Nahal Charedi soldiers play key role in elimination of three terrorists in Jenin
Soldiers from Nachal Charedi (not these guys) played a key role in the liquidation of three terrorists in Jenin in the wee hours of the Sabbath morning. You can watch video from inside one of the soldiers' helmet cameras here. This is from the first link.
The unit was instrumental in surrounding the house where Hamza Abu Alheja, 20, a member of the Hamas military wing, was hiding. An Islamic Jihad terrorist and a Palestinian Arab civilian
from the Palestinian Authority were also killed in the clashes, which
erupted after Jenin residents rioted at IDF soldiers; two SWAT members
were injured during the operation.
Netzach Yehuda oversees a large swath of Palestinian
Authority-controlled territory, including the Jenin area. This is not
the first time the hareidi unit has been instrumental in a crucial IDF
raid.
The Nahal Haredi Foundation noted that last year the battalion was
responsible for nearly 300 arrests in Jenin and Tulkarm, and helped
wound 14 terrorists rioting against IDF soldiers - the highest record in
the infantry and paratroop battalions.
Tell that to the next person who tells you that there are no Haredim in the IDF.
A friend in Teaneck sent me a copy of Rabbi Pruzansky's latest blog post (a blog I have linked several times before on this blog) and asked me to comment. I spent so much time responding to him that I thought I should share what I wrote with all of you.
Torah sustained the Jews for 2,000 years of galus (exile) - not the State of Israel, which is a recent creation.
In a perfect world, there would be avolunteer army. In a less perfect world, those who don't belong in yeshiva would go to the army in a manner thataccommodates their religious needs, and those who belong in yeshiva would be able to stay there and be supported. We don't live in a perfect world. Wedon't even livein anear perfect world.
The armydoes not needall or even most of the Haredim. But they're afraid to say it. The real goal is not to get the Haredim into the army as a fighting force - that already exists. The goal is to remove as many as possible from the yeshivos and 'endow' them with 'Israeliness.' The goal is touse the army as a melting pot.
All the threat of this law has done is to reduce the number of Haredim enlisting in the army tovirtually zero.
As for the prayer rally, you can find many comments about it by searching "prayer rally" in my blog.
I actually agree with him about the tefilla for the army, but it will never happen unless the Haredi Gedolim (great rabbis) come out and say it should happen, and in the current atmosphere, that's less likely than ever.
I also agree with him about earning a living, and I suspect that more Haredim who are not top scholars would leave the yeshivos and go to work, if only they weren't legally prohibited from doing so without serving in the army. The government has to decide what's more important -raising Haredi participationin the work force or trying to make the Haredim 'Israelis.' The government made that decision this week, and it has likely made both goals unattainable.
By the way, it's ironic that Rabbi Pruzansky (who was a college classmate of mine, and whose blog I have occasionally linked) cites Rav Dessler. It's Rav Dessler who is the basis for the current Haredi education system in Israel. The letter is in Michtav Me'Eliyahu Volume 3, Page 355. And while some have attempted to reinterpret it as being only for Rav Dessler's time, the letter itself gives no indication that was the intention. You might want to point that out to him if you have contact with him.
Freilichen (Happy) Purim!
I would suggest you follow all the links before commenting.
The 'official video' of Sunday's prayer rally - UPDATED
I'm posting this because I really like the song (it's from a prayer that's said every time one finishes a tractate of Gemara or an order of Mishna), but I have to tell you honestly that the video is a little too over the top for my tastes. Those who understand Hebrew will probably understand why, and I'm not going to comment on it further.
Let's go to the videotape.
UPDATE 12:20 PM
I was anticipating this (which I had not seen) when I said that this video is over the top.
Images of hareidi protesters are timed for the lines "we get up early
to study Torah," and are juxtaposed to "they get up early for worthless
pursuits" which is played to images of IDF soldiers, as well as Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warning the UN about the Iranian nuclear threat.
Emergency workers who worked to provide medical aid and keep the
rally safe were also shown on the clip in time for the lines criticizing
"worthless pursuits."
...
The clip has raised an outcry; Emily Amrousy of Yisrael Hayom wrote
"I'm sure the clip will anger the hareidim who study Torah as well.
After all, most of them value and respect the IDF, understand that it's
important for the physical existence of the state of the Jews, and just
don't want to enlist themselves."
"The clip turns the soldiers, who endanger their lives, to actual
enemies," added Amrusy. "Even two innocent soldiers who accidentally
crossed the road at the place where the protest started with large heavy
bags on their backs are 'waking early for worthless pursuits.'"
I agree. I can think of a lot of things that go on in this country that are far more deserving of the characterization 'worthless pursuits.' This was really unnecessary. Note that there is no one who takes credit for producing this video. And I would bet that these guys are not very happy about it either.
Last Thursday, just days before the mass protest, 21-year-old Yossi Ashtamkar became the second Nahal Hareidi (Hareidi brigade) officer to receive a prize for excellence in IDF history at an officers' course graduation ceremony.
Nahal Hareidi has won three other prizes over the past several months. In December, the unit won the IDF Chief of Staff's prize; the unit was also awarded the IDF Department of Technology and Logistics' Award and the GOC Army Headquarters Safety Award.
The unit was also nominated for the Education Award, along with an
award in Excellence in Maintaining Sector Security, issued by the
Paratroop Command and Chief Infantry Officer.
Here's a video about Nachal Haredi's Netzach Yehuda brigade, the largest in the IDF.
Let's go to the videotape.
Sorry, but you can maintain the preeminence of Torah (with which I wholeheartedly agree) without putting other people down. There's no need to continue the descent that this week's discourse has spawned.
I am sure that many of you who have read one post after another on this blog about the ongoing controversy surrounding the potential drafting of Haredim might be wondering why the simplest solution isn't being implemented. If, as even I have admitted, there are Haredim who are 'on the list' in the yeshivoth, but aren't really learning, why aren't they drafted while those who are serious about their studies remain in the study hall? The short answer, as exposed by Tzippy Yarom, is that the army in its current make-up is hostile to Haredim. Tzippy Yaron lists thirteen incidents over recent months that at least give the impression that the army's goal is to force the Haredi soldiers to become secular, rather than allowing them 'just to serve' and then return to their yeshivoth or join the work force. That link is in Hebrew, but I will give you a list of some of the incidents, including links to many of them which I have covered on this blog.
