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I remember seeing taken during the Yom Kippur War of Chassidim being called out during davening, running in the streets to their units, carrying rifles while wearing their Yom Tov clothing. Clearly Chassidim used to serve in the IDF. Have things changed since then? Do they still serve, or have they followed the Litvisha velt and don’t serve anymore?
I’m sure there are some who do and some who don’t, but I’m wondering whether each Chassidisher group has developed a shita in this, as the Litvisha have developed?
They don’t serve. (Some individuals associated with them may have enlisted on their own initiative.)
Funny you mention it,
they DO have the same
shita a litvish:
LOLNO.
Absolutely not, except maybe for a few dropouts.
And then there’s Chabad which is another class altogether (another religion, some say) – some of them do go, though the majority don’t, since they would only want to serve in a Zionist army which the IDF obviously is not. (Being that the IDF isn’t going to put a bullet through the head of every single Arab in E”Y, which is what most Chabadnikim dream about every night.)
Yes they do, my sons have served with them in recent years.
The senior Rov of the Ger chasidus where I live told of the experience of the Yom Kippur War in Eretz Yisroel. First, because of the imminent danger, they had a radio set up at the back of the shul with someone posted to listen for call-ups. And as many in the kehila were in the IDF’s chevra kadisha unit (BTW, for those of you who look at the IDF as Tamei, how many militaries have a chevra kadisha made up of chassidim?)They were in shul with their uniforms and left to go to the front the whole day and evening as the call up codes were broadcast.
No one had the chutzpah to throw stones at the Gerrer chasidim leaving in cars, taxis and buses as they could to get to the front.
The approach of these truly ehrlich individuals is being an am kodosh and still being responsible citizens of a Jewish state. Something seems to have been lost in the years since 1973.
Even in 1973 Ger Chasidim, as a rule, did not serve in the IDF.
OP: Of the two you mentioned by name, more Gerrer chasidim serve than other chasidim, but not most. The late Vizhnitzer Rebbe zt”l served but his chassidim don’t.
I recall in 1973, at Kol Torah a “Litvishe” yeshiva that I was informed that the Bal Shachris and Bal Mussaf were called to the front before Mincha.
Josh31: At that time anti-zionism was not as much of an iron-clad rule in the Litvish world as it is now. It is quite possible.
@Josh31: Kol Torah used to be a Poalei Agudas Yisrael (PAI) Yeshiva, where Zionism was discouraged, but army service was allowed. Most bachurim did not join. Chevron and Shalavim were similar. Now, Kol Torah is very much against bachurim joining up as the social dynamics in Israel are much more polarized between Chareidi and Mizrachi.
As far as I know, Ger does not assur army service and some Chassidim do join up. Vishnitz and Belz outright assur it and Satmar isn’t even a question.
All of the posters are totally ignorant of the facts. Many chassidim do join the army after a few years. There is a clear difference between chassidim and the litvishe yeshivas. Chassidim are much more flexible with the medinah than some of the litvishe yeshivos. The reason is for another day.
I can’t tell you which Chassidim them are, but I do see soldiers with peyos from time to time.
How could you let me get away with such an egregious typo? I meant “they,” not “them.”
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