim that those who watch on the borders serve for three years and are released afterwards. Thus, when they tell them that the yeshiva trains and sends out teachers who go out to the kibbutzim, settlements, and development towns – this invalidates all the claims and confusion.

This is perhaps the reason why Chabad Chassidim don’t feel the firestorm over the issue of army induction as strongly the overall ultra-Orthodox does. Every Chabad Tamim knows that the question is not whether to remain secluded within one’s own Dalet Amos or to go out and fight in the trenches. The main question is: How do I join in helping my fellow Jew? We’re not talking merely about some excuse; this is the real reason. We truly feel a sense of partnership in the fate of the Jewish People in Eretz Yisroel and throughout the world, and therefore, we believe that it is forbidden to cause harm to the students of our holy Torah; but as soon as it becomes possible for our students to leave the yeshiva world, they will be the first ones to do their part for the sake of humanity.