Re:
Against the Backdrop of the Supreme Court's Decision:
Giyus:
Bnei Torah in the I.D.F.'s Crosshairs
By:
Beinish Dorit
Am
Yisrael, Listen Up!
Giyus,
the army draft is here in real time. The Israeli government is proactive to
fill the I.D.F. with yeshiva-oriented recruits. Things aren't the way they used
to be.
Since
the inception of the State, an agreement was in place, that allowed b'nei
Yeshiva a 'pitur,' or deferment from military service. Years ago,
the Bayit Yehudi party revised the 'chok' with Shivyon Benetal –
everyone must contribute and share the burden of the country's defense. Still,
whether you embrace Bnei Brak's philosophy, or in contrast, are of
"Peleg" orientation, all will acknowledge that the government's on-line
ad tells a different story.
Witness
its text: "Rotzim l'shanot, rotzim l'hishtalev." Literally:
'They want change [for themselves] and opt to blend in with society.
A
prominent Israeli attorney brings us up to speed. He employs similar verbiage
to explain the Memshala's intentions:
לא ניתן להתעלם מכך שרשויות המדינה
גמרו אומר לשלב את החרדים במוסדותיה ובאורח חייה החילוני, והדרך להשגת שילוב זה
מתחילה [ונגמרת] בצבא. הצבא הוא הכלי לשילוב ולשנוי, שמבקשות הרשויות לחולל בחברה
החרדית. עיקרון זב שזור כחוט השני לאורך התיקונים המחמירים בחוק, ומהווה את הבסיס
להם.
One
cannot ignore the fact that the authorities have decided to incorporate the
Haredi people into its institutions and secular way of living. The means to
achieve these goals begins – and ends, with the army. "Tzavah" is a
tool being used to incorporate and alter the Haredi community to its liking.
In
short, Yahadut's shortfall is the army's livelihood ר"ל.
Rav Elyashiv
– Psak and Hashkafa
An acquaintance recounts how, during his tenure of
study in Israel, he sat by Rav Elyashiv zt'l, as a 'chayal' from
a hesder yeshiva, walked in and inquired as to the Kashrus of a Mezuzah
at his military base.
Here's the conversation: 'L'mah ata mitkavain'
– what do you mean to infer, queried the Rav. 'She'zeh dira ba'al korcho'
– that a domain in which an individual is coerced to abide in, is not a
normative dwelling place, and is therefore absolved of Mitzvas Mezuzah? [See
Tractate Yoma 10b]
"Zeh lo ba'al corchi, ani merutza la'asot
tzavah!" – it's not against
my will, countered the soldier, I'm agreeable to army service!
"Zeh tzorich li'yot ba'al corchacha" – it should be against your will, said Rav
Elyashiv.
Then he asked the zkan Haposkim the $64,000 question: "Lamah
lo osim bnei yeshiva tzavah?" – and quoted the Rambam that it's a
mitzvah to defend the Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael against an enemy.
Rav Elyashiv answered: Yeshivaleit are not
obligated to train, they're only 'mechuyav' to fight – and then Tzavah
won't take them. Then he continued: And even if they are enjoined to train,
you're not mechuyav to put your life in the hands of Arik Sharon [Sar
Bitachon at the time]. The Posek Hador provides clarity and
perspective for this crucial issue.
––––
The Giyus issue is larger than life – who is Am
Yisrael? Who's in charge of the Jewish People?
The 'Memshala' wants a piece of everything
you do and think. But what of history? Our inexplicable survival upends Tzavah
ideology.
3,000 years of experience has embedded in the
Jewish human condition, that a Supreme entity micromanages the course of human
events, even as we speak.
Jewish Home Party has partnered with others to
write an alternate narrative, a fictional novel of 'Im tirtzu, ain zu agada'
– we can determine our own fate.
The Settler movement have their fingers in this
pie, too – as enablers, they catapulted 'Bayit Yehudi' into power. In Bayit
Yehudi's parallel world, a ben yeshiva's ruchniyut is worth expunging,
just so that Chibat Eretz Yisrael reigns supreme.
Their rendition of the Passover Hagada reads, 'Ilu
natan lanu Eretz Yisrael, v'lo natan lanu et haTorah, Dayeinu!' Had You
given us the Land and not the Torah, t'would have been enough. So they crafted
a chok with two periods of "Histalgut," – adaptation
timelines, till the entire olam hayeshivos enters the army's enclaves ר"ל.