Yeah, They Went Ahead And Did It

And I'm not talking about the Mossad.

What’s even more audacious than planting explosives in 5000 pagers and blowing them up in the faces of Hezbollah terrorists?

Yeah, planting explosives in 1000 walkie-talkies and blowing them up the following day.

And what’s even more audacious than that?

Yeah, having set up the front company that actually sold the pagers and walkie-talkies in the first place, which means that the terrorists paid you to blow them up.

But what’s even more audacious than that?

Claiming that the success of this extraordinary operation, which doubtless took months of planning and endless difficulty in execution, is all thanks to charedim in yeshiva.

My speculation in the previous post proved correct. The Israel edition of Yated Ne’eman went ahead and audaciously declared that credit for the accomplishments of the past two days should not be given to the Mossad or the IDF. Their efforts, according to the Yated, did absolutely nothing, and it’s heresy to say otherwise; Devarim 8:17 condemns those who say "kochi v'otzem yadi, my strength and the power of my hand made for me these spoils." The accomplishments, Yated declares, are all thanks to charedim who started Elul zman and are intensively learning Torah.

As I noted yesterday, charedim do not accept any corollaries to this claim, such as that it means that charedim are responsible for the IDF’s failures. And, as I have demonstrated, nor are they interested in fleshing out the parameters of the alleged protection provided by learning Torah in yeshiva - which could (according to their perspective) save lives. It’s just a claim that they brandish to feel good about themselves and to rationalize their avoidance of sharing national responsibility.

Someone suggested that it’s actually the charedim who are guilty of kochi v’otzem yadi. They are effectively declaring that IDF successes are all thanks to their own efforts. I’m not sure whether that’s accurate, because the problem of kochi v’otzem yadi appears to be specifically ruling out God’s rule altogether. But there’s certainly a tremendous arrogance involved (not to mention stupidity).

And it’s just plain incompatible with traditional Judaism. You don’t need to be a full-blooded rationalist to acknowledge that Judaism sees material efforts as actually accomplishing things. The absolute normative approach among Chazal was that material effort is inherently significant (and also religiously important, with prayer as an accompaniment but never as a replacement).

Those who yell about kochi v’otzem yadi are forgetting to read the very next passuk, which says “But you should remember that it is your God who gives you the power to make these spoils.” It’s not saying that man does not have power - it’s saying that man must remember that his power ultimately comes from God. The passuk is criticizing those who attribute their successes solely to their own efforts. One must always remember God’s role, and one must always try to be worthy of His assistance. But physical endeavor is of genuine value and significance, and it’s even an obligation. It’s a tragedy that charedi Judaism has been taken over by the most extreme strains of anti-rationalist thought.

As I wrote yesterday: Ki tetze lemilchama - when we have enemies, the Torah does not tell us to go to yeshiva to defend the nation, it tells us to go and fight.

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