The gemora (Pesachim 49b) cites Rebbi Akiva who says that when he was an am haaretz, he would yearn that someone would bring him a talmid chochom so that he could bite him like a donkey. The gemora continues to say that the hatred of an am haaretz to a talmid chochom is greater than that of the nations to the Jews. Even greater than this is the hatred of someone who once learned, and then separated from it. These are fascinating statements. I would have thought that the anti-Semitism displayed by the nations is the biggest hatred, yet it seems even more so is that which we find on our own doorstep. How can we understand this gemora? Does is have any relevance to us in today’s day and age?
Let us work backwards. People who once learned and then separated from it, what is the root of their hatred? History bears witness; there were people in renowned centres of Torah, who were even great masmidim. Then something happened. Usually it is something to do with kina, tayva, kavod or all three. Or some other hashkafic flaw, or a wrong midda, which was never exorcised, it lay dormant and it was just a matter of time before the results became clear for all to see. Some of these people then played into the hands of the enemy, and became enemies themselves, rodfim to Torah Jews. The Gemora in Shabbos (88b) explained by Chazal says that when Torah is learnt the right way, it is a life giving potion. When it is learnt the wrong way, with the wrong middos, then it is a non-life giving potion, the Torah itself makes one worse. This is Rav Chaim Shmulevits explanation as to how Elifaz came about, he was raised partly by Yitzchak, but his father and main influence was Esav. From this combination came about Elifaz, and ultimately Amalek. Amalek couldn’t have been produced by regular evil, the good from Yitzchak made the bad from Esav even worse. This is what happens when light and darkness mix. (for more see the Sichos Mussar)
Let us understand why there is this hatred from one group to the next. The main point is to do with how much ones conscious is disturbed by the next group. The non-Jew knows deep down that the Jew is right. Therefore to sooth his conscious he has to hate and oppress the Jew. The am haaretz however, is closer to the real thing, he is already Jewish, just that he knows his limitations. Therefore when he sees someone practising more than he, he has to go for them, in a pathetic attempt to make himself feel better. The problem is that such a conscience can never really be put at ease, he twists and turns to sooth his conscience, but it doesn’t work. The only thing he can do is go on and on about how bad the one who practises more is, to show that he really isn’t so bad. Finally, the one who learned and separated, he really knows the truth, and has rejected it, therefore he is the epitome of one who can only make himself feel better by going for the one who practises more.
Let us focus on how the am haaretz hates the talmid chochom. No, I’m not going to say all chareidim are talmidei chachamim, and I’m not going to say everyone else is an am haaretz. But lets generalize somewhat and call it the strict Torah camp and the less religious camp. The non-religious come along with claims, Chareidim are violent, chareidim don’t pay taxes and chareidim don’t work. Let us examine these claims, are they true or are they conscience soothing.
An Israeli I know recently went to chutz laaretz and ranted and raved telling his relatives how terrible the situation is in Israel, things are getting worse, the Chareidim ‘attack’ Jewish soldiers. That is called an ‘attack’. How does a newspaper decide what to print? To be newsworthy it must be either an article of international interest, or something unusual, against normal behaviour, otherwise it’s not news. Therefore why are chareidim sometimes in the news for certain thing? Because it shows that these are the exceptions, and not the norm. Yet it makes the less practising feel good, they can temporarily sooth their conscience and say, ‘you see the Chareidim aren’t so good after all, and my lifestyle is fine.’ Now, granted that we are not living in the Messianic era, our camp is not heaven on earth and is not perfect, there may be some who give the rest a bad name, but if one looks at the whole picture, to describe Chareidim as violent, militant etc, is it not a distortion. On the contrary, this is a secular ‘attack’ on Chareidim, the smearing of an entire sector of society. Lapid goes on and on about how the Chareidi media is attacking him. However, when he attacks on a daily basis everyone is fine with that. The first halacha in hilchos anti-Semitism is that a Jew may not defend himself. This is what the Goldstone report told us, and the UN are constantly telling us. However, in inter-Jewish anti-Semitism, the first law is that the more practising is not allowed to defend himself against the less practising. When he does defend it will be called attack, disproportionate etc. Either way he can’t win.
