Who are the Real Neturei Karta?

Rav Asher Weiss disappoints

Rav Asher Weiss is a charedi “Gadol” who is very popular in the Dati-Leumi world, because he actually interacts with them. He gives shiurim in hesder yeshivot, and talks very respectfully about dati soldiers to (certain) charedi audiences, describing how they deserves to be honored (although the value of his specific message can be debated). He is genuinely trying to move the needle in the charedi world.

Accordingly, many people were surprised and dismayed to learn that R. Weiss joined the anti-Zionist Gedolim™ on the anti-Zionist Keren Olam HaTorah tour, to fundraise for the long-term full-time learning of charedim, whose refusal to help relieve the crushing burden of the war has resulted in the Attorney-General and the courts reducing the special financial benefits that charedim formerly received.

Aside from promising that Hashem would give huge sums of money to those who gave him money, R. Weiss made some statements about who he believes to be the real soldiers defending Israel - the Neturei Karta.

No, not that Neturei Karta. While Neturei Karta is widely known as the name of the radical anti-Zionist charedi group, the phrase, which means “guardians of the city,” actually comes from the Talmud Yerushalmi. And the Talmud Yerushalmi explores the very same question: Who are they?

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi sent Rabbi Chiya, Rabbi Assi, and Rabbi Ammi to appoint scribes and teachers in towns throughout Eretz Yisrael. They came to a certain place where they could find neither a scribe nor a teacher. They said [to the townspeople]: “Bring us the guardians of the city (neturei karta)” They brought them to the town guards. They said to them: “Are these then the guardians of the city? They are the destroyers of the city!” They said to them: “Who then, are the guardians of the city?” They replied, “The scribes and teachers, as Torah states: “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain on it; unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman keeps vigil in vain’.” (Chagiga 1:7)

This is a favorite for charedi polemicists against army service, who want to claim that it’s the yeshiva students who are actually protecting Israel. And R. Weiss references this. He talks about davening that Hashem should open the hearts and minds of mistaken people (clearly referring to those who think that the IDF manpower crisis and the crushing burden on the reservists should be solved with charedi enlistment), and help them realize who are the real neturei karta - the charedi yeshiva students.

But of course, if that was actually what the Gemara was saying, we would find actual instructions and examples in the Torah and in halacha to that effect, which we don’t. In fact, we don’t find a single statement in Chazal about people learning Torah being exempt from army service and protecting others in war, despite many sources that are distorted to that effect, as R. Moshe Klausner has thoroughly demonstrated.

But what about the Gemara regarding the neturei karta? There’s a double distortion going on.

First of all, the people described as the real neturei karta are not yeshiva students. Rather, they are the “scribes and teachers” - the ones teaching Torah to the masses. In modern terms, that’s people like Rav Eliezer Melamed, not 100,000 yeshiva and kollel students. And they are described this way because by teaching Torah to the masses, they are providing the basic religious identity of the town, without which the town would not earn any Divine protection. It’s not claiming that they replace soldiers in times of war.

Second, the people described as the fake neturei karta, as the destroyers of the city, are not soldiers protecting the city against military threats. The Gemara is talking about events in the lifetime of R. Yehuda HaNasi, when the Romans controlled the land. And the word that it uses is סנטורי. That’s a transliteration of the Latin centurio - centurions! These were Roman guards. As the commentary Pnei Moshe explains, these were people who “would sit and watch people in order to seek pretexts against them and devise schemes to steal and rob them.”

To be honest, I wasn’t so surprised that R. Weiss would claim that it’s yeshiva students who are really protecting Israel, but like most charedim, I doubt that he sincerely believes it. A few years ago I wrote about how what happened when R. Weiss went to speak at the Hesder yeshivah in Sderot. During his talk, a siren suddenly went off, warning of an incoming rocket. Rav Weiss stopped and asked if the room was protected. After apparently being reassured that it was, he said, “We are studying Torah, and this is the best protection possible.” It might have been convincing had that been the first thing that he said, but, tellingly, it wasn't.

Meanwhile, the claim that 100,000 charedim are the real protectors of Israel rather than the IDF was not the only disappointing statement that he made.