The Objection to Connection

Why Charedim Deliberately Ignore Yom HaZikaron

We are about to enter Yom HaZikaron, one of the most difficult in the history of Israel. But for a certain large community of Jews in Israel (with rare amazing exceptions), it will be a regular day like any other.

In general, there is a risk with criticizing charedi lack of concern, respect and gratitude for the IDF - it might imply that if charedim do show appreciation for the IDF, then it’s fine (or not so bad) if they don’t actually serve in the IDF. Thus, I recently saw someone from an Israeli charedi shul urge people in his community to “do their part” and learn in honor of fallen IDF soldiers, as if learning or davening for soldiers is fulfilling a community’s responsibility for national defense.

Still, it is important to occasionally point out the lack of concern and gratitude that exists, in order to illustrate the extent of the problem that needs to be addressed. And moreover, showing concern and gratitude is a small but important first step to actually serving in the IDF. The more that you intellectually and emotionally connect to the sacrifices that people make on behalf of our country, the stronger the chance that you’ll understand the moral need to participate.

In fact, this is precisely why charedi leaders do not want their followers to express any respect or gratitude to the IDF in the first place. It is similar to Rav Aharon Feldman’s explanation of why he is uncomfortable with children writing letters to soldiers or even davening for them. Presenting soldiers as being “special” creates a risk that young men will chas v’shalom want to join the IDF. And as he made clear, it’s more important to distance oneself from Zionism than to help save Jewish lives in Israel.

Most mainstream charedim will not explicitly say anything like what Rav Feldman says. But at the same time, they don’t want to have soldiers speak in yeshivos or visit injured soldiers in hospital, or even learn about the details of their lives (or deaths). They won’t have any kind of Yom HaZikaron talk in the yeshivah. They won’t even mention that it’s Yom HaZikaron. The most they ever do since October 7th is vaguely declare that their learning or davvening is for the soldiers, but they are reluctant to talk about specific soldiers or operations.

I remember from my own days as a charedi yeshiva student, that the only thing that changed on Yom HaZikaron is that I would declare that my learning that day would be l’iluy nishmas the fallen soldiers. And I actually thought that I was doing something significant! It was only much later that I researched the topic and discovered that the idea of learning Torah on behalf of random dead people in order to “elevate their soul” has absolutely no basis in traditional Judaism, and moreover is directly contradicted by classical Judaism’s understanding of how things work (as discussed in my book Rationalism vs. Mysticism). And pausing during the siren to think about those who lost their lives is actually a lot more significant, as well as better grounded in Judaism, than learning Torah.

But aside from that, what do charedi Jews do when someone who they actually care about dies? They don’t just learn Torah. They do what every single other person in the world does. They talk about them, they have newspaper and magazine articles about them.

But for soldiers, it’s unthinkable. ArtScroll recently published a book about the heroism of Hatzala medics, but they would never publish a book about the heroism and sacrifice of IDF soldiers. And when 50,000 American charedi Jews held a rally in Manhattan against drafting yeshiva students, they effusively thanked the NYPD for ensuring the safety and security of everyone present, but they didn’t and would never express hakarat hatov to the IDF. Their need to distance themselves from anything that might possibly threaten their charedi identity ends up corrupting their moral character.

Merely declaring that one’s learning and davening is for “the soldiers” is only very marginally better than not doing anything at all. Like virtue signalling, it is a largely meaningless gesture. It doesn’t help the dead soldiers, it doesn’t help the live soldiers, and it doesn’t help the country.

What the nation needs - especially from those who are not actually participating in the war - is for people to actually learn about specific heroes who gave their lives for the Jewish People, to Remember them and to honor them. (I was impressed that Mishpacha magazine published an article about the OU’s “Lanetzach” program, which would be largely unthinkable in the Israeli charedi yeshiva world.) It doesn’t necessarily have to be on Yom HaZikaron itself (though it would be appropriate, for achdus, to do it when everyone else is doing it - see Rambam below), but it has to be done. For the sake of the soldiers, for the sake of the nation, and for the sake of the charedi community, which needs to learn about national responsibility and genuine mesirus nefesh. Only then can we hope that they will take the next step of actually engaging in national responsibility.

הַפּוֹרֵשׁ מִדַּרְכֵי צִבּוּר אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁלֹּא עָבַר עֲבֵרוֹת אֶלָּא נִבְדָּל מֵעֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֵינוֹ עוֹשֶׂה מִצְוֹת בִּכְלָלָן וְלֹא נִכְנָס בְּצָרָתָן וְלֹא מִתְעַנֶּה בְּתַעֲנִיתָן אֶלָּא הוֹלֵךְ בְּדַרְכּוֹ כְּאֶחָד מִגּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ וּכְאִלּוּ אֵינוֹ מֵהֶן אֵין לוֹ חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא.

(משנה תורה, הלכות תשובה ג:יא)