MK (Am Shalem) Rabbi Chaim Amsellem came out on Monday afternoon, against Shas leader Minister Eli Yishai.
Amsellem was referring to remarks released to the media by Yishai earlier in the day pertaining to the effort to induct chareidim into the IDF. Yishai stated the matter is on the level of “יהרג ואל יעבור”, comparing forced induction of chareidim into the IDF is comparable with the three major aveiros, גילוי עריות, עבודה זרה ושפיכות דמים. He made it clear; there is simply no room for compromise.
Amsellem attacked the senior minister’s statement, accusing Shas of “serving the ideology of the extremist elements instead of leaning towards party voters in the Zionist camp, those who serve in the IDF and work for a living”.
“After he decided the Second Lebanon War failure was the fault of soldiers who did not daven hard enough, the theologist Eli Yishai now states that induction into the IDF is tantamount to the three major Torah prohibitions”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
Amsalem is irrelevant, he’s all for this sort of stuff theres even an organization that he started that’s all for Chareidim joining the army
He may be “irrelevant” but what he has to say is more than relevant. It is the pure truth.
As long as other Jews die defending you, it’s OK?
I don’t understand the reasoning.
Is your life worth more than another Jew’s life ?
#3, On the contrary, torah learning is worth more than army service. You want to make the country less safe by drafting the learners. Also, the gemarah says many times that it is forbidden to draft talmidei chachamim.
It isn’t a question of whose life is worth more. It is a question of what types of hishtadlus are required.
What came first, the chicken or the egg? Is Jewish militarism a response to Arab aggression, or maybe it’s that the Jewish militarism set off the Arab aggression in the first place?
#6, what difference does it make? The fact is they want to kill us, and therefore we must defend ourselves, and anyone who makes friends with them is a traitor. The only question is how we defend ourselves, and the Torah tells us that we must have some people fighting and some learning, and that any other way will not work.
Remember where the name Neturei Karta came from: the NK didn’t want to pay a tax for security guards to be mechalel shabbos in public, saying that they, the learners, were the real guards of the city, and רבנן לא צריכי נטירותא . But they didn’t dispute the fact that some kind of guarding was needed.