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| Rav Meir Mazuz |
Indeed. It was more than a show of support. As reported by Arutz Sheva:
Thousands participated on Tuesday in a memorial event in the haredi majority city of Bnei Brak from those who fell during the current war...
The event was attented by leading haredi rabbis, including Kisse Rahamim Yeshiva Dean Rabbi Meir Mazuz, Chief Rabbi David Yosef, and former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau.
Rabbi Mazuz spoke about the fallen and added that those who go to war "their (heavenly) wages are gauranteed."
The event was broadcasted by the haredi media and included prayers for the welfare of the hostages and soldiers.
While it is nice to hear support from a recognized Charedi leader at a gathering in Bnei Brak, to the best of my knowledge - this is the first time since the war began that a public gathering of this nature has taken place. Most public gatherings during this time by Charedim were about their opposition to the draft.
Furthermore, conspicuously absent from this gathering wee the two most senior Charedi leaders that have done anything but give credit to those soldiers. They may have personally expressed sympathy for their sacrifice. But they do not attribute the protection the people of Israel gets to those sacrifices. They see only those studying Torah full time responsible for that protection. And at least one of them has publicly stated that anyone that gives such credit to the IDF is making a huge Chilul HaShem.
So this late public show of support in Bnei Brak by a Charedi leader seems almost like an afterthought. Even if it was meant sincerely and was well attended It should have taken place on day one. Not over a year later.
But that isn’t so much what bothers me. What bothers me is one of the things that has always bothered me about the Charedi world in Israel. And now - since the war in Gaza (and now in Lebanon) my dismay has increased by - what seems like orders of magnitude.
The idea that both secular and Dati (Non Charedi religious) soldiers have been risking their lives in those two wars while Charedim go about their daily lives without any such risk - that they let others do the dyjng for them - does not sit well with me.
No matter how many times a day they say a few Kapitlach Tehilim. or how much extra time they spend hovering over a difficult Gemara for the merit of the soldiers - it is not the same thing as dodging bullets in Gaza - risking life and limb for their people. To say that Charedim are doing their part by saying Tehilim and learning Torah as are the soldiers who risk their lives is to knowingly deny reality. And yet apparently they think they are. Patting themselves on the back for that at a rally in Bnei Brak.
It is naïve in the extreme to believe that the families of these brave soldiers are OK with that... that they don’t have any resentment towards Charedim for not sharing the burden with their children. Especially those families that have lost a son or daughter; a brother or a sister, a father or mother... in the war.
Apparently now it seems that resentment by many Dati soldiers and their families has bubbled up to the surface and exploded. As noted by Rabbi Natan Slifkin:
There has been an explosion of hurt and frustration and rage. As one person wrote on Facebook, “I am finding haredi non-conscription unbearable. And I am finding staying silent about the topic with my haredi friends and family increasingly difficult…
A specifically dati protest rally took place outside Bnei Brak. Rav Tamir Granot expressed the dati-leumi position with tremendous power in his video, which spread like wildfire…
Another video that spread widely was that of Rachel Goldberg, widow of Rabbi Avi Goldberg hy”d and mother of eight newly-orphaned children. With her eyes tightly shut and her voice powerful but shaking, she speaks about how there are just not enough soldiers, about how everyone needs to help.
“It’s like on Friday, when all the children help tidy up and clean the house for Shabbat, everyone cleans. It’s not that one person sits at the table and prays that the house will be clean. Everyone has to clean. Everyone has to get up, and move, and help, and assist physically, with their body. And if someone doesn’t, it’s not educational to give him something in return. It’s not educational, it’s not Jewish, it’s not moral.”
Powerful words indeed. Words that give me a lot more dissatisfaction at what Charedim are NOT doing than satisfaction at what they ARE doing.
As long as the war rages on and the majority of Israeli families see their young placed in harms way, with no help… no relief from the Charedi world, I can’t shake the feeling of injustice taking place among our people. And yet Charedim don’t see it. They somehow see contributing their share by Torah study and prayer - WITHOUT risking death or injury.
"What is happening to the haredi community is infuriating and sad," she told Arutz Sheva - Israel National News. "The haredim have no voice in the media and they have a case, and we need to listen to them. The campaign against them is so populist."
"It's evident in the fact that a representative of the IDF came to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and said that the IDF is not prepared to draft more than 3,000 haredim a year. If that is the case, then the entire campaign is a lie.
"A haredi combat soldier who enlisted in 2013 along with 200 other haredim sat at the conference and said that he is the only, only one who did not take off his kipa (skullcap) and beard. They all became irreligious. There's a culture shock. The IDF does not allow haredi soldiers to become officers and their commanders are secular people who do not understand their ways. It's basically the Secularization Army of Israel."
I am not convinced. These is no doubt that there is a manpower shortage in the IDF. Which has only increased since Israel invaded Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel is now fighting a two front war. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that if Charedim would join the IDF, it would can help lighten the extra burden forced upon soldiers in an understaffed IDF.
Even if they can’t be trained for combat quickly enough, they can serve in ancillary IDF service and free up soldiers that have been there far longer than they would otherwise have had to be becuase of that manpower shortage.
The anecdote Atbaryan related about Charedim who went OTD after they joined the IDF proves nothing about their alleged secularization policy. Hesder proves quite the contrary. The more committed they are to their religious values the better soldiers they make And do not stray from observance.
Nor does it speak to the vast numbers of Dati Jews that go into the IDF observant - and come out observant. All it proves is that there are people whose commitment to observance is at best superficial and don’t need that much motivation to stop being observant. This is true in both the Dati and the Charedi world.
And finally, there is Nachal Charedi, special army units designed specifically to accommodate Charedi needs. Necessity is the mother of invention. If there are not enough units to accommodate the numbers they need, I'm sure they will provide more.
I don’t know what Galit Distel Atbaryan’s game is. But it doesn’t sound like it is in the best interests of her people. Our people.
All of which leaves me with the same unsettled feelings of despair at the lack of unity among the Jewish people.
The solution seems to be so doable. So eminently fair. A solution where everyone would get what they need. An IDF that is sufficiently staffed and exemptions for the rest.
That would, however, take a paradigm shift. And that just ain’t gonna happen.