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| Mothers on the Front rally last week (Jewish Press) |
That might sound like something all Charedim would be grateful to hear from a secular group like that. But equality in all things means that Charedim should not only be given the same rights as everyone else, they should be required to fulfil national obligations equally as well. With equality of rights comes equality of obligations. Without the latter the former should not apply.
The one area where Charedim refuse to be treated equally is in military service. Even as volunteers in non combat national service. I agree with Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet who recently stated this is an anti Halachic position (for reasons that are beyond the scope of this post.)
I have consistently maintained (and still do) that those studying Torah full time get the unfair advantage of safety over the rest of Israelis. While it’s true that there are secular and religious Zionist Israelis that might get exemptions, they are exceptions. Charedim on the other hand are all exempted. And thus spared the dangers of combat which is what military service is mostly about.
How do they defend all those exemptions to a mother who lost a son in battle? Or to a soldier that has been permanently injured? Or to his family?
To argue that power of learning Torah protects Israelis from harm as much as military combat will not bring back the lives of soldiers killed in action or heal the permanent injuries sustained in battle.
No matter how important Torah study is the net result is that Charedim get to learn in safe and comfortable conditions while others are tasked with dangerous job of protecting them – some of whom get killed or seriously injured in the process.
Arguing the importance of Torah study will not give any comfort to a grieving mother, father, wife, or child who lost a loved one in combat. That Charedi leadership doubles down on equating Torah study to military combat and tried to pass a bill stating this is the height of Chutzpah in my view.
Charedi leadership ‘explains’ their reasons for refusing to serve in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) is because of the spiritual damage caused by a secular military leadership that ‘purposely’ wants to disabuse religious Jews of their observances and beliefs. That may have once been true in some cases, but now that there are military units that specifically cater to Charedi needs that argument no longer holds water. Although there may be an occasional; ‘glitch’ in the way that mandate is fulfilled, the IDF is fully committed to serving the needs of Charedi recruits and in most cases attempt correct those glitches.
Besides - many religious Jews have served honorably in the regular IDF and were not spiritually damaged at all. Hesder Yeshiva students, for example, are comprised of Religious Zionist students and are among the most dedicated soldiers in all the IDF and serve with honor, often in groups that volunteer for dangerous assignments. They obviously do not suffer any spiritual damage. And instead come out of that experience with even stronger beliefs and commitment to observance. Many becoming the Religious Zionist version of Charedi – called Chardal. There is no reason to believe that a Charedi recruit that serves in a Charedi unit will fare any worse.
So I am with this ‘hate group’. (Why I call them a hate group will soon become obvious.) Their demands are legitimate. As the Jewish Press reports:
240 mothers, members of the “Mothers on the Front” group whose offspring include “present, past and future male and female soldiers” on Tuesday submitted a petition to the High Court of Justice asking the judges to instruct the government, the defense minister and the military to end their violation of the law and immediately enforce the conscription of Haredi yeshiva students, and, as they argue, bring to end the “longstanding discrimination between blood and blood.”
Attorney Dafna Holtz Lachner, representing the petitioners, stated: “Before us is the essence of the constitutional crisis in its entirety – a provision of the law which expressly states everyone must be recruited, without discrimination between blood and blood…
It’s too bad that a legitimate goal like theirs is tainted by the kind of hatred reflected by the following comment:
Attorney Ayelet Hashar Saidof, who founded Mothers on the Front, recently spoke at a rally on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv and compared Haredi Jews to rats and other disease-spreading vermin.
That comment undermines her very valid complaint. There is no way that anyone can take her seriously. Adding fuel to that fire is the following event:
Last week, Saidof led a rowdy rally in Bnei Brak during which a woman was pictured exposing herself before a group of shocked Haredi men.
I don’t know what she thinks that kind of hateful rhetoric and disgusting behavior will accomplish. In my view that completely destroys any credibility she would otherwise have had. Some people who ought to know better are just too stupid for words.