There is a flap in Israel today about the question:
Should yeshiva "boys" be drafted into the IDF or national service?
Thanks to Israel's first prime minister, yeshiva "boys" were exempt from both so they could study in the relative safety of yeshivot. In 1948 there were, I'm informed, about 900 yeshiva "boys." Today there are thousands, all exempt and most on the dole, taking money from Israel's working citizens to support their studies and th3eir always expanding families.
(Some of the "boys" are long past their boyhood.)
As with all Israeli PMs, the first needed a coalition of the varied Israeli populace. In order to bring the haridim into the government, the yeshiva concession was made.
A person I consider a friend is a yeshiva graduate. Note I wrote "graduate." He is not a yeshiva lifer. He still studies of course, and he has a job as a "professional Jew," a teacher and synagogue rabbi. We met when he was a koller.
This rabbi/friend and I send emails back and forth, frequently disagreeing, albeit politely. Because we have different viewpoints I, at last, gain from the exchanges.
On a recent exchange we discussed whether yeshiva "boys" should spend some of their roughly two-months of vacation playing like "weekend warriors" with the IDF or, alternatively, performing national service.
The rabbi suggested that if these "boys" had to spend vacation time working for the good of the State rather than hiking the hills or otherwise enjoying their free time, in the end they would have no free time.
But, I replied, if the "boys" get roughly 8 weeks vacation across the course of the year, that means they get - again "roughly" - six weeks MORE vacation than the average Israeli. When I worked for Tadiran in Holon I got an annual two-week vacation, and I was typical of the "working class."
Back in the day, when Moses and later Joshua were leading us around, the cohanim went to war. There were exemptions: for newlyweds, for new homeowners, for cowards, but there were no exemptions for yeshiva "boys."
Even after the Temple was built, there is no indication that cohanim - other than those on duty at the Temple - were exempt from either war or work. The hakhamim of the talmuds were, for the most part, engaged in something in addition to study; some working in "non-professional Jew" roles, e.g.; Abba bar Abba (Avuha diShemuel) - silk dealer, Efrayim Safra - scribe, Elazar ben Pedat - coin tester, Mar Shenuel - physician and astronomer, Yohanon haSandler - cobbler (Note 1).
Back to today.
The quandary: Allow the yeshiva "boys" to continue their studies during times of "hot" war - remembering that Israel always is in a state of "warm" war with the Moslem world - or send them to the IDF or national service?
National service might be a good option; the "boys" could fill in for those people who normally performed national service, people such as unskilled hospital workers, baggage handlers at the air and sea ports, perhaps school teachers or even traffic cops.
The ones that elected to serve with the IDF could fill non-combatant roles such as corpsmen or ambulance drivers - even the American pacifist Quakers (Society of Friends) volunteered for that during the world wars - or cooks and clerks. The "boys" could study during their off hours which, except for those who were with the front lines, would be plentiful (compared to the front-line soldier).
Then I had another thought. It's one I seriously doubt the yeshiva heads would even consider, but it would bring Torah - or at least talmud - study close to the troops the study is supposed to protect.
Buy travel trailers - everything from small "pull-behind-anything" units to fifth-wheel monsters.
The travel trailers would be used as mobile yeshivot, complete with limited libraries, desks and chairs.
The units could be painted תלמידי ישיבות in bright colors on the top and sides - with equally large markings in Arabic. Surely the enemy, seeing that the trailers contained only yeshiva "boys" would honor it as it honors the red Mogen David.
Pull the trailers right up to the front so that the "boys" could perhaps put a little more "feeling" into their prayers and studies, understanding that if their prayers and studies failed to have the desired effect, they, too, would suffer the fate of the soldiers.
It seems to me this would be a good compromise.
The "boys" could continue to study.
They would be close to the action so HeShem's vision would be directed to the combat area.
The solders would see the yeshiva "boys" trailers nearby and have a little respect for their bravery - even though everyone knows the enemy will show the same respect for the sanctity of the trailers and the students inside as they show to synagogues and Jewish cemeteries over which they gained control.
Rabbis going to war is nothing new, not in Israel and certainly not in the U.S. As a reporter I once wrote about then Captain/Rabbi Frank C. Breslau of the 101st ("Screaming Eagle") Airborne Division (Note 2). R. Bresleu, when not in uniform, also was an engineer.
TO BE FAIR There ARE yeshivot in Israel, "hesder" yeshivot, whose talmidim DO enlist in the IDF. These students are regular soldiers and perform like "regular" soldiers. And, "to be fair," not all religious Jews head for yeshivot. Many observant Jews, even second and third generation Sefardim and Mizrachim, willingly do their time. I'm not acquainted with any Ashkenazi families in Israel and have no ideas about Ashkenazi participation in the IDF.
Note 1: Information from Masters of the Talmud by Alfred J. Kolatch, Jon. David Publishers, ISBN 0-8246-0434-2 © 2003
Note 2: See http://9thinfdivsociety.org/octo/octov1_2/
