Giyus: Bnei Torah in the I.D.F.'s Crosshairs

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.

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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.

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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.

The military is seen as a 'kur hahituch' – a melting pot – with humanism; your Yiddishkeit melts down. Well, if that's the case, it's time to get the heck out of there before it's too late, and embrace the only truth – that the Boreh Olam calls the shots 24/7.

The Mid-East is a region in flux – Iran has got its own "Tekufat Histalgut" in its quest for a Shia Crescent in Syria, a hegemony of Shiite belief. Tehran has plans to build a naval and air base, too. Israel with its massive firepower, stands by helplessly, while its nemesis moves in next door.

This is not a random event. Although we don't comprehend His masterplan, obviously, Hashem is moving the pieces into place, to bring the world to its tikun, with Tzahal and the rest of us as mere spectators.

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As the Torah describes how Yaacov Avinu brought his household before Esau, it states: And he placed the shefachos – handmaidens and their children first [Breishis 33:2] and Leah and her children afterwards, and then Rachel and Yosef last.

According to the Vilna Gaon's interpretation of the Tikunei Zohar, (see אבן שלמה פרק י"א) this refers to the period preceding the final Geulah. The "handmaidens," first in the procession alludes to the wayward leaders of the Jewish People, who will hold the reins of power at the time. "Leah and her children" are a veiled reference to the amei ha'aretz – simple folk, whose 'tovim' – righteous amongst them will be subjugated under their rule. "Rachel and her children last" are symbolic of the talmidei chachomim "shefolim v'nivzim" – who will be subject to 'zilzul' – condescended on by the wicked leaders of the time.

This Divine script may very well be a stark portrayal of our timeline. If I was on the High Court, or was Naftali Bennet, Motty Yogev, or a member of the Yesha who knowingly voted 'Bayit Yehudi' in, I'd be shaking in my boots; obviously, anybody who's got a hand with tampering with Talmidei Chachamim and the Torah, and certainly who the Zohar speaks of in this manner, is going to get toasted.

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Truth to tell, the conduct of the Bagatz, Israel's Supreme Court, Naftali Bennett and his cohorts, the I.D.F. and its officers, would give armchair psychiatrists something to chew on.

Why does it bother you so, that Chareidi Jews are scrupulous in mitzvot observance and steeped in Torah study?

You've revised the chok – as of Tuesday, September 12 – that all bnei Yeshiva must be eventually be conscripted.

Why do you feel mortally wounded to the point that their 'Yahadut' must go?

Your Chevra are preeminent 'feinschmekers' in every sense: You claim to see the nuclear doings in Iran's cavernous mountains; and you say, we can peer into Syria's backroads and bypasses – the only place you fail to look into is deep down inside your own selves. Deep in your gut, you feel inferior, inadequate – you sense something is missing in your life. How come I also don't keep the Torah – I'm a Yehudi, too!

This is not the way things are supposed to be, but you can't make peace with the Torah, so instead you opt for a cynical גם לי גם לך לא יהיה – I'll ruin it for the rest. This way, we'll feel better about ourselves.

Rabotai! Don’t be darn fools – the destiny of the Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael is in Someone else's hands. We've got an ironclad havtacha about the Torah: "לא ימושו מפיך ומפי זרעך ומפי זרע זרעך מעתה ועד עולם!". The Boreh Olam has other plans for the Jewish People, an עם קדוש ונאמן לאלקיו. So shall it be – soon in our timeבקרוב, אמן כי"ר .