Three Types of Jews

A mesorati hostage, a dati soldier, and a charedi rabbinic leader

Agam Berger, one of the Israeli soldiers who was released from captivity last week, is from a family that is traditional but not fully observant. In Hamas captivity, she kept Shabbat and did not eat the non-kosher meat, even though she was nutritionally deprived. (Watch this video on X showing her today, just a few days after her release, attending a ceremony honoring her sister, Bar, who has completed a military course.)

Zecharia Haber was a dati-leumi reservist who fell in Gaza a year ago. Rabbi Amnon Bazak writes as follows (translated by Shlomo Zuckier):

Twelve years ago, during the 5773 (2012–2013) year, my dear student Zechariah Haber approached me and asked if I had a source sheet on a particular topic in Shas. After giving him the sheet, I asked what had prompted his interest in that topic. Zechariah then told me about an initiative that he saw as extremely important: to create a scholarly encyclopedia that would cover all the major topics in every section of the Torah Shebe'al Peh. This encyclopedia would present the primary sources for each topic and explore the fundamental analytical question (in yeshivish terminology, the 'Chakira') that serves as the key to understanding the various approaches. At the time, the initiative seemed highly ambitious—almost unrealistic. And although I occasionally discussed it with Zechariah, after he completed his studies at the yeshiva, I had already forgotten about it.

Years passed. Zechariah pursued undergraduate and graduate studies at the Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot as an outstanding student, published articles in prestigious journals, and built a family with his wife, Talia. The couple had three children. He went on to doctoral studies at Tel Aviv University while continuing to study and teach Torah. Life seemed full of promise for the diligent and talented Zechariah—until the war broke out. He left his family to fight in a Milchemet Mitzvah to defend Israel from its enemies and fell in battle in Gaza exactly one year ago, on the 6th of Shevat, 5784 (January 16, 2024), at the age of thirty-two, sanctifying God's name, the people, and the land.

It was only once he passed away that it became clear that Zechariah had, in fact, completed his significant project toward the end of his yeshiva studies. He had accomplished this in the brief period between his return to the yeshiva after serving as a tank commander in the middle of his fourth year and the conclusion of his fifth year. He had shared a copy with his friend, Idan Burger (ybdl"a), a work of immense scope and depth. It turned out that through extraordinary diligence—literally working day and night—Zechariah had single-handedly produced an entire scholarly enterprise. It also became clear that, in his great humility, he had never mentioned it to anyone in his close family, not even his parents or his wife.

After his passing, the family decided to publish his work. The first volume, dealing with topics in Orach Chaim (laws of daily Jewish practice), is coming out this week, published by Yeshivat Har Etzion, which has lovingly undertaken the publication of the entire series in Zechariah’s honor and memory.

I must admit: from the moment I first encountered the full manuscript until this very moment, I still cannot comprehend how Zechariah managed to accomplish such an immense task in just a year and a half. Even an experienced Torah scholar would require many years to refine the central sources on hundreds of halakhic topics throughout the Torah and systematically compile them in writing. There is no way to measure the contributions Zechariah could have made in every field he pursued, including Torah study.

Chaval al de-Avdin vela Mishtakchin. May his memory be a blessing.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Yehoshua Eichenstein, representing the universal view of the charedi rabbinic and political leadership, declared that any attempt to draft charedim, even those who are not learning, even putting them in an all-charedi hesder unit, is about tearing them away from Torah and Judaism. Apparently, unlike Agam Berger, who grew up in a non-halachic home and did not attend yeshiva, these charedim who have spent their entire lives immersed in Torah Judaism will abandon religion. Accordingly, even non-learning charedim are not drafted, while an increasing number of girls are being drafted to address the manpower shortage, along with husbands and fathers and talmidei chachamim like Zecharia Haber, who have to leave their wives and children and jobs and Torah studies to serve - and fall - instead.

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