Service with a Smile? - The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

 

Ever since the horrific events of Shemini Atzeres there has been a noticeable surge in consciousness concerning our challenging role as the Nation of G-d. Baruch Hashem, more and more people have been swelling up with Jewish pride and a team spirit. There has certainly been a surge in what we call “national unity” and support for our soldiers and even our politicians. We have seen scores of previously secular soldiers and citizens taking on mitzvos of tzitzis, tefillin, krias shema, and observing Shabbos. Numerous generous individuals and grass roots organizations have sprung up to provide goods and services to soldiers, their families, displaced persons, and those who have been traumatized or otherwise affected by the war. And this is with no distinction as to the level of observance or the ethnic circles of the recipients.

מי כעמך ישראל

All this is heartwarming and inspiring and it gives us false optimism about our achievements. We may convince ourselves that all this unity and chessed is pleasing HKBH and we are surely on the threshold of the final geulah.

I have sad news. I don’t think we are even close to making HKBH happy. Certainly He is pleased with all of our unity, tehillim and chessed and it scores valuable points, but it isn’t what He wants from us. He wants soul-searching.

He wants all of us to do our personal soul-searching and righting our wrongs – like the citizens of Nineveh. In some cases, we know what we’ve done wrong and in others we may not know unless we are told. But once we are told by somebody else, then we know. Some things may be easy to fix and others may not be so easy, but at least we need to deal with the easy things.

I don’t see it happening.

Despite this war and the sense of unity it has invoked, when it comes to the friction of day-to-day events between people, it doesn’t look to me like anything has changed.

The latest personal examples:

Case 1

Just this past Friday, about 20 minutes before candle-lighting, I had exited the mikveh and got into my car. A gentleman who I am not acquainted with also exited the mikveh and got into his car which was on the opposite side of the street. He needed to go my direction so he attempted a single motion U-turn. He was just a touch shy of having clearance and, as such, he clipped my front fender.

He glanced into my car and certainly must have seen that I was in it and ready to step out to survey the possible damage. Then he just drove off.

I wasn’t able to get his tag number, though I don’t know what I would have done even if I did. Turns out, it looks like he didn’t do anything more than a paint scrape, but he could have done worse like knock out my headlight. He had a responsibility to hang around and find out and to deal with any significant damage. He ran.

Case 2 

I hired a nice Jewish fella with a large kipa to fix a leak in my roof. I met him as he was doing some work in the neighborhood. We set a price and he asked for about a third up front. This is standard. I put together NIS 1200 in cash. He came and picked up the cash and signed me a receipt.

This is the last I saw of him or my cash. At first, he answered his phone and assured me he is coming right after he finishes something he is working on. Then, he claimed, another urgent job came up, but he’ll be right there. Then, there was some rain, so we need to wait. Finally, he stopped answering calls altogether.

I actually first met him on Parshat Noach and he made a quip of working with tar just like on the teivah. This was two weeks after the horrible Shemini Atzeres when we were all in a sense of ultra-unity and camaraderie. No matter.

Case 3

There is person who comes to my Beis Midrash who is known to be a very learned fellow. Yet, he feels entitled to pull a chair and shtender and park himself smack in the middle of a narrow side aisle near the wall, essentially obstructing the aisle and all that it accesses (shelves with important sefarim). This forces anyone who needs to use this aisle to detour around it or to squeeze by him and ask “permission” to get by. This is during the night sedarim when the Beis Midrash is very sparsely populated. As such, he probably rationalizes that he is not inconveniencing very many people. On the same note, because the Beis Midrash is not so full, there are plenty of vacant normal places to sit.

In any case, I am one of those who get inconvenienced by his obstruction and I don’t see any reason why he is entitled to inconvenience a single soul. Plus, there are Halachos about these things (not in his favor). So I let him know that he is oyut of bounds and has no right to block an aisle and is creating a chillul Hashem.

As is my fate, I get ignored. This has gone on for quite a few months and well after the Shemini Atzeres tragedy. I see it as a public display of hubris and arrogance. One would think that once any person files a complaint, this Talmid Chacham would have the decency to back away. I guess it’s just because he has no respect for me.

