The Charedim Go To War

And they helpfully clarify their position

Following two years in which the charedi rabbinic and political leadership have steadfastly opposed helping with the war in any practical way whatsoever, and the even opposing the farce of a draft-avoidance bill that Likud has offered which makes absolutely minimal demands with no real enforcement, today is the huge charedi prayer rally in Jerusalem today against all charedi IDF enlistment. In the video below, R. Moshe Hillel Hirsch, leader of the Lithuanian charedi world, helpfully explains how the rally will accomplish its goals. But it’s even more useful if you understand how to parse his words:

First, note that he speaks about “all Klal Yisrael being there together.” Now, of course the vast majority of the Jewish People in Israel will not only not be present, but are actively opposed to it. However, as we have demonstrated on numerous occasions, charedim do not consider non-charedim to be part of Klal Yisrael. Being charedi is all about being separate from everyone else, and they’ve taken this to its logical extreme. (That’s also why R. Hirsch can blithely talk about traveling to the rally being “mesirus nefesh,” without any awareness that mesirus nefesh is what only people who are not charedi have been doing. He is simply completely disconnected from the hardships of the past two years of war, because they didn’t happen to his people.)

R. Hirsch then provides two explanations of how the rally will help. The first reason that he gives is that when all Klal Yisrael beseeches God, it will certainly have a result. One wonders therefore why the “Gedolim” didn’t summon “all Klal Yisrael” to pray for the release of the hostages, or for the protection of the soldiers of the IDF. (I will answer this soon.)

The second reason that he gives is that it is to make a show of political strength. He darkly warns that “if this doesn’t help, there are other ways.” Indeed, a secret recording of R. Shalom Ber Sorotzkin meeting with other “Gedolim” reveals him talking about shutting down the airport and other crucial national infrastructure.

Now, whenever somebody gives two reasons for something, the second reason is always the real driving reason, and the first reason is secondary, but placed in the first position in order to make the action sound better. Over the years, I have seen this confirmed endlessly, in a variety of ways. Here’s a mundane example: “How are you? I called for two reasons. Number one, I wanted to see how you are doing. Number two, I was wondering if you could do me a favor...” The first reason is the explanation that sounds noble, and the second reason is the real reason.

Charedim do not actually believe that prayer replaces effort to help with anything - not with medical matters, not with getting money, not to provide military protection, not with political goals, and certainly not to save them from the draft. The real reason for this prayer rally is not to make their case before God, but rather to make it before the rest of the country, by threatening civil war.

So if prayer does not replace effort, and thus prayer and Torah do not actually provide protection from military threats, why don’t they help with the responsibility of national defense, which is causing such hardship for so many people? The answer to this also answers why the charedim didn’t do a mass prayer rally for the hostages or for the protection of IDF soldiers during the war. It is contained in the opening statement of R. Hirsch that “all Klal Yisrael” will be at the rally. They simply don’t care about the burden on everyone else, as they don’t consider themselves part of the same nation.

Make no mistake about it - the charedim are a genuine threat to Israel’s future. Even more dangerous than their threat to shut down critical infrastructure is their plan to increase their population exponentially while the burden on the IDF increases and the charedim drain the economy. None other than former charedi apologist Jonathan Rosenblum has warned that this is an existential threat to Israel. And the current government is happily going along with it for the sake of short-term political gain.

If you’re a subscriber to this blog, you probably already understanding the danger of all this. But many others don’t. Please forward this post to others (or make your views known to them in other ways), even if it’s uncomfortable for you to do so. It’s also uncomfortable for hundreds of thousands of young men to leave their studies and jobs and families and spend years in reserve duty in Gaza, but we all expect them to do that. Campaigning to prevent the charedim collapsing Israel is the least we can do.