There is an old saying “It’s all about timing” and if one applies this to the growing conflict surrounding efforts to draft chareidim, one must look in astonishment at the timing of the motzei shabbos rally. Shabbos is the 17th of Tammuz, marking the beginning of the Three Weeks and Sunday is observed as the fast day this year, bridged by the rally directed at torah Jewry in Eretz Yisrael.
The organizers of the ‘Suckers Tent’ and supporting organizations are calling for a mass rally to demand everyone “share the burden”, the slogan that has become synonymous with pulling avreichim out of yeshivos to serve in the IDF or a state approved national service program.
It is not about being ‘for’ or ‘against’ IDF service, but the fact that gedolei yisrael shlita have spoken out against such a plan in no uncertain terms, instructing chareidi MKs not to participate in the Plesner Committee as to avoid any involvement in the process.
With the increasing momentum demanding chareidim begin pulling their weight, state leaders including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin are calling upon all citizens of Israel to ‘share the burden’ by being part of IDF or a national service program.
Organizers of the event insist this is not against chareidim, but it is a cry calling for support of every citizen carrying his/her load, sharing in the responsibility of the defense and existence of the nation. This is the general sentiment of the dati leumi community as well.
As such, the rally will begin near the Arlozorov train station in Tel Aviv and they will march to the Museum of Art where the rally will take place. The focus of the rally will be against Deputy Prime Minister/Interior Minister Eli Yishai of Shas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The prime minister is accused of “selling out to Yishai” and organizers hope to enlist enough support to send a clear message to the Prime Minister’s Office, that the future of this administration is dependent on the passing of a law to replace the now-defunct Tal Law – to draft chareidim into the IDF.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin explained that this will not be accomplished by force but he added that he agrees with the momentum and there should not be more than 1,500 avreichim permitted to continue learning annually.
Opponents of the ongoing effort are trying to explain that the trend is changing and there are thousands of chareidim in the IDF today. They fear the current momentum is a recipe for civil war chas v’sholom, and they are warning that seeking to force chareidim against their will and more importantly, against the word of the rabbonim shlita will result in a collapse of the already existing programs such as the air force’s Shachar program and the infantry’s Nachal Chareidi.
That being the case it appears the national momentum is working against bnei torah as the Kibbutz Movement announced its support – calling on members to take part in the motzei shabbos event.
Prominent Maariv correspondent Ben Caspit in his daily column uses harsh words against those who do not serve, seeking to persuade people to come out on motzei shabbos in demand of “sharing the burden”. Caspit feels this is the final window of opportunity and if chareidim are not compelled to serve, the opportunity will be lost forever. He calls on the public “to take a break from politics” and turn out for this grassroots effort. “This is not just Shaul Mofaz’s and Yochanan Plesner’s private battle, but this is our battle and we must take part”.
Caspit draws an analogy to the Iranian threat, speaking of the “ticking time bomb” in his description of the situation, warning “when this bomb explodes the air force will not be able to save us”.
“The chareidim already understand that the situation that existed to date is gone forever. The problem is time is running out. All sides have climbed up high trees and no one is willing to come down. Shaul Mofaz changes his mind every quarter of an hour. He is torn between the Kadima rebels that call to break from the coalition and those wishing to remain in the government. Netanyahu is torn too, between the longstanding agreement with chareidim and the deep understanding that the current situation must come to an end. There isn’t a responsible adult capable of finding the middle of the road…”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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17 Responses
The value of the study of Torah is so great that Jews all over the world will be at a tremendous deficit when learning of Torah decreases as a result of the implementation of any “share the burden” army service law.
Yeshivah students who learn all day make up some of the huge deficit caused by the overwhelming majority of Jews who don’t learn at all.
It would be wonderful if all memebers of the IDF would “share the burden” as well & learn Torah.
Although unrealist that anything like this will happen, it is important to put things in proper perspective.
Did the charedim propose an alternative plan?
Let’s face realit! Many people in the yeshiva are trapped. They would love to get a job. The Israeli govt should allow all charedim to work without going to the army. They shoul reinstate the draft in five years. This will ensure that only true Klei kodesh will remain in the yeshiva.
I think the real issue here is the Chilonim’s concern about losing control due to the demographic trend. They are looking at the IDF as a tool to weaken the ranks of the Charedim.
people should remember what happened when barak called for a revolution. he got something he did bargain(ie intifada) those who dont learn from history are doomed to …………
I agree!!! Share the burden of learning Torah!!! Shut up & get yourselves into a Bais Medresh and learn some Torah. share the burden, the Ol HaTorah. Share the Ol haMitzvos.
Message to Bibi – “Share the Spiritual Burden” and sit down in Yeshiva and learn Torah. That defines a Jew!
It’s a shame that the Torah observant world is so splintered and fragmented. If we all banded together for once, instead of focusing on our differences, we could protect the greater Torah community from these types of attacks. The chiloni world, and lehavdil, the Nazis (yimach shemum) did not really care whether we followed the Baal Hatanya, or the Vilna Gaon, or whether we ate kitniyot on Pesach or not.
In my opinion, the biggest downfall of the Torah world isn’t the internet, dirty movies,or goyish music, its the total absence of achdus in Klal Yisroel.