Case 4

There is still some fallout regarding the defamation (Internet shaming) episode I endured several years ago. The main article on the JCW website was removed last year, but there is still a defamatory news article that they helped to compose. Shana Aaronson has linked it on the “news” section of her Magen website.

In late October I wrote to Shana Aaronson and informed her why this is a defamatory article and her obligation to remove it. She ignored my letter.

Generally, speaking, the News section of Shana’s website is the biggest cesspool of lashon hara or motzi shem rah – depending on whether she is reporting facts or just allegations – that I have ever seen. It is basically a new reincarnation of JCW’s Wall of Shame and commits the same heap of transgressions that I reported in earlier posts (HERE and HERE). These include that there is no allowance for comments or responses or for anyone to challenge the accuracy of the material, or to make any appeal to take down harmful content. I know this firsthand.

While we are discussing it, the JCW organization has been mostly idle for close to five years and even now, they persist to display their very outdated Wall of Shame with no shame. This is without any updates and subject to all of the problems mentioned years back.

Case 5

In the course of the defamation episode I discovered that a relative of mine supplied damaging information about me to Meyer Seewald and JCW. Once I found out, I attempted to contact her to let her know that she has damages to deal with. She resorted to ghosting and gaslighting but no conciliation. I let it go at first but it’s still an open wound. So in the period after Shemini Atzeres, I made another attempt hoping that the pervading somber mood sobered her up. 

Just more ghosting and gaslighting.

Case 6

On January 31, Dassi Erlich released her poisonous book about the Malka Leifer episode. I explained why it is so poisonous in my previous post. I am almost finished reading it and all the complaints of dishonesty in my previous post stand firm. I hope to give a more elaborate review in the near future, IYH.

Case 7

On a subject that I haven’t really addressed in these pages, but I intend to, I have seen numerous instances over the years, of pious dayanim and Batei Din who, let’s just say, were making mistakes. I am talking about mistakes that didn’t need to happen and that have caused damages to people that also didn’t need to happen.

I am talking about easily avoidable damages and, in some cases, easily fixable damages. Yet, the dayanim involved are not too eager to acknowledge the mistakes, nor to fix or minimize the damage. One shocking instance happened just recently, in this apocalyptic period.

The reason this is significant is because chazal tell us in Pirkei Avos (5:11):

חרב באה לעולם על עוות הדין ועל עינוי הדין ועל המורים בתורה שלא כהלכה.

Sword (i.e., violent death) comes to the world due to corrupting judgement, delaying judgement and issuing rulings that don’t conform with Halacha.

Ever since Shemini Atzeres, we are currently in a situation of cherev – sword – which means war and violent death. According to Chazal, there must be some responsibility from the Batei Din. What’s more shocking is that on November 30, 2024, at the height of the war, there was a tragic terrorist attack at the entrance of Yerushalayim which claimed four precious Jews. One was a very prominent dayan, a second was the niece of a dayan and one of the wounded was likewise a dayan.

This “cherev” does not only come to the tzibur, but it comes to the dayanim themselves.

Case 8

One would expect that during this upheaval, there would be a marked increase in those seeking to make Aliyah and of immigration numbers. I am connected with someone who is connected with Nefesh B’Nefesh. He told me that there is certainly an uptick in interest and Aliyah information being downloaded from their web site. But there does not seem to be any expedited Aliyah nor a significant surge of people looking for an expedited Aliyah. The normal process is a slow one and those who may be interested are taking their time the same as always. The numbers are not close to what we would expect under the circumstances. This is despite all the “writing on the wall” and very distinguished influencers letting us know that this is what HKBH is urging us to do.

 

All of the above are reports from the past five months, but they are the things that have been part of everyday life for time immemorial. I presented this list because I can attest to each one in person. But I am sure, each person has their own list. And what does it all teach us?

That nothing has really changed.

Despite all the hype about how unified we became, how much chessed we are doing and that many religious underachievers are becoming more observant, I don’t think we have really come very far. There is nothing remarkable about this newfound unity. We are all facing the same 70 wolves that want to tear all of us apart so it is natural to band together. We have always been doing remarkable acts of chessed. There is still way too much chillul Shabbos and maachalos asuros and worse. Even the extra Tehillim is slacking off.