Let us discuss the claim that Chareidim don’t work, and don’t pay taxes. This is an old claim that first appeared in Megillas Esther, and reared its head throughout generations, especially in Berlin 80 odd years ago. So is it true or not? Tthe reality on the ground is that most chareidi families are involved in employment one way or the other. However, as was mentioned in the previous article, the whole system here is designed to keep Chareidim out of the regular workforce. Yet if a portion of what is broadly defined as the chareidi sector want to learn Torah, that’s too much. They will say no one works. Now, let’s consider another aspect. No secular taxi driver has ever charged a fare and not put it on the meter. No secular workman ever did a job and didn’t give an official receipt. In a discussion with a secular friend, he even told me that no one he knows declares income from rentals on their official forms. Another aspect is that one can earn 7000 nis a month exempt from tax. Therefore if your business is small they may not even incur liability. I’m not going to claim two wrongs make a right, but why do the secular declare the moral high ground in this area, when it is well known that the size of the black economy in Israel is not a chareidi issue, but a national issue. One gets the feeling it maybe a case of, as Chazal say, that which you claim against others, is that which you are guilty of yourself.
Aaron Yechezkel is an Avreich in a Jerusalem Kollel.
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
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33 Responses
Many believe, as does the author, that this was ever about conscription. The facts suggest that those advocating conscription of yeshiva students (which includes many non-students who are only nominal members of a “kollel”, but who are working “off the books”, and oppose serving in the army for various halachic reasons as opposed to be too busy learning) were always motivated by the desire to try to “break” the hareidi community. The only factor was “hate”, and they will pursue this hatred even if it jeapordizes the security of the state (just as the Nazis pursued their hatred of Jews even when they realized it could result in their defeat).
very well writen thank you
Its so dishonest to say that the government is trying to turn away young men from learning
1800 of the best and brightest per year, stay in yeshivas with good benefits. Thats a lot of young men , a lot of learning.
The young men that are smoking , throwing stones, those will be the young men that need to do something else.
volunteer , protect, anything but what you are doing now.
Face the facts. A whole community cant be welfare dependent.
We make fun of the minorities in the US that are on welfare.
Its not something to be proud of.
The writer totally discredits himself when he writes that “Lapid and Bennett’d agenda is “to uproot Torah from Eretz Yisroel”. This level of hysteria turns off many of religious Jews everywhere and prevents any sign of sympathy for the chareidim. His other arguments would be more productive if his hysterical comments didn’t spill over into a fantasy world.
Way to skew the facts. Your 33 percent figure is about army service and does not take into account females performing sheirut leumi or Arabs or chareidim. Taken out of the equation. Service is near 85 percent most exemptions for medical reasons.
Now who’s trying to pass off sheker?
HOW about non-learning Bochurim???? Where is a program set up for them to succeed in life? When will the rhetoric, attacks and malicious behavior towards ‘other Torah Jews’ stop?
Until these issues are resolved or at least spoken about…..all the articles from both ends are futile, worthless and waste of time & effort.
Also ignoring your hyperbolic nonsense about wanting to uproot Torah your story about the Chafetz Chaim goes well with the new law, he would not have had to serve. He would qualify for an exemption as a Talmid Chaham. As would 1799 others yearly. But please tell us about shmad. It sounds reasonable
It’s so simple! Why do we need to draft? Simply cut the budget and provide workforce integration program! Can anyone explain to me what does the army have to do with this?
#4
I see Lapid who openly declared he doesn’t believe in anything! openly declared that he’s secular! he’s honest, trust him, but whom shouldn’t you trust or believe the rabbonim and roshei yeshivas!
rabbiofBerlin the name is real matching to you! Are you perhaps the Reform Rabbiner?
interesting all the issues with the draft only became a problem when they try to draft Chareidim
One of the donors turned to the Chofetz Chaim and said ‘nu, what about you, how many beds are you giving?’ The Chofetz Chaim replied ‘with my learning, there is no need for 200 beds’.
I guess he never got sick nor anybody in his family and if they did did NOT go the hospital.