1. Three weeks ago, members of the Nachal Haredi brigade (reminder - the IDF's largest combat unit) were forced to be present at a baptism. Jews are forbidden from attending Christian religious ceremonies, which are considered idol worship under Jewish law.
2. Haredi soldiers in another unit that is meant for Haredim were forced to attend an all-day educational seminar... in a church. Jews are forbidden from entering churches (some hold only churches that are in active use) because they are considered a place of idol worship under Jewish law.
3. On Christmas Day, Haredi soldiers received a lecture about the 'significance of the day' instead of their mandated Torah study sessions.
4. The IDF's chief rabbi - who was brought in from the outside after Leftists in the government complained that the previous rabbi was too religious - 'ruled' that all soldiers have to attend events at which female soldiers sing, including Haredi soldiers whose terms of service include a commitment that they will not serve with women. The day after this 'ruling' was issued, the rabbi who was coordinating service for Haredim in the Air Force resigned. Subsequently, the IDF chief rabbi forced him to leave earlier than planned.
5. Haredi soldiers - whose terms of service 'guarantee' no contact with women - were forced to take courses with women and to clean women's rest rooms.
6-7. At the IDF's Sirkin base, where many Haredi soldiers were stationed, there was no Kosher supervision, representatives of the unit were not allowed to inspect the Kashruth of the kitchen, meat was cooked in a dairy kitchen (by mistake...), or soldiers were told to make the kitchen Kosher at the expense of their sleep hours.
8. Haredi IDF soldiers being held in the brig at Prison 4 were forced to carry out work that violated the Sabbath in the absence of any operational need.
9. A Haredi IDF soldier was forced by his direct commander to shave off his beard despite two higher ranking officers having approved his keeping it. The soldier was a cancer survivor who had fought to be accepted into the army. His commanding officer had him sent to the brig week after week because he refused to shave off his beard.
10. The army barber shaved the sidecurls of Haredi soldiers with "blade 0" (the closest possible shave, which violates a Torah prohibition of shaving the sidecurls off completely).
11. Haredi soldiers at the Sde Dov base (near Tel Aviv!) were forced to subsist on bread and chocolate for two weeks after the base did not provide Kosher supervision for their food.
12-13. At the Tzrifin base, Haredi soldiers - whose terms of service include no contact with women - were forced to sit in courses with women, to be taught by female instructors and to share their dining room with women.
For those who read Hebrew, there are links documenting each incident above here.
I am sure that someone is going to write in and comment that the Haredi soldiers should not be so 'backward,' that an army is an army and sometimes must do things differently, and that the Haredi soldiers have no 'right' to different terms of service. But the facts remain that not one incident above was dictated by an operational necessity, that the terms of service were promised to the Haredi soldiers as an inducement to enlist, that the broken promises are now playing a major role in the wall-to-wall opposition in the Haredi world to sending anyone to the army, and that if you draft people who aren't willing to go, you are likely to end up with a lot more GiladShalit's, God forbid.
Mrs. Carl and I have very close friends who have a sign up in their kitchen which we never tire of repeating to our children:
The following words shall not be heard in this house: "It's not fair."
Defense Minister Moshe 'Boogie' Yaalon said the same thing to a group of high school students in Dimona on Tuesday.
“There’s tremendous importance in hareidi enlistment, preferably to
military service, but also to civilian national service,” Yaalon said.
“A problematic reality has been created here over the course of 65
years, a reality that nobody meant to create, of an entire sector of
society that does not serve,” he continued. “This is a sensitive issue.”
“You won’t hear me inciting against this population or delegitimizing
it, because I don’t believe in forced enlistment,” he informed the
students.
He empathized with their situation, saying, “You’ll say, ‘It’s not
fair, I have to do mandatory service, and they don’t.’ You’re right. But
in my experience – and I have some experience in this matter – the
right way is to allow hareidi men to serve, not to drag them from their
benches in yeshiva and put them in jail.”
The IDF started attracting hareidi-religious recruits in 1999, he
said. “Back then we had 90 [hareidi] soldiers. Last year there were
2,000 serving in the IDF and another 1,500 in civilian national
service,” he related.
“It’s contagious,” he added. “Once, you wouldn’t have seen a young
man in uniform in Bnei Brak or in certain neighborhoods of Jerusalem,
and suddenly it’s becoming a natural thing, you see soldiers’ laundry in
those neighborhoods.”
“And it doesn’t have to be ‘hareidi equals poor’… Because when they
get out of the army, 91% of the former soldiers from the hareidi sector
are employed… So even if it costs as more, and it does cost us more for
them to serve for all sorts of reasons, it’s worth it down the line,” he
explained.
Well, yeah, but there are still some non-Haredim left who don't want Haredim to serve.
He addressed concerns that if more hareidi men serve in the IDF, it will
affect opportunities for female soldiers, due to the strict gender
segregation in hareidi society. There is no reason women’s service
should suffer, Yaalon said.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. That's what compromise is about.
Rabbi Avraham Brown’s former jobs include working to integrate
hareidi men in the IDF and heading the Hesder yeshiva [Torah academy]
network. He spoke to Arutz Sheva about the planned law to mandate hareidi-religious enlistment.
“This law will torpedo the enlistment of thousands of hareidi men in
the upcoming years,” he warned. “[Even] hareidi men who aren’t learning
in yeshiva and were planning to enlist” will not enlist if the law
passes, he said.
“It’s a law that will hurt the economy, that will prevent thousands
of hareidi men under the age of 26 from working legally. It will also
hurt the Torah world, because they’re treating yeshivas like academic
departments, like the number of students can be cut,” he argued.
The Shaked Committee (Equal Burden of Service Committee), which is discussing the various options
regarding hareidi enlistment, has not even invited hareidi experts to
come speak, he said. “They didn’t invite Rabbi Rabad, who established
‘Shachar Kachol’ in the air force, or me,” he related.
The two met privately with committee head MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish
Home), he revealed.
“We sat with her at home and explained that those
who have dropped out and who aren’t learning in yeshivas could be
enlisted, that there is a hareidi consensus there, but unfortunately
they still have not discussed that proposal,” he said.
