The Torah "Holocaust" Libel

Exposing the Lie

Most people in the Dati-Leumi community, along with virtually everyone in the non-religious community (aside from those devoted to keeping Bibi in power), are of the opinion that yeshiva students are just as obligated in army service as everyone else. Still, as a practical matter, many people would settle for a compromise in which charedi yeshiva students receive an exemption (but not financial benefits) as long as charedim who are not in yeshivah would enlist.

The absolutely crucial IDF need is for another 10-20,000 combat soldiers, while there are 80,000 charedim not enlisting. And of those 80,000 charedim, around a third to a half are not even in yeshiva. They may be officially registered in some yeshiva, but they are not learning, and many of them have (illegal) jobs.

This is the compromise that Yuli Edelstein was trying to reach. Those charedim who are actually learning can continue to do so, while those who are not learning must help relieve the burden on the rest of the nation. And this is furthermore completely consistent with the position of the charedi rabbinic leadership of previous generations.

So why did it fail? Because it’s all a farce. It was never about Torah or yeshiva students. It was about no charedim serving at all, whether they are learning or not. Because for any charedim to serve dilutes the extreme isolationism that characterizes contemporary charedi society. The tiny fraction of charedim who do serve are never acknowledged as such by the charedi leadership.

One striking manifestation of this was the response to Yuli Edelstein’s proposals. He said that the charedi rabbinic leadership must issues a statement that those who are not learning must enlist. And he said that there should be fingerpint ID systems at yeshivos, to ensure that those registered as learning in yeshivah are actually doing so.

Now, this is a perfectly reasonable proposal. After all, most workplaces have a system to ensure that employees are actually showing up. The IDF certainly has a system to ensure that soldiers report for duty! And national-religious hesder yeshivos and midrashot are subject to surprise inspections by government authorities.

(It would of course be absurd to allocate the responsibility for ensuring that those registered as yeshiva students are actually learning to charedim themselves. I remember from my own days in charedi yeshivos, thirty years ago, that there was a time when there was increased political controversy about the charedi exemption. The chareidi leadership decided to preempt a government inspection and do their own report on which registered students were actually learning. And we all got a message that on a certain day, at a certain hour, we all had to make sure to show up at the yeshiva!)

So what was the response to Edelstein’s proposal of how to ensure that those avoiding enlistment due to being in yeshiva are actually in yeshiva? Here’s a post from the editor of the charedi news site “Bechadrei Charedim” which sums it up:

That’s right. Making a system to ensure that yeshiva students are actually in yeshiva is like the Nazis putting a yellow star on Jews.

At this point it should come as no suprise that this disgusting insanity was echoed by Bibi’s cronies in the Likud. MK Tali Gotliv declared that she is sympathetic to charedim resigning from the government, because it is so disrespectful to create a system to check that yeshiva students are actually in yeshiva!

It bears repeating: Edelstein’s plan was that charedim learning in yeshivah would be legally allowed to continue to do so. The only charedim who would be required to enlist are those who are not learning in yeshivah. And this is what the charedi leadership declares to be a campaign of persecution against Torah and yeshiva students!

The backlash itself proves that it’s all a lie.