According to reports, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gabi Ashkenazi has lost patience regarding the hard-line views of the Har Bracha hesder yeshiva and its leader, Rav Eliezer Melamed, who openly instructs his talmidim/soldiers to disobey orders to remove Jews from their homes anywhere in Eretz Yisrael. The IDF commander made his recommendation to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, calling upon the Defense Ministry to close the yeshiva.
Israel’s state-run Channel 1 News reported on Sunday night that similar measures may be taken against the hesder yeshiva in Yishuv Elon Moreh, under the direction of Rabbi Elyakim Levanon Shlita.
Rav Melamed and other rabbonim who share the same viewpoint have repeatedly called on the IDF to refrain from issuing orders that soldiers are incapable of obeying since they negate their very principles of faith, Torah observance and Zionism.
As senior officials continue releasing statements rejecting insubordination for any reason, the defense minister later this week is scheduled to meet with representatives of the nation’s hesder yeshivot.
Chief of IDF Personnel Branch Major-General Avi Zamir is reviewing the hesder yeshivot and their position vis-à-vis insubordination, stating there must be a zero-tolerance policy regarding insubordination for any reason whatsoever.
Opposition MK (Ichud HaLeumi) Dr. Michael Ben-Ari is among those seeking to establish a grass roots organization, to place pushkas (tzedaka boxes) in homes around the country and the world, to raise “nickels and dimes” towards enlisting money to build Eretz Yisrael. “I prefer this than to one donation for $1 million since I want the commitment and participation of the people, of Am Yisrael” he explained.
Ben-Ari made another appeal to Minister Hershkowitz and his Bayit HaYehudi Party, urging them to break away from the “wicked evil government”.
Minister of Science Rabbi Dr. Daniel Hershkowitz spoke with Kol Chai Radio on the matter, reminding listeners that about a year ago, he left his rabbinical and academic world towards assisting in unifying the ranks of the right-wing, and he is not seeking a position of glory. “We must unify to reach a position permitting us to act and influence decisions, not to stand at the sidelines yelling,” seeking to justify his party’s remaining in the coalition government despite the building freeze.
The minister stated in his opinion, closing a hesder yeshiva will have the exact opposite impact, resulting in an increase in refusal to comply with orders.
When asked if he will be participating in Wednesday’s Jerusalem protest against the construction freeze, the minister stated he will be conducting a chupah at the time and therefore, he cannot attend, adding he is opposed to the cabinet decree and he is not one who hides his opinion on such matters.
Emanuel Shilo, editor of the weekly B’Sheva newspaper announced today that he will continue carrying Rabbi Eliezer Melamed’s weekly column, adding the rav’s views are not simply his own, but his column continues to increase in popularity and he represents a growing number of residents of Eretz Yisrael.
Shilo added that Rav Eliezer’s views are simply mimicking the piskei Torah of leading rabbonim in the dati-leumi world, including his father, HaRav Zalman Baruch Melamed Shlita, as well as former Chief Rabbi Avraham Kahane Shapira zt”l.
Shilo feels the main concerns regarding the Har Bracha hesder yeshiva surround the growing popularity of the viewpoint, not the specific yeshiva, and Melamed is simply a “sacrificial goat” since his statements and views may be too abrasive for the military’s liking, perhaps too “in their face”.
Retired senior IDF intelligence officer, Major-General (reserves) Yaakov Amidror, a shomer shabbat Jew, explains it is interesting how the military exhibits a willingness to permit “academic freedom” when university professors speak out against the military and its policies under the guise of a western democracy but when a rav dares to defy the government’s policies, the response is an iron fist policy.
The Jerusalem Report adds that veteran dati-leumi sector rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Chaim Druckman Shlita, sent a letter to colleagues urging them to refrain for calling upon soldiers to disobey orders.
Quoted in a Bar-Ilan University Forum, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed reaffirmed the “mitzvah” of serving in the IDF, stating that Am Yisrael never had a perfect army and a voice of legitimate criticism must be heard, stating that he always has and continues to encourage IDF service. He also spoke of the trauma endured followed the expulsion from Gush Katif, which was a significant contributory factor in the current situation.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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5 Responses
The world looked with disgust at the NAZI beasts when their defense was, “I was only following orders”. Should orders be evaluated, assess, and thought about? or is the answer FOLLOW BLINDLY.
Why has Ashkenazy never shown distaste at the Left-wing lecturers and professors at Tel Aviv University (and other places of higher destruction) for advocating no service in the ‘territories’, no serving in the IDF of Occupation?
When a law is passed through voting, have the POLICE DEPARTMENT be the guardians to carry it out, not young men who are dedicated to saving/preserving/honoring Jewish life in Israel.
In most countries where the army is important, encouraging soldier to disobey orders for a political reason will end you up in front of a firing squad. By these standards, the Israeli army is being quite moderate. If the soldiers and their rabbi opposed the democratically elected government , they should get out of the army business and focus of politics (or take the Hareidi approach and minimize political involvement and try to be neutral on security issues while seeking support or at least toleration for their own subculture).
If the army would stop giving illegal, immoral, anti-Torah orders, this problem would not exist!
As per the usual, #2 is clueless. In the US, the military today gives a very low priority to capturing deserters themselves, much less those who encourage them to desert, yet this is country where the army is important. Honestly, from where do you get these ideas? Jimmy Carter gave blanket amnesty to thousands of draft dodgers, or were you not yet born then to notice? Disobeying an order to appear for induction is no different than disobeying an order while in uniform.
During the 1970s most of the American government, at least the Democrats, regarded tha military as a cancer on society and wished to remove it. The Democrats were ready to surrender the Cold War, which is how they went from electoral triumph (in 1974) to being out of power (after 1980) in one election cycle.
If someone today in the US were to actively encourage soldiers to oppose a key government policy (e.g. not support the war in Afghanistan), they would be arrested. In any middle eastern country other than Israel (Syria, Egypt,Iran, Saudi Arabia, to choose the major ones) telling soldiers to oppose their officers would be considered treason and be shot. Can you perhaps refer me to other countries engaged in or on the verge of active hostilities where those opposed to the government are free to encourage soldiers to mutiny? Israel is actually quite nice to its dissidents, compared to most other Afro-Asia countries.