Shabbat Shalom
Maybe i am naive but am i missing something??????
if we all live in a county and there is aneed for the whole country to do something why should one part of society have to contribute and not the other???? if i like to play drums or if i was christian and i wanted to study the bible and use that as an excuse not to go to the army would the chariedim respect that???????????? there is NO Reason EVERYONE shouldnt pull their even share… the government has created a TON of opportunities for Chariedim – Including Hesder, Nachal Chariedi, SHierut Lemui and programs to actually work for the army and not be a “fighter” ……….. it is unfair to ask to be different…no one wants to fight… i dont want my kids fighting, however they have choices where they dont have to HOWEVER they MUST contribute so that we can continue with gods help survive
I agree – share the burden. Make chareidim join Zahal — and force all the chilonim to learn in yeshivas! Make them daven, make them wear modest clothing, make them speak without nivul peh, transform them into tznu’im. Make them put on tefillin (once saw one at a religious relatives simcha put his shel yad on his head, wrap it around a few times then get stuck). Make them eat kosher and make them recite brachos before they eat. Get those tzadikim up for vasikin and make them learn until they fall over at night. No yichud and no nigi’ah. Chupah v’kedushin. Share the burden.
The Satmar ruv saw this coming. You can’t claim to be against Zionism and than join them to go against them like most of the Agudah claimed they were doing in the early days. Now it has come back to haunt them. The Agudah has a choice either they renounce Zionism completely and say we never asked for this Medina, we never wanted it. It was a secular idea that conflicted with our Torah values. We only joined the Knesset to fight against this travesty. Or they say we are Zionist R”L and we will do whatever is necessary to protect and defend this Medina including taking up Guns & Tanks and say כוחי ועוצם ידי עשה החיל הזה. The Agudah have finally came to the crossroads where they have to make the choice. I sincerely hope they make the decision to get out of the Zionist arena and say it was all one big mistake and hasten the coming of Moshiach.
Hey, here’s an idea to take care of 2 birds with one stone. Maybe the chareidi tzibur can volunteer to do guard duty on Har HaZeisim, at Kever Rachel, Ma’aras HaMachpelah, etc. so that they can fufill the current request to help serve. In fact, I think we can nail a 3rd bird with this stone. The guards should volunteer in groups and bring their seforim with them so that they can learn b’chavrusa during down time while keeping an eye on things to make it safe for all of the mispallelim.
Ok, ready for this? How about a 4th bird with the one stone? How about they dedicate their learning to the cause of pleading with the Rebono Shel Olam to bring all of the Jews who are not yet frum back closer to Him so that we can all bring Moshiach soon!
@#11
I disagree. This is not a fork in the road with Satmar’s way or the proverbial highway. There are other options on the table. The state of Israel isn’t the devil, and just because their hashkofas are krum, doesn’t mean we should destroy the country – Neturei Karta style. It’s obvious that the only reason there are frum parties in Knesset is to represent Torah Jews and fight against the secularization of the state. We have to recognize the fact that – be’avonoteinu – the majority of eretz Yisrael are NOT Torah observant ppl, and we can’t act as if we’re the only ones living there. We have to cooperate and compromise where we can to survive. We can’t sit back and pretend we are the almighty majority, it just won’t work. Joining them is obviouslynot an option either. And if I may,it’s a bit disrespectful of you to suggest that the gedolei Yisroel who support frum involvement in the knesset would entertain the idea of abandoning Torah Judaism for Zionist Judaism, just because they are not Satmars.
why do people say they are killing Torah learning
that is simply a lie. whether one believes Torah protects or not is not an issue, since there are many Jews who learn Torah not between the age of draft,
are people saying that only those who learn between 18-25 are protecting the world. and the learning of others, the young the old the people who learn and work or go to the army are worthless.
Stop beating around the bush the yeshiva guys and the leaders simply do not want to serve, do not want to work. since they easily could serve , doing national service and learn
Where do they bring down that 1500 torah learners is absolutly necessary for the medinah. Why not have a much larger number who learn several hours a day or one day a way but also serve in the army. There is plenty of time during the day to do both as many normal yidden do both here and in EY. They get up, go daven and maybe learn for an hour than go to work, come home and maybe learn a few more hours. For many of these chareidim, it has nothing to do with learning but rather they enjoy not having to work longer hours to combine both learning and work or military service. If you can make someone else do your share, you’d be crazy not to.
Even though secular Jews in Israel should “share the burden” my intent with that comment was never that they should be forced to do it.
Forcing Jews to keep mitzvot is totally unproductive. My point was to illustrate that sometimes one segment of society has to to go to extremes to make up the deficit caused by other segments.
Secular Jews in Israel and the world over are coming back into the fold. The numbers are staggering. They ONLY do so because they see the beauty.
If all Jews were observant than all IDF members would be observant. This was the case for centuries where.
The truth is that observant Jews are disproportionately over-represented in the Israeli army. Representation from Yehuda & Shomron is seven times the national average. Over 50% of officers are observant. That number was 2.5% in 1991, 31.4% in 2007 and it grew to over 50%.
In truth secular Jews in Israel need to share more of the burden of the IDF. The Israeli Government is picking on a few kollel students and making a big rift just to be anti-Torah.
#16 “forcing Jews to keep mitzvot is totally unproductive.” The Gemara disagrees…. Just sayin