Beinish Day

When yeshiva students enter the IDF

Following my oldest son’s enlistment party, yesterday he was drafted to the IDF. This was not my first child to enlist - my oldest daughter had already done so three years ago. But the Draft Day experience could not have been more different, and it’s not just because he is going into a combat role. It was primarily because yesterday’s draft was for the beinishim.

Beinish is an acronym for bnei yeshivot, those who enlist as part of the five-year hesder program (in which army service is sandwiched by yeshiva studies at both ends) or other yeshiva programs. Whereas on a regular draft day you simply drop your kid off and give them a beracha and a hug, the beinish experience is very different.

The area outside the IDF base in Tel HaShomer was crowded with many hundreds of people. There was a stand manned by the Tzlash organization - an acronym for Tzva l’Shem Shamayim - giving out pocket-size editions of various Torah works. (My son has numerous such volumes, some with print so tiny that I can’t even read them.)

First the siyumim took place. Yeshiva student after yeshiva student made a siyum - this one on Bavli Kiddushin, this one on Tanach, this one on Yerushalmi Kesuvos. It was magnificent.

With the siyumim complete, the dancing began. It was rowdy and full of intense energy. They sang Am Yisrael Chai. They sang Shomrim hafkeid l’ircha kol hayom vechol halayla, “Appoint guardians for your city for every day and night,” a phrase from the Haggadah adapted from Isaiah 62:6. They sang the moving song composed by my son’s rosh yeshiva Rav Weitzman, Am ha-netzach lo mefached m'i-derech arucha, “The eternal nation is not afraid of a long journey.” Some of the parents were crying, some were cheering and dancing.

At one point I found myself standing next to the father of one of the other boys in my son’s shiur. It was none other than Rav Eliezer Melamed shlita, rosh yeshiva of Har Bracha. He is the author of the outstanding Pninei Halacha series and someone that I greatly revere (and who, as I was gratified to learn and as captured in the picture below, knew who I am!). His writings are freely available online; you can read his discussion about the mitzvah of serving in the IDF, and how this balances with Torah study, at this link.

Finally everyone lined up to go inside the complex so that the new soldiers could board the buses to their respective bases. As we stood in line, a woman who was not visibly religious and was wearing pants came up to every yeshivah student to give out a volume of the Zohar as “protection.” Not exactly my cup of tea, but it was still very touching!

Some other things happened yesterday. It was reported that the IDF is seeking to increase the amount of time that hesder students spend in the army and away from yeshiva. The army is not doing this out of any hostility to Torah study, but simply out of desperation. The IDF faces a serious manpower shortage, which is why so many reservists have been forced away from their studies and jobs and families. Yet also yesterday, The Times of Israel published a report stating that a full 25% of young men eligible for this year’s draft are charedi and thus not enlisting, regardless of whether or not they are even in yeshiva. And there isn’t the slightest political will in the government to do anything about this.

It made me think of one speech I heard yesterday from a young man making a siyum on Bava Kama. He introduced it by explaining how it deals with the laws of taking responsibility for one’s actions. It occurred to me that of all the many siyumim I attended (and made) in charedi yeshivos, nobody ever talked about Gemara that way. Learning Gemara was about intellectual gymnastics; it wasn’t about underlying values, and certainly not this value.

The concept of taking responsibility is the crucial aspect that sets apart these young men from charedi yeshiva students, and their rabbis from charedi rabbis. Dati Leumi rabbanim and hesder yeshivah students love learning Torah just as much as everyone else, but they understand that everyone needs to take responsibility for the nation and put Torah into practice. Indeed, Rav Melamed notes that so-called Gedolei Torah do not deserve that description if they don’t have an all-embracing, fully accountable handling of serious issues facing the generation, including such issues as security and the economy.

All the outstanding young men who enlisted yesterday are going to be making sacrifices to keep us all safe. It’s our responsibility to do whatever we can to try to boost their ranks.