Continuing the series of how the charedi party of Agudas Yisrael and the religious Zionist party of Mizrachi joined forces in a single party, the United Religious Front (URF), when the state was created, here is what their manifesto had to say about army service:
“The Israel Defense Forces—characterized by heroism and a spirit of self-sacrifice, and having achieved a decade of victories with the help of the God of Hosts—serve as a source of blessing for Israel, ensuring the State’s security and the defense of its borders. The State must nurture and refine this army, not only in its military and combat capabilities but also in its cultural and spiritual dimensions, as befits the campaigns of Israel.”
Now you might not see anything remarkable here, and it certainly reflects classical and traditional understandings of what armies do. But keep in mind that this was not only signed by the full spectrum of religious Zionist rabbis, but also by the vast majority of charedi rabbis.
Today, you’d find it difficult to locate charedi rabbis who will say that the IDF ensures the state’s security. They believe, or at least profess to believe, that it’s Torah which is actually protecting Israel against its enemies, via supernatural means. (Specifically, the Torah of eighty thousand of charedim aged 18-26; any deduction from that, and we’re all dead, and nobody else’s Torah helps.)
And charedi rabbis today are certainly not going to praise the IDF as a “source of blessing” for Israel. And they don’t even have any notion that soldiers demonstrate gevurah, as I explained in my post Rabbis vs. Warriors. Many of them won’t even concede that soldiers demonstrate self-sacrifice - they will claim that it’s yeshiva students who are actually making real sacrifice!
O, for the days when the chareidi rabbanim were in line with traditional Judaism, which recognizes reality. Even the Chazon Ish, one of the most extreme and anti-rationalist of the charedi leadership, recognized that the IDF actually does something, stated that non-learners should enlist, exempted only a small group of learners, and wrote that if they are needed, they must enlist.
Why did things change? Well, presumably the main reason is that back then, right after the horrors of Europe and the violence in Palestine, and seeing how the Zionists had rescued and protected Jews, the chareidi rabbis were in touch with reality. Decades of a coddled existence have caused them to develop a new ideology. If and when the coddling stops, it will change back.