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| Not your father's IDF |
I’ve heard it so many times. The purpose of drafting Charedim into the Israeli army (IDF) is to take the Judaism out of its Jews. This is one of the primary arguments used by the Charedi world for their vehement opposition to its young people serving. It is almost as if the Torah Umnaso exemption (Torah study is their profession) is secondary.
A recent opinion piece in Mishpacha Magazine by Eitan Kobre made exactly that argument:
The draft… is a vehicle for the purpose that the army has always served to feed young men and women into its bowels to be Jewishly and morally pulverized and homogenized, emerging at the end of three years as full participants in secular Israeli society.
He adds:
So long as the Knesset cafeteria is kosher and closed on Shabbos, there is no problem forcing religious Jews into an army where kashrus and Shabbos and the rest of halacha are at the commander’s whim.
I have always countered that the goal of the IDF is to protect Israeli citizens from harm by placing its soldiers in harm’s way. And that even if there might be influences of the type Eytan describes, it is no longer the case since the advent of Charedi army units. Any one that wants to avoid the kinds of pressures Eytan describes can opt to join those units.
But the fact happens to be that Eytan’s description about the current IDF is the furthest thing from the truth. At least according to one army chaplain that responded to him in a letter published in a more recent issue of Mishpacha.
Lt. Colonel Yedidya Atlas, a chaplain serving in the army reserves, wants to disabuse us of this constant canard against the IDF by Charedim. Their only experience with the army is what they are told by their leaders and politicians. Or through anecdotal stories from those that had bad experiences with the IDF. True, there are legitimate stories about how some soldiers went in Frum and went out OTD. But to generalize that this is the rule rather than the exception is plainly false.
Rabbi Atlas fills us in with the following information that refutes just about every negative thing cited by Eitan… starting with the fact that the Charedi units fully comply with Charedi standards of observance. He is in a better position than Charedi politicians whose ears are attuned only to negative reports about the army. Reports that are misleading at best. Rabbi Atlas notes that the majority of officers and combats soldiers in the IDF today are religious!
The Charedi unit Kashrus standards are Eida HaCharedis standards. They have separate living and training areas. A commander’s whim has zero to do with what a Charedi recruit is subjected to.The standards of the Charedi units are part of the IDF regulations and are supervised by the IDF rabbinate. If violated by a commander it has serious consequences for him. Loss of rank and command. Even jail time in some cases.
So much for suffering at the whim of a commander. Furthermore every IDF base has a fully equipped shul. Every outpost has a Sukkah where religious soldiers actually sleep. They are given Arba Minim (Lulav and Esrog etc). Many IDF bases close their dining rooms for the entire week of Sukkos and entire units eat in the Sukkah!
The IDF runs a Selichos program from the 2nd day in Elul (as per Sephardi custom) until Erev Yom Kippur – bringing 30,000 soldiers to Jerusalem and the opportunity to say Selichos at the Kotel. 90% of the soldiers participate in Tefilla even though more than half of them never did before!
The soldiers that fought in Gaza 3 years ago all wore Tzitzis and carried a pocket Tehilim and siddur provided by the IDF from which they recited prayers before going into battle!
Unlike the IDF of 40 or 50 years ago, where some of Eitan’s accusations might have been more extant, today many soldiers previously unexposed to observant Judaism come out more Jewishly aware and some actually become religious!
All of this was conveyed in a letter by Rabbi Atlas
I tend to trust a Rav that has been in the trenches with the IDF of today, than I do the Charedi politicians with an anti IDF agenda that get their information second hand from sources with the same anti IDF agenda.
Clearly the army of today is more accommodating to religious Jews than at any time in its history. This is not to say that there are not instances where a recruit goes in religious and comes out irreligious. I actually know of some cases like that. But I believe that recruits like that were already on their way out. The army was not the cause. It just made it easier for them. At the same time I know religious Jews that entered the regular army and remained as observant when the left as when they came in.
I would be nice if Eytan and other vehement critics of the army would know the reality of today and stop parroting untruths perpetuated by Charedi politicians who have no direct experience in the army… people that too easily are swayed by the few that provide them with personal negative experiences. Which corroborates their pre-existing beliefs. Beliefs about an IDF that are no longer true. (If they ever were.)
Instead they should express their Hakatras HaTov to the IDF. Soldiers that place themselves in harm’s way so that the rest of Israel - including the entire Charedi community – remains safe.
Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of the constant bashing of the IDF they instead instituted a prayer for the safety of their soliders? How can people like Eitan Kobre not acknowledge what the army does for Charedim and everyone else that lives in Israel? How can they not pray for the welfare of those who risk their lives so that those who wish to study Torah full time are able to continue doing so without fear of annihilation by Israel’s enemies?
HT: Marty Bluke