The depth of the mistake will soon come to light, he warned, “The
enlistment law will lead to conflict, and it will hurt the army… There
are enough [yeshiva] dropouts who could join technological units and
enlist later. All this debate just put a stop to everything.”
The rabbi’s warning follows a similar warning from Rabbi Yoel Shwartz,
who established the Netzach Yehuda (Nachal Hareidi) Brigade for
hareidi-religious soldiers. Rabbi Shwartz warned that if plans to
require hareidi men to enlist move forward, “nobody will enlist… Nobody
will dare to enlist.”
Rabbi Avichai Rontzki, who was forced out as IDF chief rabbi because he distributed religious materials to soldiers and quoted Torah to them, also says that repealing the Tal Law, which set up a system for deferring enlistment for boys studying in yeshiva, was a mistake.
Former Chief Rabbi of the IDF and Rosh Yeshiva of the Itamar hesder yeshiva (Torah academy) program Rabbi Avihai Rontzki stated to Arutz Sheva Thursday
that the canceling of the Tal Law and the government's decision to
implement the Equal Burden law was a mistake from the very beginning.
"This is already a situation that is ex post facto, there is
no going back, because the legal process involved is complicated and
the current government is pushing the issue," he stated.
"There was no
reason to cancel the Tal Law, which enabled hundreds of religious
soldiers to serve [of their own volition]. The whole process of
eliminating the Tal Law, the involvement of Senior government officials
in the hareidi draft, and the desire to make this a national mission was
a mistake."
The Tal Law allowed full-time Torah students to defer military
service. Critics of the law were outraged at the fact that large sectors
of the hareidi-religious community were using the edict to permanently
dodge the draft and stay in yeshiva [Torah academies], causing a number
of potential economic and sociological problems; the Law was eventually
declared unconstitutional in 2012 by the High Court on grounds of
promoting inequality.
According to R' Rontzki, the current government does not have a clear
understanding of the importance of Torah study for the Jewish people.
"Thousands of people who learn Torah bring tremendous blessing to the
Jewish people," he stated. "The problem is that the hareidi-religious
community refuses to engage in the same national service that the rest
of the country does, and it's an anathema to many."
...
Despite disagreeing with the law in principle, Rontzki emphasizes that
Shaked is pushing to prevent the punishment for draft-dodgers from
becoming a criminal offense. Instead, Shaked, following the Jewish Home
party stance, supports economic sanctions on draft refusers.
Suffice it to say that the Haredi community is circling the wagons on this. There are horror stories floating around, mainly about a small group of boys who were summoned to the IDF during the first weeks after the Tal Law expired, and who signed enlistment papers without realizing what they were signing (since then, the boys have been told to give only 'name and identification number'). Those boys are now deemed AWOL, and the army has been aggressively searching their parents' homes in the middle of the night. I heard at least one story today of a boy who has been jailed.
Ironically, under the Tal Law, the boys were required to report to the IDF every six months where they were registered in yeshiva, as well as reporting whenever they transferred yeshivas. Today, the boys are no longer required to report, and the IDF is looking for needles in the haystack - hence the raids on the boys' homes. The boys are hiding out in their yeshivas and no one knows anymore who is where.
The government says it wants more Haredim to serve in the IDF and the IDF says that it's happy to have them. But when it comes to putting your money where your mouth is, there's something missing. The IDF is cutting the budget for Nachal Charedi, the largest unit in the IDF and the only religiously observant combat unit. Specifically, they're cutting the budget for the third year of service.
Israel Hayom has learned that
the IDF's Personnel Directorate recently informed Nahal Haredi
commanders that the army intends to cut the budget it allocates toward
the soldiers' third year of service. The third year is important to
Nahal Haredi soldiers because that is when they become eligible to
complete their high-school matriculation exams and participate in
professional training courses.
Sources in Nahal Haredi said the cuts could lead to a crisis.
"We were told it was decided that the budget
would be cut for the operational year, so that it will only exist for
eight months," a source said.
"During this year the soldiers receive
professional training and complete their high-school matriculation on
the army's budget. Additionally, they receive food and lodging. These
are things that attract the haredim to the army. They know that after
their service they are citizens like everyone else, and that they have a
chance to find a profession on the outside."
Maybe they only want the Haredim to serve in the IDF, but they really don't care if they find jobs or collect welfare afterward?
Maybe the IDF is tired of being the state's nanny and making sure all these kids are fit for employment, and the army will cut its budget for high school matriculation exams (something it shouldn't be doing in the first place, in my humble opinion, unless the army if volunteer and it's an employment benefit, but if they're going to do it for everyone else, they should do it for Haredim too) in all army units?
Rabbi Yehuda Sussman makes one of the more creative proposals I have seen for a Haredi draft. I don't believe it will happen for reasons I outlined here. But there's a lot to think about in this one (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl - Full disclosure: Rabbi Sussman's sister and brother-in-law are among Mrs. Carl's and my closest friends in this world).
How will this be accomplished? • A new corps – a
Yeshiva Corps – will be formed. As befitting a democratic society, this corps,
like all others in the army, will be open to all members of society who are able
to live up to its standards – in this case summed up by the Mishna in Avot:
“This is the way of Torah: bread dipped in salt will you eat, with water
carefully rationed, on the ground will you sleep and live a life of deprivation
as you strive in Torah study.”
• Soldiers serving in the corps will wear
the uniform of the IDF, declare their loyalty to the state and to the army and
accept upon themselves the military discipline and conduct considered the norm
in the elite units of the IDF.
• Soldiers in the newly formed corps will
serve in yeshivot housed on army bases and not in civilian areas.
•
Service in the corps will be four years long, akin to the elite units of the
IDF. At the end of the term of service, discharged soldiers will be free to
integrate into civilian life with all the discharge benefits granted to IDF
soldiers.
• Conditions on the bases will be identical to those that exist
on combat bases in the IDF. Mess and housing will be of military standard.
Weekend leaves will be granted on a bi- or tri-weekly basis. Other furloughs,
including those for holidays, will conform to army standards for length and
frequency. Sick leaves will only be issued by military physicians.
