There's No Ceasefire Here

Those who abandon Torah to fight against saving lives don't rest

The following poster was recently distributed by the “Joint Committee for Saving People from the Spiritual Devastation of Army Service,” whose slogan is “Going to War against the Draft”:

In English translation, it declares “There is no ceasefire happening with us. When protecting the home, the future of our child and the Jewish future - there is no respite.”

Of course, it doesn’t even enter their minds that using imagery of tanks, and talking about ceasefire and wars, might not be appropriate, especially given that nearly two thousand Jews have actually lost their lives in an actual war over the past fifteen months. Because they weren’t charedi, so their lives and deaths aren’t even thought about.

The poster was accompanied by other posters declaring four days of active battle. True to their word, this afternoon there were hundreds and hundreds of charedi yeshiva students blocking the main Jerusalem highway and demonstrating outside the Jerusalem Convention Center, which was holding a celebration for the tiny number of charedim who have enlisted. Although they received an exemption from army service under the status of “their Torah is their profession,” it seems that they readily abandon that profession to engage in demonstrations. Because, as we’ve noted, when you really need something to happen, you don’t learn Torah, you go out and do it.

Meanwhile, I asked my 19-year-old son in a dati-leumi hesder yeshiva what he did this afternoon, while these hundreds of charedi yeshiva students were rioting. He said that he was learning Bava Kama, then a mussar sefer about character improvement, and then he was in a shiur about how to observe various halachot when he joins the army after Pesach along with all his yeshiva peers (pictured below). They will be risking their lives to defend the lives of everyone here, including those who refuse to help share the twenty-five years of service and reserve duty placed on them, and who often won’t even express any gratitude.

In related news, Knesset Education Committee Chairman MK Yossi Taieb of Shas proudly declared today that his son will go to prison rather than help the nation by serving in the army. Quite how a government which claims to be the protector of the Jewish People involves such politicians is beyond me.

Anyone who thinks that the charedi community represents Torah is deluding themselves.

A list of posts on the topic of IDF service is at Torah and Army: The Big Index