Let us examine one last point, that which a Lapid or a Bennet will never understand. I believe the story goes something like this. Once upon a time in the days of the Chofetz Chaim, they were trying to raise money for a Jewish hospital. One of the donors turned to the Chofetz Chaim and said ‘nu, what about you, how many beds are you giving?’ The Chofetz Chaim replied ‘with my learning, there is no need for 200 beds’
this explain his whole thought process and only the kool aid drinkers will buy it.
So mt kollel do you go to doctors?
Charedim, whether they learn Torah or roam the streets, have no business joining the IDF, a replica of Times Square environment. Rabbi Melamed (Mizrachi) confirmed that about 30% go out of there off the derech. Can you now understand why Gedolei Yisrael are so against it?
AThought , that is why they are allowing them at 21, after learning for 3 years, to join national service in charadi areas. If they go OTD from that, they will go OTD from anything. Personaly I think the non frum – all things considering are being very reasonable – this letter is total nonsense btw as the previous posters remarked –
athought, I see that you have no idea about Times Sq. or the army.
In addition, that quote from R’ Melamed was taken way out of context by R’ Feldman (yet again, he fails to fact-check).
satmar841; what do the personal beliefs of some of these people have to do with anything? You don’t think there are tens of thousands of religious jews of all stripes who have gone to the army and lived very goo lives afterwards?
Athought: Apart from the fact that Rav melamed never said this (check your sources), you seem to know more about Times Square environment that Israeli Army environment.
Mr akuperma
you stated
(which includes many non-students who are only nominal members of a “kollel”, but who are working “off the books”, and oppose serving in the army for various halachic reasons as opposed to be too busy learning)
beyond the dishonesty of stating one is in kollel when in fact one is out being an Entrepreneur – selling cel phoines / cigarrettes etc
beyond the dishonesty of collecting government stipends for non existent students (geneivah mamish)
beyond causing others to shed blood in the protection of malingerers and malcontents (Mondays daf in fact)
beyond all that
what is truly a tragedy is the institutionalization of dishonesty and lies as a way of life which permeates our entire velt
and yesterday we wondered why the bais hamikdash wasn’t rebuilt in our times
please look in the mirror
rob you are a complete am ha’aretz our gedloim have said that the purpose is akiras hatorah. no it is not hysteria they are very measured they are not hysterical
the op-ed’s piece was to say it is not about sharing the burden and you agreed to his points so why are they camouflaging their real intentions with the share the burden mantra and what are their real intentions for this we need our rabbeim- our gedolim the einei ha-eidah no not stav and his ilk with the facebook, rather rabboseinu who are immersed in torah yo’mam ve’layla and who live lives of kedusha and only of kedusha who have all told us bepeh molei that they want to uproot torah precisely what the oped said.
#12 Interesting read last week’s magazine section of Yated about Chasam Sofer and Jewish hospitals.
There was fear of missionaries and conversions in early hospitals, that is probably the reason the Chofetz Chaim answered in that way.
lbj, just because some charedi rav says it, doesn’t make it so.
AThought says:
July 17, 2013 at 2:18 pm
Charedim, whether they learn Torah or roam the streets, have no business joining the IDF, a replica of Times Square environment. Rabbi Melamed (Mizrachi) confirmed that about 30% go out of there off the derech. Can you now understand why Gedolei Yisrael are so against it?
if so the gedolem are doing a poor job preparing the young children for life
Stop with the excuses. “Zionist” when taking money from the State, “Anti-zionists” when asked to serve? Their are laws of normal society and no one should be exempt. End of story. And you shouldn’t take $ from the “Hilonim” and then complain about budget cuts, why should you deserve anything especially after many of you espouse htred for the Hilonim and even Dati-Leumi people who are just as and even at some instances even more religious then you are? Stop with the excuses and get back to REAL Torah.
On the one hand you act like you are in Poland, on the other you expect handouts and doing what you like. Would you behve like this in Poland under goyish rule?
This article yet again proves why Lapid and Bennet are correct on this issue. Your “Haredi” ideology must be broken and get rid of. This type of mentality belongs in Poland or Morocco or Russia NOT in Israel.
And about Arabs- Because they are Arabs and they are enemies of Am Yisrael that is why. Why would any sane person trust an Arab with a gun? They should be expelled (most of them) and the ones allowed to stay should be made to do hard labor- fix the roads and things like that. NOT put into the army with hands on weapons.
dontbeagolem : I believe it has been good that many people who would otherwise go to the army and say “I won’t join your army because your government are a bunch of usurpers and your war is illegal according to Torah. If in the army I will refuse to kill anyone or detroy anyone else’s property since Torah prohibits theft.” — If they said that, it would create great animosity. The zionists don’t really want to argue with them, and somewhat fear it might undermine morale of others who might then come to question the correctness of what they do in the army. — The compromise for the last 65 years is that such persons, perhaps 10% of the Hareidi population would be exempt on grounds they were learning (and all they have to claim is that Torah is their profession, which all frum Jews are required to assert, even if we moonlight making money and the like). It was the way of peace to avoid unnecessary conflicts since the anti-zionist hareidim prefered to ignore rather than to fight the government (exclusing the few dozen Neturei Karta types), and the government prefers to ignore those who question its right to exists. — Such persons are clearly conscientious objectors under international human right standards, and the Israelis probably should exempt them on that grounds. Use of a “yeshiva exemption” was better for both sides, but that is no longer an option.
Your article does nothing to support your title of “The Sheker of Sharing the Burden”. The State of Israel and its army are entitled to run the country and the army in any way it sees fit. If only a fraction of the youth end up service, then so be it. If less soldiers are needed because of advances in technology or air strikes, then so be it. The concept of sharing the burden is that the selection process should be fair and that ALL youth be part of the draft pool. What is unfair is that the Chareidi community is comfortable with accepting the protection from the army and all of the benefits of living in Eretz Yisroel – including a functioning and democratic government. If you don’t like conscription, you are welcome to leave the country. But don’t complain about the rules when they are finally being applied to all.
As a side note – You state that only 33% of the youth actually serve in the army. I’m curious, what percentage of those Chareidim that claim they are learning as an excuse for the exemption actually learn? I’d be surprised if it was greater than 33%.
falshkeitsharer is rav elyashiv “some charidi rav” how about rav shmuel auerbach and rav shteinman are they “some charei rav” to you they are rabbis to us they are everything we aspire to in our lives because our lives are about torah not the street and the culture there is soimething called a life of torah and thats why those who aspouse such a life be’miluuy- our gedolim. yes gedolim not rabbi or rav are everything in our eyes because that is essentially what we want from our lives to you rabbi is just a prOfession so being a big rabbi just means hes a big profeossional not a godol betorah.
you rob and the rest of the kalei ha’daas dont know what chayei torah is and thats why they hve no clue what this rhetoric of “akiras hatorah” is but there are those- loads, in eretz yisroel lakewood and many other heeiligi pletzer that our whole lives is about devoikus batorah u be’chachmoisehah
when ones whole life is about devoikus batorah, not living my life and make sure it is not in contradiction to the torah rather the torah is my map for everything i do, it is my guide ki heim chayeinu ve’orech yameinu im bechukosai teleichu shetyu ameilim batorah, then yes, agezeirah of army or prison but no yeshiva is “akiras hadas”
Has anyone asked what brigade Lapid served in? or Olmert for that matter?
If memory serves correct–it was Galei Zahal. Now that’s really front line dangerous work (sarcastic)!
For that matter, if I’m not mistaken, Lapid never finished high school.
Can all the chareidim serve in Galei Zahal, or is that only for North Tel Aviv residents?
You can use ad hominem all you want, it doesn’t change the fact.
Again, (and I’ll use gadol instead of rav to make you happy) just because a charedi gadol says that Zionism’s purpose is to shmad Jews doesn’t make it fact.
#26- So why isn’t YOUR life about deveikus baTorah u “bechachmoisehah”? And why are you ignoring the gedolim who assured the internet???
You are as phony as a three dollar bill.
27, many of the jobs required are actually 9-5 tech jobs. The army needs those people badly.
I am a great believer in “sharing the burden.”
Why should women have to suffer childbearing all by themselves?
Let the Kollel avreichim have the children and send their women to learn!
yankees
the gedolim havent assured the internet im on one that is filtered and has no pictures. and only allows certain sites
but good try though
when all chareidi gedolim say so it does become fact