• The
bein hazmanim vacation period in the Jewish months of Tishrei, Nisan and Av will
not apply in military yeshivot. Should it be determined that on purely
educational grounds there is a need for a break in regular studies, the time
will be employed to provide the soldiers in the corps with basic military
training so that they can act as guards on their bases.
• As the Torah
study will be considered military service, soldiers in the corps will receive
all the benefits and pay grade of soldiers of their rank and seniority in the
IDF.
• It is recommended that the day commence with morning prayers at 6
a.m., followed with study sessions ending no earlier than 11 p.m. Acceptable
breaks for meals and rest will be interspersed throughout the
day.
Participation in the corps will be contingent on acceptance and
conforming to the hours of the corps.
• Exams will be proctored at
regular intervals to ensure that the soldiers are living up to the standards of
the corps.
• The standards and curricula of the corps will be determined
by a committee made up of members of the military and roshei yeshiva (yeshiva
heads).
• The officers and commanders of the corps will be IDF officers
as well as roshei yeshiva, to assure that the highest military and Torah
standards are implemented.
• Those soldiers who cannot conform to the
standards of the corps will be integrated into other units of the
army.
Soldiers who remain in the corps but violate its standards will be
liable to disciplinary measures or expulsion from the corps and integration into
other army units.
• With the induction of the military yeshivot, the
current “Torato umnato” exemption for “higher yeshivot” of either the haredi or
religious Zionist streams will no longer be in effect.
• Hesder yeshivot,
mechinot, yeshivot associated with the Nahal Haredi unit, and any other
framework that expects its students to participate in more conventional units
will not be affected. The study period in these institutions is considered
preparatory for other military service.
Read the whole thing. There's much to think about here, if the politicians are really interested in solving the problem. But they're probably not interested anyway.
Hmmm... Report claims R. Elyashiv zt"l and R. Ovadia Yosef signed off on Haredi IDF unit
The Haredi website Kikar Shabbat (link in Hebrew) is reporting on a claim by former IDF spokesman Avi Bnayahu that Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt"l (may the memory of the righteous be a blessing) and - l'havdil bein chayim l'chayim (differentiating between those who live in the World of Truth and those who live in this world) - and Rav Ovadia Yosef signed off on the creation of Nachal Haredi (the IDF's main Haredi unit) in 1999.
My loose translation follows:
In 1999, Bnayahu was an adviser to then Defense Minister Yitzchak Mordechai. He claims that Mordechai negotiated with the Haredim for a limited Haredi draft.
Bnayahu writes that among those present at the initial meeting were Mordechai, then-Shas leader Aryeh Deri, MK Meir Porush of United Torah Judaism and another Haredi MK whose name he does not recall. Also present were former aide to the Defense Minister Haim Yisrael, Nahal commander Yehuda Duvdevani, MK Sylvan Shalom (who was Deputy Defense Minister at the time) and Military Secretary Yaakov Amidror. The meeting was not even placed on the Defense Minister's official calendar.
The Haredi MK's insisted on secrecy because they were afraid that they would be lambasted by their constituents. Mordechai said he opposed recently departed-IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak's populist plans for a mass draft of the Haredim (Barak was allowed to join the Labor party immediately after he left the IDF around that time without the now de rigeur cooling off period, and he eventually defeated Netanyahu - who was Prime Minister then - in elections held in 1999).
According to Bnayahu, most of the meeting was spent discussing secrecy and the fear that the Haredi MK's would be seen departing from IDF headquarters.
Bnayahu reports that a week later, Mordechai held a meeting with IDF Chief of Staff Amnon-Lipkin Shahak, his deputy, Uzi Dayan, IDF personnel director Gidon Shefer and IDF planning director Shaul Mofaz. All were opposed to drafting Haredim.
When they left Mordechai's office, Duvdevani walked in and was ordered by Mordechai to travel to Jerusalem and meet with Rav Elyashiv and Rav Yosef, and to establish a Haredi unit with their blessing, because they would understand the need better than the MK's.
The next morning, Duvdevani reported that the rabbis agreed, but if that fact was disclosed, the unit would not be established.
A month later the Nachal Haredi was established, but Prime Minister Netanyahu was kept out of the loop to keep the coalition intact.
Bnayahu writes that he decided to disclose this now rather than wait until the government's 30-year secrecy rule expires, because the same issues are arising again today.
One of the prime movers of the Nachal Haredi on the Haredi side prayed in the same synagogue that I did outside of Boston when we were in our 20's (he's about 6-8 years older than I am). He told me a slightly different story that I won't publish without his permission. But I can tell you for sure that the great rabbis of the generation whom the Haredi community follows did not oppose the establishment of Nachal Haredi.
Pinni Shendorfi, the Haredi soldier from Nahal who refused the
orders of his commanders to evacuate Jewish residents from three
residential buildings in Yitzhar last Thursday, was brought before a
court Tuesday and was removed from his combat position.
Shendorfi refused the orders, saying he will not take part in a "mission against Jews."
Pinni's mother, Ronit, said her son was not worried about possible jail time but was
more worried that he would be taken out of combat, where he very much
wanted to remain. Ronit called the punishment harsh and said this was
the very thing Pinni did not want to happen.
I wonder how long it takes the army to try other offenses....
A coalition crisis is brewing between the Likud and Kadima over efforts to force Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men to be exposed to the draft at age 18. On Wednesday, negotiations between the two parties fell apart, and now Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz is threatening to withdraw from the government.
Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz convened his Kadima faction on Wednesday amid a break down in efforts to draft a universal service bill, saying "we are in the midst of a crisis, but we also have an opportunity. Without a meaningful solution we cannot remain in the government." Mofaz stated that he would leave the coalition by Friday if progress was not made on the issue.
Mofaz called the emergency meeting after Kadima MK Yohanan Plesner walked out of a meeting with Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon aimed at finding a replacement for the Tal Law. Plesner said negotiations on a universal service bill were "at a dead end."
Mofaz said that he was meeting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening to discuss the issue.
After Plesner and Ya’alon discussed and agreed on enlistment quotas and personal sanctions for those who do not join the IDF or do national service, the Likud minister presented a different stance in a Wednesday-afternoon meeting, according to Kadima.
