The Charedim Go All-Out

Instead of joining Israel's war, it's war against Israel

When Hamas launched its horrifying war against Israel two years ago, it demonstrated that the conception that our enemies will not attack if they will enormously suffer as a result was wrong. This in turn meant that the IDF had massively underestimated its manpower requirements, and that many more soldier-hours would forever more be needed. Not to mention that nearly a thousand IDF soldiers lost their lives in the war, and countless thousands more have been injured and are unable to serve, rendering the manpower shortage even more acute.

Everyone was wondering how the charedi leadership and community would react. Would they realize that their avoidance of civic duties could no longer continue in the face of this new reality? Would they rise to the occasion and help their brethren? Of the 80,000 young men avoiding enlistment, would they send at least ten or twenty thousand to relieve the crushing burden on the reservists that has destroyed families?

Over the past two years, the answer has been very clear: NO. While a few heroic individuals in charedi society are trying to change things, and the minority at the fringes are changing, the vast majority of charedim didn’t help and don’t care. The rabbinic and political leadership have been emphatic in their opposition.

It couldn’t be claimed that this was due to the army or the government making this difficult for them. An entire army base, Chashmonaim, was developed to ensure accomodation to charedi sensitivities. And there has never been a government happier to bend over backwards and kowtow to charedi demands. The Likud leadership on this issue even declared that the charedi anti-civic-duties approach is vital and praiseworthy! The current “Draft Law” being proposed is a joke, with minimal targets and no serious enforcement and billions of shekels being offered, and the charedim still refuse to endorse it.

It’s not just been quibbling about the precise numbers. It’s not been about seeking an exemption for those who learn while sending those who are not learning. It’s been a flat opposition to sending anyone at all under any circumstances. Indeed, this week, dozens of charedi rabbis signed a letter saying precisely that. They specified that even charedi-friendly programs in the IDF are not only unacceptable, but that there is no possible change that could ever be made to render them acceptable. No, no, NO!

Another letter, posted by the Edah Charedis, used even stronger terminology. This letter not only prohibits every Jew from joining the IDF under any circumstances, it also declares that for the small number of charedim who nevertheless do so, their children should not be accepted by any charedi educational institution. Oh, and it describes their fight against helping protect the Jewish People from millions of murderous Arabs as a “milchemes mitzvah”!

Also in the past week, the charedi rabbinic leadership has crossed all bounds of moral decency in their opposition to helping the nation. Ateres Shlomo, a prestigious yeshiva that receives fifty million shekels annually from taxpayers, sent its younger children to rally outside the prison where one of their older students is temporarily incarcerated. They were all given hats to wear, which were hostage-yellow and printed with a “Until The Last Hostage” message alongside the hostage ribbon.

The Rosh Yeshivah of Ateres Shlomo, “Rav” Sholom Ber Sorotzkin, declared that he simply doesn’t care about all those protesting comparing a draft-dodger being held in an Israeli prison for a few days with hostages being tortured underground by Hamas for two years. He explained that the hostage logo and slogan “belongs” to the charedim, since charedim are the ones whose Torah was responsible for getting the hostages released.

Meanwhile in the Sefardic world, “Rav” Yitzchak Yosef, former Chief Rabbi, launched a vicious and sickening attack on none other than Rav Tamir Granot, a hesder rosh yeshvah and tzaddik whose son fell in Gaza and who has been desperately pleading with the charedi world to fulfill the mitzva of helping the nation. Yosef branded him as an apikores. Not a single charedi rabbinic figure protested.

And now, this Thursday, the charedim are planning a “Million Man Rally” at the entrance to Jerusalem. (It’s not clear how many will actually attend, but the charedi population is over one million people.) They are declaring the need to “storm the Heavens” with prayers.

Note that they didn’t rally in Washington DC for US assistance with the war. And they didn’t “storm the Heavens” with prayer rallies in Israel to help the hostages. Nor did they storm the Heavens with prayer rallies to protect all the men risking their lives in the IDF. They insisted that staying in yeshivah was sufficient for all that. But now, when it’s charedim who are at (much lesser) risk, they need to make a giant prayer rally.

The only good thing in all this is that at least matters are very clear. The charedi rabbinic and political leadership and the mainstream institutions and community have set themselves up as absolute opponents of Israel during one of the most difficult periods in Israel’s history. This has justly earned the disgust of most of the Israeli population, and even of many American Jews in the black-hat yeshiva world. If this is reflected in the next election, and in the response of the American Jewish community to charedi collectors from Israel, there is hope for change.

We need to clarify the charedi position for as many people as possible. Please share this post with others!