Mission: Impossible

There can be no pseudo-Achdus when there is no real Achdus

Dear Rabbi Hauer,

Shalom, I hope that you are well during these difficult times. After much discussion with colleagues, I feel compelled to write to you regarding your statement "Am Yisrael's Response to Crisis."

No doubt given your position, you have to be accommodating of a broad range of perspectives. Personally, that's the kind of thing that I'm not very good at! But I would like to share some perspectives from people in my circles, including numerous rabbis, which lead us to believe that in this case, it's simply impossible to bridge the gap. The OU has to either choose whether it is Zionist or charedi - i.e. whether it is or is not concerned with Israel's physical wellbeing - or not comment at all.

Many people try to either dismiss or dissuade harsh criticism or negative feelings as being the sin of sinas chinam. But sometimes, there is a very good reason for such feelings, and the criticism may be fully justified and even serve a valuable purpose.

I do not think that one can make a blanket statement that "when enemies surround us from all sides, we must not attack each other." Surely it depends on the situation. If one group within the nation is harming everyone else, such as by weakening the IDF, and thus making our enemies' mission easier, then that group should certainly be opposed.

I do not think that there are grounds to equate the charedi dismissal of non-charedi concerns with the non-charedi dismissal of charedi concerns. As you correctly point out, this war has taken a very heavy toll of death, injury, and profound stress on the soldiers and reservists of Tzahal and their families. That is not just a concern; it is an actual existing serious problem. (And it is even more threatening for the future; Israel simply does not have enough soldiers for its defense needs, and cannot keep draining its reservists.)

In contrast, a concern about the "harm to the charedi way of life" is a speculation of what might happen in the future if charedim enlist. And what does "harm to the charedi way of life" mean? In a hesder framework, there is little reason to fear that young men will stop being mitzva observant. And if the concern is that they may stop being charedi - well, this hardly seems to suffice placing the entire burden of stress, loss of income, injury and death upon everyone else, nor for endangering national security.

If what you say is true, about there being many leaders and decision makers on the charedi side who are working diligently to find ways to draft charedim, that would be amazing. But unfortunately none of us have seen any evidence whatsoever to support this. (Figures such as Rav Dovid Leibel, while heroic, are not representative of mainstream charedi society and are opposed by the leadership.) We have only seen the opposite - the charedi rabbinic and political leadership digging in their heels and insisting that nobody will draft, not even those who are not learning.

Even if it would be true that there are such leaders on the charedi side, you say that they would work to find ways to include haredim in the material efforts for Israel’s defense in a manner that does not force enlistment of full-time yeshiva students. But I hope that you understand that from a dati-leumi perspective, while such an approach may perhaps be the only strategic practical option (and halevay that it should actually happen), it is certainly not religiously or morally acceptable. Why should full-time yeshiva students be exempt from sharing the responsibility of national defense? Why should husbands and fathers in their thirties continue to have to sacrifice their jobs, their family life, their health, even their very lives, when there are tens of thousands of young yeshiva students available? There is no basis for this in halacha and no moral justification for it, aside from it being a great danger to Israel. Why would the OU adopt a position which is against the dati-leumi worldview?

It is certainly true, as you say, that a breakdown in national unity weakens Israel. But it is the charedi refusal to share the national defense burden which harms national unity, not the protest of this refusal. As you correctly say, we should all view ourselves as brothers working together to solve shared problems. But that cuts to the core of the problem - the charedi community does not see itself as being part of a family with the rest of Israel and as there being a shared problem. The war that they describe themselves as being in is not the war with Hamas or Hezbollah, but rather the "war" to get charedim to share the same responsibilities that everyone else has.

I simply do not understand why you say that we must all express appreciation for Gedolei Yisrael who are adamantly against sharing national responsibilities. And I also do not understand why we must show appreciation to "those supporting and engaging in the Torah study and practice vital to our present and future." How is having tens of thousands of charedim in yeshiva vital to either our present or our future? We never had it in the past! What is vital to our present and our future is to have a strong Israel - which means solving the IDF manpower shortage, having a strong national morale based on the genuine achdus of shared responsibility, and a strong economy rather than one which is drained to support those who (contra to Chazal) idealize a lifestyle of dependency.

Unfortunately, we have seen no willingness at all from the charedi leadership to address these problems. A campaign of public pressure is the only remaining option. This should not be criticized as "harming achdus" - it is trying to solve the lack of achdus that currently exists.

With hopes for better times,

Sincerely

Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin