Last week, Israel’s Civil and Social Affairs Minister in the Ministry of Defense, Michael Biton, (Blue and White) met with leaders of the Netzach Yehuda Association, an organization that supports Chareidi soldiers during their service in the IDF. In addition to Biton, the meeting was attended by Netzach Yehuda Association CEO Yossi Levy, Deputy CEO Shaya Shushan, and Jewish-American businessman and philanthropist David Hager. Hager is one of the driving forces behind the organization and a big proponent of assisting Chareidim who enlist in the IDF.
During the meeting, Biton compared the Charedi IDF soldiers to the Chashmonayim. “We look at the story of Chanukah as the holiday that celebrates the miracle of the oil, but it’s the story of individuals who stood by the courage of their spiritual convictions. It’s the story of Matisyahu HaKohen and his children who said, ‘God’s Torah is important to us, but we will know how to fight.’ You, the warriors of Netzach Yehuda (Nahal Haredi), are the Maccabees of our time.”
“It’s an honor for me to turn to today’s Netzach Yehuda (Nachal Chareidi) fighters and their supporters who have done a brave thing: On the one hand they maintained their religious and spiritual identity, and on the other, they served their country and sprung to life. You are now a community of 13,500 Netzach Yehuda alumni, you are strong and powerful. The first battalion was made up of thirty soldiers – and suddenly we’ve reached 13,000. This is just the beginning. You are the future of the State of Israel, guarantors of our national security. In the name of the Defense Ministry, thank you. ”
In thanking Minister Biton for his support, Netzach Yehuda Association CEO Levy said: “It is especially important at a time when the draft law is back on the table, that the government make an effort to invest in those who do choose to enlist in the IDF without compromising their Chareidi identity. This is not just about those who serve in regular service, but also military graduates who wish to have a profession after their release. We are now working to establish a centralized community for the thousands of graduates – this is a real social revolution and the bridge between the IDF and the Charedi public.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Netzach Yehuda is all very well for those who are not learning anyway. Serving in Tzahal is a big mitzvah, it’s just not as big as Talmud Torah Keneged Kulam. But if someone is not learning anyway then aderaba, it’s a great thing that they should do this instead. He may even be right to compare them to the Chashmona’im, but the Chashmona’iim didn’t take talmidei chachamim away from their learning. The gemara says very clearly that it is assur to draft talmidei chachomim, and the Rambam goes so far as to call them “Shevet Levi” — not for receiving maaser or working in the beis hamikdosh, but for being exempt from Ol Malchus Ve’Ol Derech Eretz.
This whole article is sickening. The comparison does not start. I have no time or energy to take this to pieces line by line, we’ll pick one.
“God’s Torah is important to us, but we will know how to fight”
NO! NO! NO!
What is ‘but’?
It is precisely BECAUSE Torah is so important that they fought!
And, no, they did NOT know how to fight, but they fought anyway!
Does the mizrachi/tziyoni camp have a differnet version of Al HaNissim?
We say גיבורים ביד חלשים, רבים ביד מעטים, It was clearly miraculous. And the celebration is not merely about the oil, it is also about the wars. על הנסים ועל התשועות ועל המלחמנות וכו
They fought with מסירות נפש, they were ready to give up their lives.
But not so that Israel will have beaches, cinemas, technology and ‘national pride’. They fought so that they could keep Shabbos, so that they could bring korbonot, learn Torah [without having to intterupt every few minutes with a game of dreidel/sevivon].
That is who the Chashmonaim were and what they stood for.
The bochurim who give up potential juicy careers, they are the Chashmonaim.
[And a boy who has to go to the army for what ever reason, and still stands by his beliefs and keeps every single halocho as if he was in Yerusholayim/Bnei berak] despite all the negative attitudes and influences, HE is a modren-day Chashmonai!
I had that, a cousin whose Rebbe advised him and his parents, that in his situation he should go to the army. He was ridiculed for davening, for keeping halocho, and he walked sometimes miles in order to hear krias Hatorah/daven with a minyan. THAT is a true Chashmonai!]
It is terrible and revolting that such kefirah could be posted on YWN with no disclaimer to this effect.
What chutzpah the Zionists display in their defiling/recasting our yomim tovim with their heresy! How terrible it is that they are indoctrinating these Jews into the Church of Zionism while these innocent recruits think it is, liHavdil, Judaism.
And this is what they tell the ones from a religious background. Imagine, then, the lies and heresy against Judaism with which the Zionists brainwash the irreligious IDF soldiers, passing off the same as Judaism. It’s unbelievable.
@Milhouse:
In the Jewish faith, it is not a “mitzva” to serve in the IDF, CH”V. It is the opposite. The gedolim have been quite clear that it is forbidden to serve in that den of shmad and the gimmel chamuros that is the IDF.
The only potential heter by any gadol was if a kid was “on the streets” anyways, and in big danger both spiritually and physically as a result of that, then, *maybe*, in certain cases, and only according to some, he was allowed to join the IDF. But no gadol ever allowed a kid, just because he wasn’t learning, to join the IDF. Not Rav Shteinman, not Rav Shach, etc.
For you to absurdly claim that it is a mitzva to join the IDF is to falsify the Torah.
Note that the Chashmonaim fought secularism – banning limud Torah, milah, chodesh and Shabbos. Is that who Nachal Chareidi is fighting against? They are not – and therefore there is no room for comparison. This article is ridiculous. ‘G-d’s Torah is important to us, but we will know how to fight.’?!! NO!! ‘Hashem’s Torah is important to us and therefore we will fight those who forbid it even without knowing how to fight.’!!! They did NOT go through basic training and gain fighting skills. They fought with mesirus nefesh and Hashem granted them a miraculous victory. So what else is new? All the Zionist versions of yomim tovim are a rewrite of history. What is YWN’s purpose in posting this article, pray tell?
Haktan, your name is true, you are indeed a katan, but so are those whom you amusingly call “Gedolim” who “have been quite clear that it is forbidden to serve” in the IDF. Any person who gives such a false “psak” is not a gadol at all but a katan, and deserves no respect. Serving in Tzahal is one of the greatest mitzvos one can do; but not the greatest, which is learning Torah.