The “HaMachane HaChareidi” publication delivers the words of the Belzer Rebbe Shlita. This week’s edition carries the headline “Prepare for mass emigration” as a result of the draft gezeiros. According to the report, a group of American students are committed to assisting chareidi families wishing to receive refugee status abroad. This undoubtedly reflects just how serious the rebbe is regarding threats to compel talmidim and avreichim yeshivos to leave beis medrash to serve in the IDF or a state-approved national service program.
The report states that efforts towards arranging for the first wave of people to leave Eretz HaKodesh have begun. The report speaks of “a wave of mass emigration to the Diaspora” to escape the gezeiros and permit bnei Torah to continue their lives of avodas Hashem.
The article refers to this week’s historical kenos, the gathering of the rabbonim shlita of the Moetzas Gedolei Yisrael of Shas, Degel Hatorah and Agudas Yisrael, signaling total achdus in the face of the gezeiros to battle the holy war against those seeking to destroy Torah in Eretz Yisrael, including Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Yemenites, litvish and chassidish alike. The Gedolim Shlita decided unanimously there would be no compromise and no capitulation no matter how difficult the situation becomes for the Torah community.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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27 Responses
If the Rebbe’s proposal is carried out, would this drive up home prices in Brooklyn?
With all due respect,
Does it really seem likely that the ruchniyus of these bochurim would be more damaged by serving national service in Eretz Yisrael more so than by coming to America? America has no concept of long term learning, so inevitably these boys will adapt and leave the yeshiva anyway. Remember, Eretz Yisrael haredi life is much more sheltered than in the US, and these boys may not be equipped to face all of the added nisyanos of America. I hope this is just an empty threat, and not a serious consideration.
Those who are not zionists (hold the Medinah is treff, and that the war is contrary to halacha) are clearly conscientious objectors, meaning their persecution violates international human rights law, and they qualify for refugee status.
Those who support the Medinah, see nothing wrong with conquering the Arabs and chasing them out of Eretz Yisrael, see nothing wrong with accepting Israeli government money – but who argue that the army is unfriendly to frum Jews, or who argue that their learning in yeshiva is more important than being in the army — have a problem. They are “chicken hawks” — all for the war, but only against their personal participation. They shouldn’t expect must sympathy, nor refugee status.
However if Israel starts forcing Jews to become refugees from Israel, the Medinah will find its international support collapsing. In addition, many non-zionist hareidim would be willing to discuss reaching an accomodation with the Arabs rather than leaving (cf. the famous story, perhaps untrue, of Ben Gurioun telling Hadassah donors that R. Amram Blau was a better zionist than they were since he insisted on living in Eretz Yisrael).
It probably won’t come to anything so extreme. The hilonim still belive most hareidim will report for induction into the army, and most will be happy about it. Once they realize they will be facing massive resistance, the zionists will back down.
Also, your article says “American students” are helping with the resettlement effort in the US, but the article in hebrew actually says “Senators”.
What needs to be done is what they did in every other country. You don’t even need violence. Hundreds of thousands of chareidim should camp out near the kenneset. All week with tents. Coming and going in shifts. Rebbes should come there and make a tish or shiur. The international media will report it as a massive rebellion. Its not enough to come and protest one hour. It has to go on for weeks. Its easy to do. The pressure on lapid will intesify. They need to plaster pictures of him looking like hitler. The international world is looking to get rid of netanyahu and now we can replace him with a chareidi.
who says America is gonna let them in!???!!!!
Ashkenazim had the hightest IQ average of anyone in the world. Why on earth would you send them here to a government that steals all intelligence information, everything invented, all tax money and hands it over to 5-eyes countries only? Why would you do this, go somewhere else. Your endangering the entire world because they’re using intelligence information here to hurt people in every country. Go somewhere else, you need to be evacuating here more than Israel.
A mass emigration is a win-win
1) The avreichim don’t have to go to the army
and
2) the army doesn’t have spend more to cater to their needs and the Israeli gov’t doesn’t have to support their families.
Everyone wins in the mass emigration – except
1) the families that will be certainly even worse off financially – but its their choice
2) the US mosdos that will now have to share their funds with all these newcomers, their families, and their kollels.
If they have to leave, perhaps they can move to an out of town community which has many inexpensive houses adjacent to it. Baltimore is one example. Still, let’s hope that this gezeira is annulled before it gets to that.
Reply to nfgo3. Bell is planning to build a whole settlement in Lakewood.
To Akuperma,
Chareidim in Israel who receive money from the government are not “accepting Israeli government money” — they are getting some of their tax dollars back. Taxes in Israel are rather high – 18% Value Added Tax, income taxes and more. The Yeshiva budget makes up about .1% of the entire Israeli government budget (or at least it used to, it’s probably less now).
The Yeshiva World in America talks a good game, but when push comes to shove, they are barely hanging on financially. There is maybe one generation left before all the money drys up. Add in a mass influx of immigrants that don’t speak English and have no practical job skills, and you will see an overnight collapse. And my prediction is that most of the “army age” kids will see that they have been sold a bad bill of goods, and will promptly leave to purse an existance outside of the shtetle
#11. That applies perhaps to “Welfare State Benefits”, but not to subsidies for yeshivos. If one is going to an immigration judge, saying I need asylum because my religion holds that the Israeli government is illigitimate, you look bad when it comes out you’ve been on the government payroll.
#12. It is unlikely that a United States that is accepting significant numbers of refugees from Israel will continue to bankroll the Israeli government or to provide political and military cover for Israeli policies.
The zionists have had a parasitic relationship with the Americans, who on seeing Jews fleeing Israel will stop being “suckers” and cut off the subsidies upon which the zionists depend.
One should note that many Israeli hareidim would love to get jobs outside of the “ghetto” (a “shtetle” is an independent village, which frum Jews in Israel don’t have), but the price to do so in Israel is to give up being frum — in American many will have an option since the US, unlike Israel, is generally accomodating of religious minorities.
However my guess is that the Israeli will back down once they realize they won’t be able to pull it off. Israel has never had draft resistance and won’t be able to cope. Frum Jews arguing that Torah doesn’t authorize the Medinah would seroiusly undermine the zionist enterprise. It would be easier to end conscription, as most other countries have done.
#12 so they will look exactly like your grandparents, is what you are saying,
Response to crisis of the week. You are dead wrong.There are numerous very wealthy frum jews in america. They may not flaunt their wealth and don’t donate to the UJA but they are rolling in hundreds of millions. An influx of boys coming from israel would heip the shidduch crises of single girls.also the israeli boys can fly back on election time or even vote from here for chareidi parties.
To #5 Tzvi Hirsh
There is so much to comment on all this that i dont know where to start, nor do i have time.
BUT
I have one comment to you;
Please leave HITLER out of this. Him and his 1,000 year empire, humiliated, starved, shamed, shaved, slave labor, cruelly separated kids, stripped naked, gassed, pulled out the gold teeth for the money, and then burnt the bodies. They did this to my grandparents, probably yours and a majority of people’s grandparents on this Site.
Beside the horrific human experiments such as putting someone’s hand in a cold bucket of water out of the window to observe what happens to a frozen arm and how long it takes for gangrene to set in.
They sliced up live patients in experiments without any anesthetic.
They threw babies in the air and observed how many times they can shoot them before they hit the ground.
They made inhuman surgeries to twins.
They organized human combat to the death.
Re Comment No. 15: Your optimism about relief for the shidduch crisis from an influx of boys from Israel assumes that Israeli boys do not have sisters. And an influx of boys from Israel might cause a bankrupt-American-father-in-law crisis. Your belief that “there are numerous very wealthy frum jews in america” puts you in the company of anti-Semites throughout the world, and throughout history. Let me emphasize: I don’t think you are anti-Semitic, just wrong.
The arrogance of some of you commentators is absolutely deplorable! Purim is coming up. I recommend studying the Megillah B’IYUN! YOU HAVE A LOT TO LEARN!!!!
Baal Boose: So perhaps you now understand how we regard passing a law that prohibits some Jews from learning Torah. It’s just as bad as what the Nazis did. Torah is to Jews what sex and sports are to goyim — no that’s not correct, it’s more like food, water and air. The noise is to make this clear to the powers that be.
Softwords: We learn much from Purim but there is a big difference. Purim involved a decree against all of the Jews (frum and frei, the batlanim and those whose specialized in bitual Torah, etc.) – this was a decree from Ha-Shem so we could rely on tefilah for Ha-Shem to cancel the decree. The situation we now address is similar to Hanukah, where the decree isn’t against all Jews (the Greeks loved the misyavanim, the equivalent of the zionists and assimilationists of our generation), and since we know Ha-Shem doesn’t make decrees against learning Torah, it was necessary to take matters up in the “this world” way.
oh yeah, sure, we avrachim are all going to pack up and go to live in usa.
ha ha ha ha ha! this is the funnyist thing I have ever heard. Purim must be in the air….
“who says America is gonna let them in!?”
We would need to enact immigration reform to increase the immigration quotas. I hope that all here will agree.
charliehall: Refugees from religious persecution are exempt from quotas, both in the US and elsewhere. It has to do with some changes in both American law and international law after World War II. The law has been applied to refugees from allied countries before, so that’s not an issue. Clearly anyone will to cite the Satmar Rebbe and say the Medinah (and therefore, the war) is contrary to Torah, will qualify as a conscientious objector and therefore a victim of religious persecution.
There would be an impact on public opinion in the USA (and elsewhere) if a half million clearly unassimilated Jews were to flee Israel – while the secular Jews would be delighted, the goyim would be outraged — which is probably the reason saner heads will prevail in Eretz Yisrael and the government will back down on conscription (already there are signs the Religious Zionists are getting cold feet, and much of the Likud is getting nervous — they all thought they would get a brigade similar to Nahal Hareidi or Hesder, and instead they are getting a potential rebellion that could endanger the survival of the Medinah).
Well, he was certainly zocheh to be mekayem behidur ‘meshenichnas Adar marbim besimcha’: news of the threat spread through Israeli media generating many hundreds, if not thousands, of comments from Israelis who were laughing at the threat, cheering the possibility and as often as not offering free rides to the airport. Rivevot amcha beit yisrael were ROFLOL.
#19 akuperma – I honestly wasn’t referring to you. My apologies if you thought otherwise.
Commenter No. 5 writes, in part: “The international world is looking to get rid of netanyahu and now we can replace him with a chareidi.”
Do you honestly believe that any Chareidi has a chance to become the prime minister of Israel? Unless the “international community” abolishes elections in Israel, that will not happen in the foreseeable (and most of the unforeseeable) future. And your proposal about equating Mr. Lapid with Hitler is unspeakable. Comment no. 16 gives a good explanation of the problem with your proposal to equate Mr. Lapid with Hitler.
akuperma,
Israel is not banning Torah, and if people go to jail, it’s not for learning Torah, it’s for not going to the army.
#15 – Israel does not have an absentee ballot. In other words, an Israeli can only vote in Israel not abroad.