A Kadima source, while unable to specify the changes Ya’alon requested, said they would turn the bill into “a copy of the Tal Law,” which allowed haredim to indefinitely postpone service, and make it “empty of content.”
Ya'alon rejected Kadima's claims that there was a "blow up" in the meeting with Plesner.
Speaking in an interview with Army Radio Ya'alon downplayed the issue, saying, "Kadima should come back. My door is open. I still want to pass a bill. If we don't succeed in legislating it by the end of the [Knesset] term, there might not be a bill. It looks more political than practical," Ya'alon said.
The Likud minister said that if a replacement for the Tal Law was not legislated by July 31 when the Tal Law expires, the authority to enlist haredim will go to the Defense Ministry.
"We will bring more people sharing the burden in the Arab and haredi sectors with or without Kadima," Ya'alon stated. "There is a principled argument on whether we want more haredim or to declare war on the haredim. They are insisting on throwing haredim in jail. Throw people in jail for learning Torah? If we do that, all the progress that has been made with the programs that there already are will go backwards," he added.
If they insist on throwing the Haredim in jail and the rabbis say to go to jail, there will not be enough cells to hold all the Haredim. That's reality.
"I would like to see the haredim join the IDF at 18 years old," Ya'alon said. "But if we try this, we will start a civil war."
...
The main dispute between Likud and Kadima was over whether there should be quotas limiting the number of yeshiva students permitted to avoid the draft, as Kadima demands, or merely setting targets for the number of haredim drafted, which the Likud prefers. The parties also disagree on the final age at which service could be avoided and the extent of sanctions against draft evaders.
Ya'alon said that his proposal was more realistic than that being put forth by MK Yohanan Plesner, the Kadima MK who has taken up the mantle of increasing the IDF draft rate for haredim. "The haredim will not vote for my proposal, but they will not star a civil war over it," Ya'alon said, "Plesner's proposal will erase all the inroads we've made in integrating haredim, including the Nahal Haredi program."
Ya'alon added that the Likud has accepted the fundamentals of Plesner's recommendations, but that negotiations are being held up by Plesner's own personal stubbornness.
Nahal Haredi, by the way, is the largest single unit in the IDF today.
Kadima sources said that this was the biggest crisis since the Plesner Committee was dissolved a week ago and blamed the prime minister for going back on agreed-upon points regarding the draft age, exemption quotas, and personal and community sanctions for draft-dodgers. According to Kadima, all the most important points of the law had been rejected.
On Tuesday evening, after meeting with Plesner, Ya'alon updated Netanyahu on the negotiations' progress, and it appeared that things were on the right track to coalesce a bill to be brought to the Knesset next week.
Whether this is a negotiating tactic or a true breakdown, Kadima is claiming that Netanyahu is not interested in presenting a decision to the cabinet next week and therefore torpedoed the talks.
Last Sunday, the Likud faction approves five basic principles from the Plesner Committee, including personal responsibility for haredi draft-dodgers; universal draft; and sanctions against institutions that encourage draft-dodging. After approving these points, the Likud said that the only part of the Plesner Committee's recommendations it did not accept was the idea of drafting Israeli Arabs.
Kadima is trying to do three things: Save its own very bleak political future, pass a very populist law, and destroy the connection between the political right and the religious right (which don't necessarily go together in this country). Withdrawing from the government accomplishes none of those goals, although it might turn many Kadima MK's (if there are any left) into martyrs after a future election.
The Likud, on the other hand, wants to change as little as possible in order to preserve potential future partnerships with the Haredim, it wants to do just enough to avoid the embarrassment of having to deal with the Supreme Court again, and it has absolutely no fear of elections, with survey after survey showing that it would emerge as by far the largest party.
Look for a minimalist deal to be reached and look for Kadima to stay in the coalition. But if Kadima does withdraw from the coalition, you can bet that the Haredim, at least, will give the Likud peace and quiet until the next election in November 2013.
Yisrael Beiteinu? Unlikely to withdraw since they will also lose seats to Yair Lapid in any future election. Notice how they have toned down their rhetoric since Netanyahu sent Yaalon to take the lead in the negotiations.
Some of you may be wondering how we got into a situation where men who are studying in yeshiva are exempt from the draft. I'm going to tell you.
Shortly after the State was established, the first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, met with Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Korelitz, known as the Chazon Ish. They worked out something that is known as the 'status quo' agreement, which says that no party will take any action to change the status quo on religion and state from what it was at that time. Rabbi Korelitz and Ben Gurion discussed the draft at the time. Rabbi Korelitz offered to send all (or nearly all) the yeshiva boys to the IDF if the IDF would stop drafting women. Believing that religious Judaism would be gone from the State of Israel within a generation, Ben Gurion decided that it wasn't worth ruining his plans for the IDF by agreeing not to draft women. And so he turned down Rabbi Korelitz's offer. At the time, Israel was the only country in the world that drafted women, and there were approximately 400 men learning in yeshivas in Israel. Today, there are more men learning in yeshivas in Israel than at any time in history....
Telephone poll of a representative sample of 500 Hebrew speaking adult Israeli Jews carried out by New Wave for Yisrael Hayom on 19 June and published on 22 June 2012.
Should the drafting of ultra orthodox be increased even at the expense of hurting equality of women in the IDF? Yes 36.1% No 42.7% Don't know 21.2%
One of the consequences of the Knesset being dissolved next week is that the Tal Law, which allows Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men to defer their army service as long as they are studying in yeshiva, will remain in effect for 6-8 months until elections can be held (September 4) and a new law can be debated and passed in the new Knesset. Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman is not happy about that. He wants to pass a new law in the four days remaining in this Knesset session. I'm sure it would be well thought out.
Liberman's party planned to bring its plan to a preliminary plenum vote on May 9 and threatened to bring down the coalition if it does not pass. Since May 9 is now expected to be the last day of the 18th Knesset, Yisrael Beytenu would have to pass the bill in its first reading on Monday and push it through an accelerated legislative process so it can become law by Wednesday.
The process cannot be sped up unless the bill is authorized by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, which is unlikely, as haredi parties and the Likud would have to approve it. Haredi parties oppose requiring their constituents to serve, while the Likud would lose points politically by allowing Yisrael Beytenu's reform to pass.
