I'm honestly confused by this post. Why should anybody have thought that it was a prank?
Most of those suggestions absolutely are things that chareidim would theoretically consider preferable than joining the army with the huge accompanying risk to their ruchnius and netzach netzachim.
Perhaps the Islam one was a bit much, and of course technical issues of doing it on a mass scale might make it unfeasible. And if there are halachic considerations, of course those have to be weighed by a competent authority, as in every case of b'dieved conflicts between various considerations. But theoretically, what is the joke? Yes, most chareidi parents would consider it preferable for there child to lose a finger r"l than to risk becoming a sheigetz. And the choice has been made in that direction innumerable times in our history.
I'm honestly confused about what the joke or prank is here.
What's most revealing is your own extreme myopia, to the point where you consider the fact that other people have a different value system than yourself to be a self-evident prank...
Just for the record, the drafting of Jewish cantonists lasted from the late 1820's to the late 1850's, when the whole cantonist system (which was a hundred years older, but for non-Jews) was abolished.
Thirty years may not seem like much, but it left a big impression on the Jewish imagination. Maybe it's one of the places charedim get their paranoia about military service; I don't know. But do you know what a much more lasting impact was? That rich and powerful Jews, including the rabbanim, were able to pay off the Czar's people and exempt their own sons, while having "khappers" grab the poorer kids for conscription.
It is widely believed by historians that that situation was a leading reason for the mass abandonment of Judaism among Eastern European Jews in the 1800's. We could learn a lesson for today, but of course some people never learn lessons.
I hope you realize that you are being manipulated by people who want the government to fall and Israel to lose the war. It is these people who are pushing the haredi draft into the headlines. The only reason it suddenly is a burning topic is that these people are using it (just as they are now using the families of the kidnapped) to foment hatred and resentment between Jews who are currently fighting for our lives. Anyone who wants Israel to win this war, no matter their political opinions or feelings about Bibi (and there are plenty of legitimate reasons to want him out, on the right and left), should be doing all they can to give the home front stability and unity.
Further points to ponder: 1) You can be sure that if Gantz were currently prime minister with a coalition including the haredim, the haredi draft would not be discussed. 2) And it is probably worth considering if those who are trying to topple the government, lose the war, or draft haredim would, in the absence of the haredi issue, be trying to do away with the hesder program.
The problem is that faking mental illness would the be most rational solution for getting an exemption. And the intellectual skills and dedicated stamina it would take to keep up such a pretense to make it effective are only available to the most talented scholars- scholars who'd anyway get an exemption by dint of being members of the Torah elite. Those non-illuyim, the smart but not geniuses do not have the capability of convincing experts that they are imbeciles, necessarily don't belong in the most elite Yeshivos. It's the Charedi catch-22!
I'm a non Jew whoo lived five years in Israel as a young man, mainly on kibbutz. So I never actually learnt much about the various aspects of Judaism. Over the last four years I have attended an orthodox Rabbi's webinar and made friends there with whom I 'compare notes', experiences, and the nature of G-d.
I find your articles interesting and thought provoking.
Please refer me to where Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch advocated bodily harm to oneself to avoid the draft. You know as well as I do that the very worst thing that people will do is to sit in jail. Stop pretending like something worse is actually advocated or done
Not only was it not funny it was a smear on a huge sector of people with an attitude found in a tiny minority. (Rav Tzvi Friedman is a minority of the peleg to begin with) It was truly a disgusting and downright mean joke.
I'm honestly confused by this post. Why should anybody have thought that it was a prank?
Most of those suggestions absolutely are things that chareidim would theoretically consider preferable than joining the army with the huge accompanying risk to their ruchnius and netzach netzachim.
Perhaps the Islam one was a bit much, and of course technical issues of doing it on a mass scale might make it unfeasible. And if there are halachic considerations, of course those have to be weighed by a competent authority, as in every case of b'dieved conflicts between various considerations. But theoretically, what is the joke? Yes, most chareidi parents would consider it preferable for there child to lose a finger r"l than to risk becoming a sheigetz. And the choice has been made in that direction innumerable times in our history.
I'm honestly confused about what the joke or prank is here.
What's most revealing is your own extreme myopia, to the point where you consider the fact that other people have a different value system than yourself to be a self-evident prank...
Just for the record, the drafting of Jewish cantonists lasted from the late 1820's to the late 1850's, when the whole cantonist system (which was a hundred years older, but for non-Jews) was abolished.
Thirty years may not seem like much, but it left a big impression on the Jewish imagination. Maybe it's one of the places charedim get their paranoia about military service; I don't know. But do you know what a much more lasting impact was? That rich and powerful Jews, including the rabbanim, were able to pay off the Czar's people and exempt their own sons, while having "khappers" grab the poorer kids for conscription.
It is widely believed by historians that that situation was a leading reason for the mass abandonment of Judaism among Eastern European Jews in the 1800's. We could learn a lesson for today, but of course some people never learn lessons.
Just imagine the seguloh of keeping your rosh kollel's little toe, in formaldehyde, in your salon....
Could be monetized....lots of money.....
I hope you realize that you are being manipulated by people who want the government to fall and Israel to lose the war. It is these people who are pushing the haredi draft into the headlines. The only reason it suddenly is a burning topic is that these people are using it (just as they are now using the families of the kidnapped) to foment hatred and resentment between Jews who are currently fighting for our lives. Anyone who wants Israel to win this war, no matter their political opinions or feelings about Bibi (and there are plenty of legitimate reasons to want him out, on the right and left), should be doing all they can to give the home front stability and unity.
Further points to ponder: 1) You can be sure that if Gantz were currently prime minister with a coalition including the haredim, the haredi draft would not be discussed. 2) And it is probably worth considering if those who are trying to topple the government, lose the war, or draft haredim would, in the absence of the haredi issue, be trying to do away with the hesder program.
Dismanteling the State of Israel was the Haredi objective all along.
The problem is that faking mental illness would the be most rational solution for getting an exemption. And the intellectual skills and dedicated stamina it would take to keep up such a pretense to make it effective are only available to the most talented scholars- scholars who'd anyway get an exemption by dint of being members of the Torah elite. Those non-illuyim, the smart but not geniuses do not have the capability of convincing experts that they are imbeciles, necessarily don't belong in the most elite Yeshivos. It's the Charedi catch-22!
Don't you have anything better to do with your time?
I'm a non Jew whoo lived five years in Israel as a young man, mainly on kibbutz. So I never actually learnt much about the various aspects of Judaism. Over the last four years I have attended an orthodox Rabbi's webinar and made friends there with whom I 'compare notes', experiences, and the nature of G-d.
I find your articles interesting and thought provoking.
Rav Tzvi Friedman was not condemned by mainstream charedim because no one outside of his followers takes him seriously.
I forgot it was April 1, but as soon as I read it I was thinking, Purim for sure. 😀
Please refer me to where Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch advocated bodily harm to oneself to avoid the draft. You know as well as I do that the very worst thing that people will do is to sit in jail. Stop pretending like something worse is actually advocated or done
Not only was it not funny it was a smear on a huge sector of people with an attitude found in a tiny minority. (Rav Tzvi Friedman is a minority of the peleg to begin with) It was truly a disgusting and downright mean joke.