Let the haredim stay in their yeshivot and quivering behind their wives and children.
ויספו השפטרים לדבר אל-העם ואמרו מי-האיש הירא ורך הלבב ילך וישב לביתו ולא ימס את-לבב אחיו כלבבו
דברים כ ח
And the officers shall speak to the people and say “What man is fearful and faint hearted, let him go to his home and not melt his brother’s heart.” Deuteronomy 20, 8
The Torah ( דברים כ א-ח - Deuteronomy 20, 1-8) lists several reason why a person must be exempt from going out to make war (vs. a defensive war in which all men are obligated).
1. דברים כ ה Deuteronomy 20, 5: New house not yet dedicated
2. דברים כ ו Deuteronomy 20, 6: New vineyard from which the potential soldier has yet to enjoy its fruits
3. דברים כ ז Deuteronomy 20, 7: An engaged but not yet married man
4. דברים כ ח Deuteronomy 20, 8: ibid.
The first three are included because there was a chance the conscript would have his mind on the new house/fruit/wife-to-be.
The fourth is abundantly clear: cowardice can be contagious.
We know there are many haredim who simply are cowards.
They form groups to assault little children.
The train their children to assault soldiers, haredi soldiers.
There ARE haredim who are brave.
There ARE haredim who serve in the army or do national service. Ride a bus in Israel and you’ll quickly see this is true.
The cowardly haredim of Jerusalem, Bene Brak, Bet Shemesh, et al, are not, unlike American cowards, able to escape across a friendly border (into Canada). Even the anti-Israel haredim cannot – or at least won’t – “escape” to Jordan or the PA-controlled areas of Israel.
For the record, I enlisted in (volunteered for) the US military in 1960 and was prepared for induction into the IDF in 1978. By Israeli army standards at the time, I was too old, too blind, and too new a father to wear an IDF uniform.
Lapid – the “Flame” – is wrong in trying to draft every yeshiva “boy.”
To my mind they should be inducted into national service and made to serve as the army’s reservists serve. At least a month-a-year. If they are qualified, let them
Work in schools; not qualified to teach? Grab a bucket and mop.
Work in hospitals; there are lots of jobs for unskilled labor.
Work in nursing homes; if nothing else, there is bekur holim.
Work in private homes if only visiting the elderly for a few hours a day. My Mother-In-Law would LOVE company; bring the kollel to her since she no longer can go to the kollel. ‘Course being Moroccan and living in Bet Shean where it is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, it’s not likely any of the yeshiva “boys” would volunteer to visit חמותי.
Let them work on army bases as civilians. My sister-in-law can find plenty of work for them, but again, it’s Bet Shean – Sefardim and less-than-comfortable weather.
Let them visit kibbutzim and moshavim to teach Torah. I remember Chabad sending a boy to my ulpan in Beer Yakov to try and broaden our Jewish knowledge.
All the suggestions above are מצות מעשה - “action” mitzvoth that require the person to DO something. Learning also is a mitzvah, but many of the luminaries of the talmuds would insist that learning sans doing something with what was learned is not a mitzvah; it might even be considered by some as חילול השם.
Actually, since the yeshiva “boys” claim their studies “protect” Israel, perhaps the yeshivot should do two things:
1. Open yeshivot in Sdrot and Ashkelon, in Nahariya and Kfar Giladi, and other places Israel’s neighbors target. This assuredly will prove that the yeshivot are “magan Israel.” What missile could fall where the “boys” were studying in the bet midash.
2. Send “caravans” (towable trailers) with the army so the “boys” will have a portable, mobile bet midrash. Surely if the yeshiva “boys” are studying in the caravans nothing can touch the soldiers surrounding the beti midrash. Having yeshiva ‘boys” with the troops would increase the level of kashrut to satisfy even the most extreme rabbi (but would it be Ashkenazi kosher or Bet Yosef (halak) kosher?)
Lapid, for all his ideas to bring pseudo-equality to Israel’s citizens, got it wrong this time. Don’t draft the haredim into the army, but find other work for them or send them to the target areas.
The Jewish politicians need to find a way to convince the roshi yeshivot that it is a bigger mitzvah to put the learning to use than to learn and do nothing with what was learned.