Another possibility, the foreign minister explained in a Thursday press conference, is to get signatures from 61 MKs, which would require Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to call a Knesset meeting despite its dissolution.
Liberman called a press conference in the Knesset with leaders of the "Camp Sucker" and "Common Denominator" protest movements, which advocate for universal service and support Yisrael Beytenu's bill.
Boaz Nol and Idan Miller, leaders of the protest groups, called on MKs to pass the legislation before the Knesset is dissolved.
"The silent majority will not allow politicians to postpone this decision again," Nol and Miller said. "We will support any party's proposal, as long as they keep the principle of equality in the burden."
Liberman told Nol and Miller that they can count on signatures from Yisrael Beytenu's 15 MKs, but encouraged them to call members of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, as well as parliamentarians from parties who said they support the protest groups' goals.
...
Later Thursday, MK Einat Wilf (Independence) announced that she would bring her party's proposed alternative to the Tal Law to a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday.
Defense Minister and Independence party leader Ehud Barak submitted an identical ministerial bill, which does not require approval from the committee. Wilf's move is meant to strengthen Barak's bill.
The Independence bill calls for the IDF to decide which 18 year olds should serve in the military. Those who are not recruited by the IDF must perform civilian service for one year.
Shortly after the Supreme Court invalidated the Tal Law, Israel Radio interviewed Rabbi Dov Halbertal. Rabbi Halbertal is a lawyer, and is also considered a confidant of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the leader of the Lithuanian Haredi community (since that interview, Rabbi Elyashiv's health has deteriorated and Rabbi Aryeh Leib Steinman seems to be stepping into his position). He also served in the IDF himself.
Among other things, Rabbi Halbertal said that the Haredi community can only be brought into the army by agreement. He put it starkly: "Do you think that if you surrounded Har Nof (a religious neighborhood in Jerusalem) with three tank brigades that you would recruit anyone into the army? Do you think they would make good soldiers?"
Unfortunately, Israel Radio does not archive recordings for more than a week or two so I cannot share the recording with those of you who speak Hebrew.
Religious soldiers group complains of terms of service violations at main Navy base in Atlit, threatens to remove all its soldiers; UPDATED
As many of you know, the trigger for the forthcoming elections was the Supreme Court's decision to invalidate the Tal Law. The Tal Law, which was passed about ten years ago in response to a previous Supreme Court decision that said that the IDF could not ignore ultra-Orthodox men who did not enlist in the army, set up a framework that allowed those men to defer army service so long as they were studying in yeshiva. With the Tal Law invalidated, the expectation of most people is that a 'fairer' law will be enacted, with the hope that more ultra-Orthodox men will join the army.
Those secular politicians who are able to rise above the populistic demand for 'equal' distribution of the army burden (and surprisingly, to this point at least, Yair Lapid seems to be among them) understand that without the voluntary cooperation of the ultra-Orthodox community, a 'fairer' system cannot work. They also understand that in order for the ultra-Orthodox to cooperate voluntarily, frameworks will have to be established that allow the ultra-Orthodox to serve without violating their religious beliefs. That means more time for prayers and Torah study (at least in non-emergency conditions), strict Sabbath and Kashruth observance, and most importantly, no contact with women.
But such a framework already exists. It's called the Netzach Yisrael (Israel forever) battalion and it's the battalion of the Nachal Charedi - the army's ultra-Orthodox unit. Started several years ago, Nachal Charedi includes both ultra-Orthodox men and some men from the National Religious community, and generally works well. Except when someone tries to go back to the bad old days of the 1950's when the army was used as a melting pot to try to get Orthodox Jews to be a little less Jewish and more Israeli.
Ha'Aguda l'Maan ha'Chayal ha'Torani (the Organization for the Religious Soldier - and for the record, to Israelis, Torani is generally understood to mean a higher standard than dati, even though both translate as 'religious' in English) is an organization that advocates for religious soldiers, both in Nachal Charedi and elsewhere in the IDF. On Wednesday night, I received a letter in Hebrew from the Organization, which I am translating below.
To: IDF Personnel Division Commander, General Orna Barbebai
Re: Additional violation of the Netzah Yehuda Terms of Service on the Naval Base at Atlit
Dear Madame,
Soldiers from Netzach Yehuda - Nachal Charedi serving at the Naval commando base in Atlit filed a complaint with the Organization yesterday (27 Nisan).
According to the 15 soldiers, they were forced to participate in an event at which female support soldiers were present, which violates the agreements between the IDF and the Netzach Yehuda battalion, which stipulate that the members will not carry out any activities with female soldiers during their entire army service.
The soldiers complained to Lieutenant Colonel Peretz, as required, but he reacted with scorn saying, "there will be no ostracizing of women here.
While we were in the process of verifying the soldiers' complaint, it became apparent to us that each morning, the soldiers were forced to stand at flag-raising with female soldiers. Therefore, what is under discussion, is not a one-off violation, but a repeated and fixed violation of Netzach [Yehuda]'s terms of service.
Additionally, this is not the first time we hear about violations of Netzach [Yehuda]'s terms of service at this base. To remind you, on 4 January 2012, it was publicized in the media that members of Netzach were forced to participate in courses with female soldiers and to clean the women's restrooms. In light of promises made at the time to Netzach's rabbis that these incidents would not reoccur, the current violations are even starker.
Our conclusion is that this base is not prepared to accept soldiers from Netzach Yehuda. We will do all we can to prevent additional soldiers from arriving there, and in doing so will contribute to the savings and efficiency that the army requires, because it has also become known to us that of the 15 [Netzach Yehuda] soldiers serving at the base, ten wander around with nothing to do except to serve as additional means to 'get' Netzach Yehuda's rabbis. These soldiers have top secret security clearances and completed training courses in their fields, but their standard work is moving rocks from place to place (grunt work) instead of working in the field for which they were trained.
We demand a speedy and proper reaction to what is written here, because we are disgusted by the long wait that ends in the disappointment of an answer that tries to whitewash the depressing facts.
This post has been sent to the IDF Spokesperson's office for comment.
I know that some of you are distinctly unsympathetic to Netzach Yehuda's terms of service (I can think of one commenter who has been quite emphatic about it). But think of it as a contract between the army and its soldiers. If the army doesn't fulfill its contract, why should the soldiers fulfill theirs? And why should those soldiers' brothers, friends and classmates enter into the same contract?
