And What About American Jews?

Are they obligated to enlist in the IDF?

In my numerous posts about army service, I have written extensively about why charedim should be sharing the national responsibility. But there’s a question begging to be asked: What about Jews who live in the US or other places outside of Israel?

There are those who take the approach that it’s a milchemes mitzvah and indeed every Jew, no matter where they live, has an obligation to come to Israel and fight. (I’m told that Rav Hershel Shechter takes that position, though I have not been able to confirm it.)

Personally, I think that without getting into the technical parameters of milchemes mitzvah - and as I have explained, army service is more about our general obligations as Jews rather than a specific mitzvah - it’s too much to expect and demand that every Jew worldwide comes to serve.

I also think that one must keep in mind that while people outside of Israel very much benefit from Israel’s existence, and have an obligation to help their brethren in Israel, they don’t receive state benefits from Israel and don’t vote in elections. (And likewise I think that many people would be willing to let the charedi community avoid army service if they were to renounce their state benefits and forgo voting - i.e. if they would actually implement the bitachon that they claim to have instead of relying on everyone else.)

Nevertheless, I do feel (as do others) that there should be more of a general encouragement from the US leadership for boys to do IDF service, such as the various streams oriented for non-Israelis in the Machal program. And those amazing families in the US from which lone soldiers come to Israel should be applauded and presented as examples for others to emulate.

However, although I think it’s too much to expect all Americans to do army service, I do feel that they are all obligated to support Israel in other ways.

People outside of Israel should be sending a lot of money to important causes in Israel, and I don’t mean supporting and enabling the welfare-dependent society of charedi yeshivos and kollels. (Note, however, that big glitzy causes are not necessarily the best use of charity allocations; personally I would endorse Lema’an Achai.) And it’s not just about supporting soldiers or the war effort directly - it’s about helping Israel across the board. The economy is taking an enormous hit from the war, there are many important causes, and we need a lot of foreign support. For millions of people in Israel, this year is very much not life as usual; it shouldn’t be life as usual for Jews in other countries, either.

And there should be more political campaigning on behalf of Israel. In the UK, there have been endless pro-Palestinian rallies in London against Israel, each with hundreds of thousands of people, while in the US there was only one pro-Israel rally in Washington. For the life of me, I cannot understand this. Why haven’t there been any more such rallies?

Meanwhile, I’d like to thank all those who support Israel, and on a more personal note I would like to thank all those paid subscribers and others who support the Biblical Museum of Natural History. During this difficult time we are hosting many groups of evacuees, providing therapeutic experiences for children, and strengthening people’s morale and connection to the Land at a time when it’s more important and appreciated than ever. Recently we hosted two groups of families from Sderot - they were all evacuees for many months and have children on the autism spectrum, which has made the last ten months that much more challenging for them - and one father said, “This is the best therapy for these kids.” This is all with the help of generous and caring supporters from Israel and abroad - tizku lemitzvot!

A full list of my posts on the topic of IDF service is at Torah and Army: The Big Index