A word for the yeshiva “boys” from Avot:
Bread with salt you shall eat, water in small measure you shall drink, and upon the ground you shall sleep; live a life of deprivation and toil in Torah. If so you do, "fortunate are you, and good is to you" (Psalms 128:2): fortunate are you in this world, and it is good to you in the World To Come. (R. Yehoshua b. Levy, Avot, 6:4)
If the “yeshiva boys” dodging the draft — national and military — were forced to live as suggested by Avot “for the duration,” it is very likely they would opt for IDF basic training for a shorter duration.
A leaky canvass tent may not seem attractive, but it is survivable. (Been there, done that.)
A quick aside.
According to one report, the source of which escapes me now, about fifty percent — 50% — of haridi men in Jerusalem now go to work, to real jobs. Kol haKavod both to the workers and to the firms that employ them.
High tech not only is providing jobs to the haridi women, but the men, too, are staring to be like rabbis of old: work and study.
Avot address this issue, too.
If there is no flour, there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, here is no flour. (R. Elazar b. Azariah, Avot 3:21)
Excellent is the study of the Law in combination of some worldly pursuit. (R. Gamalil b R. Judah HaNasi, Avot 2:2)
To be fair, Avot also states Reduce your business and engage in Torah study. (R. Meir, husband of Beruryah and student and friend of The Other, Avot 4:12) According to Masters of the Talmud (Kolatch, Jon. David Publishers ISBN 0-8246-0434-2), Meir was a scribe (sofer stam).
I never could understand why “modern” religious Jews hide out in yeshiva, ignoring their national and familial duties.
Leaders from the time we crossed the Jordan have been “religious.”
There were military leaders (Joshua) and religious leaders (Pinchas), but they worked together. When Joshua went to war, Pinchas went with him.
There always have been exemptions from military duty; If a man was a newly wed or if he just built a home, he was left behind. If a man was a coward, he also was let behind.
The rabbis tells us that Israel survives because of the yeshivot.
I’m not sure that is true — although to their credit, the men of hesder yeshivot do don the uniform and honorably serve their country.
If “Israel survives because of the yeshivot,” then move the yeshivot to the front lines.
Schools around the world use “portable classrooms,” basically trailers that can be hauled wherever there is a need.
With AC, heat, and a portable generator, the students have all the amenities of a concrete and mortar classroom.
Set up two portables near the front lines; one for study and prayers and one for sleeping and eating.
Mark the portables “YESHIVA - NON-COMBATANTS.” I’m sure the enemy will observe the non-combatant status just as Israel attempts to avoid firing on schools, hospitals, and mosques where the enemy hides.
Should the enemy be so ungentlemanly as to attack the yeshivot-on-wheels, then Israel should have no compunction about leveling Al-Aqsa and turning the Temple Mount into an archaeological dig. (Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount] claims there is no evidence that Solomon’s temple existed, but dig deep enough and the evidence will be there.) Never mind that the Waqf might be displeased; when Jordan controlled Jerusalem, the Muslims managed to desecrate many synagogues, a number having great historical significance.
MEANWHILE if the yeshiva “boys” rough it a la Avot (ibid.) perhaps that would reduce the cost-per-student and, by extension, mean less need to go begging around the world because, as one schnorer told me, “it’s worth it” to pay for flights, lodging, chauffeurs and the schnorer’s commission.
I think its great that there are people who want to study the talmuds, but — with the exception of a very few — most who make a career of the yeshiva won’t ever become respected poskim or even decent rabbis and teachers.
For too many, yeshivot are a place to dodge responsibility: no work, no military or national service.
Every society has “professional students,” but yeshiva students study — if at all — on the cuff of Israeli taxpayers and donors from around the world.
I don’t think, as Liberman does, that all yeshiva boys should be drafted — remember there was an exemption for cowards — but I believe every yeshiva boy should
(a) Perform some sort of national service, e.g., work in a hospital, teach in a school, pick up trash
(b) Get a job; it need not be a full-time, 8-hours-a-day job, but something.
When I was a student in an ulpan (Kibbutz Netzer Serini in Beer Yakov) many years ago, we had to work. We worked five hours and studied four hours six days-a-week for the six month duration of the ulpan. All of us, from the U.S., the (then) USSR, and from North Africa all survived our jobs at the ulpan. (Did we become Hebrew mavins? But we could, and did, integrate into Israeli society.)
Perhaps I am being unfair to the yeshiva boys. Rabbis don’t go to war.
That is a big duck — a/k/a a “gross canard.”
I personally knew a rabbi in the U.S. 101st Airborne who was one of several “Orthodox” rabbis setting up kosher kitchens in Vietnam.
Then there are the hesder yeshiva soldiers in Israel.
A LITTLE HISTORY
The first U.S. combat rabbi was Ferdinand Leopold Sarner who was the third rabbi appointed and he was the first rabbi to serve as a regimental chaplain. A native of Germany, he was elected to be the chaplain by the officers of a predominantly German regiment, the 54th New York Volunteer Regiment, the “Schwarze Jaegar.” He served between April 10, 1863, through October 3, 1864. He received a discharge for medical disabilities resulting from wounds received at the Battle of Gettysburg. (See seymourbrody.com/rabbis/brody_chaplains.pdf)
During World War 1, More than 250,000 Jews responded to America’s call to arms. They received more than 1,100 decorations, including three Medals of Honor for bravery. Approximately 3,500 were killed and more than 12,000 were wounded. There were more than 9,000 commissioned officers, including two generals and an admiral. There were 25 rabbis in the military as chaplains. This was the first large group of rabbis to enter the military in American history. (Ibid.)
There were 311 Jewish chaplains in the military in World War II: 147 were Conservative, 96 were Reform and 68 were Orthodox. Eight Jewish chaplains gave their lives. (Ibid.)
Those are just U.S. rabbis. Not all served in combat, but many did.
The only reason the rabbis wore a uniform was because many “just Jews” of different views served.
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