Go back to what I said at the top of this post. The only way that ultra-Orthodox men are going to serve in the IDF is if it is done on a cooperative basis. If the army can't keep its end of the bargain with a relatively small number of soldiers, then if universal service is imposed, there will be yeshivoth in every jail and every prison bed will be taken up by an ultra-Orthodox male who is still young enough to serve but who refuses to serve under the current conditions.
It's the IDF's choice.
UPDATE 4:38 PM
I received the following response from the IDF Spokesperson's office.
The IDF has numerous projects intended to help Haredi soldiers integrate and serve within its ranks, among them Netzach Yehuda, Shahar Kahol, and others. There are clear guidelines regarding the rights of Haredi soldiers, including an explicit exemption from listening to women's singing in official ceremonies. The Organization for the Wellbeing of Torani Soldiers (Aguda Le'Maan Ha'Hayal Ha'Torani) is an unofficial body comprised of one man, and not recognized by the IDF as the organization responsible for representing Haredi or religious soldiers. The charges mentioned are being investigated, though some, pertaining to women's singing, have already been disproved.
Rav Elyashiv speaks out against all 'Haredi frameworks' in the army and academia
I have a childhood friend who was one of the founders of the original Nachal Charedi - the first Charedi (ultra-Orthodox) only unit in the IDF. My friend once told me that when they started the unit, they spent a long time seeking the consents of prominent rabbis, and finally reached the conclusion that while the rabbis would not openly consent, they would not openly oppose the unit either, and therefore they decided to go ahead with it.
Over the last several years, the unit has expanded into two new units. There have also been several frameworks opened in which Charedim could study trades and professions. These were opened because of the realization that this was the best way - from the general society's standpoint - to encourage Charedim to become economically self-sufficient.
The events of the last couple of months have taken their toll, and three weeks ago, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv issued a letter in which he came out against (but did not outright ban) all 'Charedi only' frameworks in the army and outside of the yeshivot. I was not aware of the letter, which was reported on in some of the secular media (see the link above from which I will quote momentarily) and which appeared only in Yated Neeman, a Charedi newspaper. Here's some of what Rav Elyashiv said.
In a letter to haredi newspaper Yated Ne’eman, Elyashiv said that “the secret and foundation of the Torah world and the community of those who fear God and live a life of Torah and holy purity is through complete isolation from all aspects of the secular world, and from those who have thrown off the yoke of Torah.
“We know how much the [spiritual] leaders of Israel struggled against this phenomenon,” he continued.
“They warned that the purpose of these programs is to change the spirit and essence of the haredi world and to subvert it with all different types of other influences, nationalist and enlightenment ones, which are not the values of our fathers.”
He called on the haredi community to follow only in the footsteps of ancient tradition and not be enticed by the blandishments of the secular world.
“Haredi educational institutions must be under the control of the rabbis, must be directed by them and must exclude all paths that lead to national service, secular studies or the army, even if they have a special programs for haredim. Such a programs put haredim under the control and culture of secular Jews.”
Last week, perhaps in response to Rav Elyashiv's letter, the IDF backtracked on women singing. But on Monday, in my neighborhood, the letter is posted on wall posters (known as pashkevilim) in the streets. Since most Charedim do not read newspapers (except for some who might read the Tuesday Yated which is handed out free to try to induce people to subscribe), the pashkevilim are likely to have a far greater circulation within the community than any newspaper. The fact that the letter has been plastered through the streets now shows that the issue is not dying. I cannot tell you with certainty that the order to post it in the streets came from Rav Elyashiv himself (frequently, these letters get hung by zealous followers), but I cannot tell you that it did not.
There are some commenters whose response will be "the Charedim have to change." They won't. If a rabbi of Rav Elyashiv's stature tells them to go to jail rather than serve in the army, there won't be enough jail cells to hold them all. And without any kind of vocational training (much of which, by the way, comes from the army) it will be nearly impossible for those who leave the yeshivot to find any kind of legal (and by that I mean above-the-board, tax paying) work. We're edging toward that abyss. Will we step back?
The IDF has quietly backtracked on its policy on male soldiers attending events at which female soldiers sing. Religious male soldiers - regardless of the IDF track in which they are enlisted - will not be required to attend events at which female soldiers sing. There's a brief blurb on it in English here.
Contradicting media reports, a senior IDF officer informed the “Blue Dawn” Hareidi IAF integration program commanders that the soldiers will not have to hear women sing.
There's a much longer article in Hebrew here. According to the longer article, Colonel Yoav Bar Sela, who is responsible for the Blue Dawn program through which Haredi men are enlisted in the Air Force, has told Haredi officers that they will not be required to hear women singing, and that they will be allowed to absent themselves from all events at which female soldiers sing.
According to the article, Bar Sela told a conference that there will be no change in the current rules, and that soldiers from Blue Dawn will be allowed to absent themselves from events at which female soldiers sing. But the language in the article seems to include all religious soldiers, and in email correspondence with me, Eliyahu Lax, the Director General of the Organization for Torah observant soldiers, has told me that in fact the orders do cover all religious soldiers.
Soldiers who were present at the conference at which Bar Sela spoke said that Bar Sela said that soldiers would not be allowed to walk out of events when women get up to sing, but that they would be allowed to completely absent themselves from the events. The orders were apparently issued by the head of the IDF personnel division, Orna Barbibai (and for those of you who don't speak Hebrew, Orna is a woman).
Eliyahu Lax told Arutz Sheva that his organization will make sure that notice of this policy is given to all religious soldiers. He criticized the army for not publicizing it, as it has publicized the prohibition on soldiers walking out of events at which women sing. He said that the failure to publicize the orders in the regular fashion will lead to confrontations, which the army apparently wants to create. Lax said that such publicity is especially critical for those teaching officers' courses, because even the general staff orders on allowing religious observance do not get followed at the officers' school.
The IDF says that no soldier will be forced to violate his beliefs, and that each officer will determine how to respond to situations (that sounds contradictory, doesn't it?).
