"Daas Torah" on the Hostage Deal

Good, Bad, or Something Else?

What is (charedi) Daas Torah on the hostage release/ ceasefire deal? That was the question posed to Rabbi Chaim Feinstein (not a descendant of Rav Moshe Feinstein but a cousin), who heads the vast Ateres Shlomo yeshiva network. Yeshiva World News reports as follows:

Rosh Yeshivas Ateres Shlomo, HaGaon HaRav Chaim Feinstein, holds a weekly va’ad for avreichim on the sefer Nefesh HaChaim. At the end of this week’s shiur, one of the participants asked the Rosh Yeshivah about Daas Torah on the hostage release deal. The Rosh Yeshivah at first refused to comment on it, saying: “You’re toiling in Torah, holding up the world. You shouldn’t wear out your minds and your time on devarim betailim.”

The first part of his statement is the result of Rav Chaim of Volozhin’s innovative reformation of the concept of Torah study, which I’ve discussed elsewhere. But let’s discuss his claim that thinking about the pros and cons of the deal is devarim betailim, a waste of time.

Originally I actually thought similarly. After all, it’s not as though any of us has decision-making ability here. And it’s not even clear that the Israeli government has much choice in the matter. So what’s the point in thinking about it and discussing it?

Yet then I realized that I was wrong. Thinking about issues such as this, which are among the most significant, life-altering actions of our day, is important for people to figure out where they stand vis-a-vis policy issues (and politicians). Of course, it’s also perfectly legitimate to conclude that the stakes in both directions are so great that one cannot decide. But it’s certainly useful to think about it.

And beyond the value of thinking about it, it’s also only natural. How can anyone who has been emotionally invested in the hostages, and whose family and community is involved in fighting terrorists, not be thinking about it? I met friends over Shabbos who told me how betrayed their sons feel that all their sacrifice in having left yeshiva or their jobs and families to fight over the last year has been in vain. Others feel the exact opposite: that it has finally brought enough damage and pressure upon Hamas to yield the release of the hostages. Some are looking forward to their family members leaving Gaza, some are dreading what it will mean for them in the future.

Within the dati-leumi, traditional and secular communities, there are all kinds of opinions. But everyone understands the anguish involved, because there is so much at stake. And one opinion that you will not find at all, let alone broadcast as The Torah View, is castigating people for thinking about it.

And all this explains charedi Daas Torah’s dismissal of people thinking about it. After all, the charedi community has not been involved in this war. The hostages are not “Our Boys in Captivity” - they’re not charedi yeshiva boys held in Japanese prisons for drug smuggling. And the vast majority of the charedi community are not at all involved in the war - not in sending soldiers, not in supporting the families of soldiers, not in visiting hospitals, not in attending funerals, not even in helping on farms. As was made clear at the Agudah conference, the war is not happening for charedim.

Because charedim (correctly) perceive themselves as a distinct community that has seceded from the larger Jewish nation, the only things that charedim think about are their own interests. This is demonstrated by the continuation of the Yeshiva World News report:

The Rosh Yeshivah then added: “Do you think that this is an agreement with the government here in Israel? This is actually an agreement between America and the Arabs. The government here is not the decision-maker. The US demands and so it will be. The army has nothing – without America, they don’t have a single bullet to shoot. The entire army is built from beginning to end on America. They’re the owners and they’re the decision-makers.”

The Rosh Yeshivah added painfully: “Meanwhile, the only thing the army has power over is drafting bnei yeshivos and uprooting the Torah.”

Note the striking lack of talk about Hashem being in charge of the destiny of charedim!

But meanwhile, it’s clear that while the Rosh Yeshiva considers it devarim beteilim to think about the hostage deal and the war in Gaza, he is very much thinking about what the army will do vis-a-vis charedim. Indeed, this is a topic with which the charedi world is obsessed. That’s not devarim beteilim. After all, it’s relevant to them. Unlike the fate of non-charedi Jews - including all those making sacrifices to protect them.

This is not Daas Torah. This is not Torah. This is poison.