In correspondence with me, Eliyahu Lax explained that there are now three Haredi tracks in the IDF. The Netzach Yehuda division, which was the original Nahal Haredi, which is designed for soldiers with combat profiles, and two units for Haredim with less-than-combat profiles - one that works with the Air Force (Netzach Kachol) and another that works with the Navy (Netzach Yam).
Lax informs me that the orders discussed above are principally for religious non-Haredi soldiers (soldiers from Hesder or religious soldiers generally), because it is understood from the outset that Haredi soldiers would not attend events where women sing. Non-Haredi religious soldiers may ask permission to absent themselves from such events altogether, but they may not attend the events and then leave in the middle. Lax says that his organization represents all religious soldiers in the IDF regardless of their unit or program. The original event with women singing that caused all the problems involved both Hesder soldiers and soldiers from Nahal Haredi.
Haredi soldiers ordered to clean women's restrooms
This was mentioned in passing on Wednesday, but I wanted to highlight it as a separate story. Soldiers in the Nachal Charedi unit were ordered to clean women's restrooms at the Tel Nof Air Force base on Monday. They were also ordered to sit through a lecture with women soldiers. Both incidents are violations of the soldiers' terms of service.
Soldiers told Arutz Sheva that when they realized they were about to attend a lesson alongside women, they complained to their commanders. In response, they said that one of the base commanders said: "From now on, this is the procedure." He added: "We will not have exclusion of women here from now on."
The soldiers said they were also instructed to clean women's restrooms as part of their routine participation in cleaning and maintaining the base. This, too, is a violation of the terms of service that stipulate that they will remain within their training area and not enter women's quarters.
Eliyahu Lax, chairman of the Association for the Torah-Observant Soldier, said that he had spoke to senior figures in the battalion who averred that the story was true. "Unfortunately," he said, "we are getting the feeling, and not for the first time, that the IDF is not interested in hareidim, and the entire issue of incentives for enlisting hareidim is simply raised in order to use hareidim as a punching bag."
The hareidi soldiers have braved the hurdle of the disapprobation of some members of their community, who feel that they are going against the hareidi way of life and that they will end up lowering their standards of religious observance. These incidents are being used to show that those anti-army elements are right.
The IDF said Wednesday that an inquiry was held into the event following the soldiers' complaints and that "instructions regarding the activities of Shachar Kachol have been refreshed in order to prevent similar incidents from happening again in the future."
It would be a shame if Nachal Charedi fell apart over this. A real shame. But that's where this is headed. If the army shows that their promises are meaningless, the rabbis will come out against Nachal Charedi outright (until now, they have adopted a posture where they neither condone nor condemn it) and then no one from the Haredi community will enlist.
Some people apparently think the best solution is to cut off your nose to spite your face. Whether that includes the IDF's top brass remains to be seen.
If you rub it in their face, they just won't enlist
The rabbi who heads up a highly successful program for recruiting Haredim into the IDF has announced that he is resigning a day after the IDF Chief of Staff said that male soldiers could not be excused on religious grounds from listening to female soldiers sing.
In a letter he sent to IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and to the soldiers in the program, Rabbi Ravad said the reason for his decision to leave the project is the integration of women in it.
Soldiers who received the letter said that Rabbi Ravad made a series of arguments against those who are trying to achieve the cancellation of the Shachar program by integrating women instructors into it despite it being supposed to be an all-male project.
“When the Shachar project was established I was a full partner in writing its operating rules,” Rabbi Ravad wrote in the letter. “What guided me in doing so was to allow hareidim who came into the army to continue to maintain their hareidi-religious lifestyle. In recent months it was decided to open the rules for review and reconsideration. I was a part of these discussions and insisted that what had been agreed on should be kept. In the latest draft of the new rules, however, I saw that clauses that were designed to preserve the piety of the soldiers had been omitted, and saw that a section that permits activity that might harm piety was added.”
He added, “True, these things are not yet finalized and I was assured they would be discussed again, but under the current situation I do not see myself as part of the program as a rabbi and consultant.”
“I hope that those responsible will make decisions that will shape the program so that it allows a hareidi person to join Shachar,” concluded Rabbi Ravad.
The Shachar program is a joint initiative of the IDF and JDC-Israel. It offers technological training and service in the Air Force and Technology Branch.
The program saw a sharp rise in popularity in the three years since it began: from 40 hareidi conscripts in 2007, to 200 the next year, to 400 in 2009.
If in fact there are going to be women in the program, you can bet that there will be 0 Haredi conscripts in 2012.
Hareidi soldiers of the Netzach Yehuda Brigade were ordered to participate in a lecture on safety precautions with IDF servicewomen, and were also ordered to clean the ladies’ room, despite regulations for strictly segregated conditions. The officer in charge responded to the complaint of the Hareidi soldiers “I will not tolerate discrimination against women.”
Within minutes we were told that the IDF would 'renew' the regulations relating to this unit.
The IDF spokesman responded to the orders given to Haredi soldiers to participate in a lecture with servicewomen and to clean the ladies’ room. “In light of the soldiers' complaint, the issue has been investigated, and the regulations vis-à-vis hareidi soldiers have been refreshed and reiterated. The mistake will not be repeated in the future.”
The army and the government have to decide which is more important to them - having Haredim serve in the army and then being able to legally work, or trying to make the Haredim who do serve be like everyone else. Until the army set up the Nachal Haredi several years ago, almost no Haredim went to the army. Since it was set up, many more Haredim went to the army than previously, because they were guaranteed service conditions that allowed them to maintain their lifestyle: Male-only units (there wasn't a woman on the IDF base when the unit first opened), more time for prayers than other Orthodox soldiers are given, and ultra-Orthodox (Mehadrin) Kashruth certification for the food (I have friends who - before there was Nachal Haredi - used to bring all their own food when they did their reserve duty). If the IDF now retracts those conditions, not only will people stop signing up, but in the event that the conditions are ever re-instituted, it will be much harder to get them to trust the IDF and sign up again.
'In-you-face' behavior usually begets more of the same.
If all the Haredim decide not to sign up for the army (and the rabbis have silently acquiesced to Nachal Haredi as described above - even though none of them will come out and say it, until now none of them has actively opposed it), there aren't enough jail cells in this country to hold all the draft dodgers.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