We are not close. Certainly not close enough.

At least this show of unity and “tolerance” stood for something. Chazal tell us that the reason the dor haflaga was not wiped out was because they got along with each other – though maybe a bit too well.

But, of late, even this show of unity is crashing down. The Satan cannot leave us alone. The specter of forced chareidi draft has risen from its crypt and reared its ugly head.

When this war broke out, there was a major call-up of reservists and more showed up to play than they even expected. Meanwhile, the regular army was put to work and the scheduled upcoming draftees are standing on deck. Aside from this, there was a noticeable surge of voluntary enlistments which, I believe, included about 2000 members of the chareidi community who came on their own.

Baruch Hashem, at this point in time, there is no lack of manpower in the IDF and those that are in are highly motivated. Most everybody on the outside were and remain very supportive of our soldiers, help provide for them (and their families) and we daven and learn with them in mind.

Despite our painful losses, HKBH blessed us with miraculous achievements and the situation looks positive and stable. It’s not a situation we want to mess with. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

But here comes the erev rav, the anti-Torah lefties are back to their old mischief. It starts at the wretched Bagatz who cannot live with the status quo and needs to have a very untimely and impossible draft law. Then come the secular politicians – Lapid, Liberman, Matan Kahana, Gallant, all the usual suspects, who are haunted by this unity and can’t leave well enough alone. These folks live for one thing - getting their names and mugs into some news headlines. And this is the easiest way to do it.

Now, aside from reigniting the dormant divisiveness that has plagued us for 75 years, there is an additional side effect. Remember my short list of social ills I described earlier in this post? The last on the list was that there does not seem to be a substantial increase in Aliyah.

Aliyah is a good thing and very important for Klal Yisrael. Firstly, it is to our great advantage to populate this country with committed Jews as much as possible. Also to bring in professionals, craftsmen and techies to provide their services and to help us thrive. Lastly, it is the best thing for the diaspora Jews to get out of the hostile self-destructing world.

In short, we need Aliyah. The more observant the Jews, the better. We need the galus chareidi Jews to come as much as anybody else.

Alas, over the past decades, one of the chief impediments to Aliyah among the “Torah-diga” Jews was the requirement to deal with the army. This was mitigated by the initial status-quo agreement and some of the provisional laws from the recent years. But every time this subject comes back to the front burner, it throws a heavy monkey wrench onto the negative side of the pro/con decision scale.

So, aside from destroying our recent unity, it is keeping Jews away from the land.

We have come one step forward and gone two steps back.

So far in my blog, which opened in 2008, I have not devoted many posts to the chareidi draft issue. When I started my One Above and Seven Below project, I assumed it would be one of the hot, front-running topics. But it did not turn out that way. Why?

Because for the past 15 years we have hardly used the army. The brief military campaigns that we had, only required a very limited mobilization. It almost never came up as a real-time issue. In addition, the advent of the Nahal Chareidi Brigage – of which I have two sons who joined – alleviated a lot of the controversy.

On the question of Torah obligations, that the religious Zionist and MO pro-army camp tries to preach, there have been a long list of considerations that they are not prepared to answer honestly:

Q. Can today's government be considered a Jewish national government?

A. They may think so, but the chareidi world thinks otherwise.

Q. What are the qualifications for a King?

A. Either he must be a clear Davidic descendant or the majority of observant Jews need to appoint him. A plurality does not work.

Q. What is a war?

A. A war is a time of active hostilities between Israel and its enemies.

Q. So a standing army doing “soldiering” when there are no hostilities is not called a war, correct?

A. Correct

Q. Is there any Torah obligation whatsoever to be conscripted to a standing army when there are no hostilities going on?

A. None whatsoever.

Q. Who has to show up for a war and who not?

A. In general, any male that is needed except for those in avodas kodesh (Bnei Levi), unless the circumstances are dire.

Q. And what happens when the hostilities end?

A. they are free to go home.

Q. What is the difference between a milchemes mitzvah and a milchemes rishus?

A. In a milchemes rishus, anyone who really doesn’t want to fight, doesn’t have to but they may need to be jobniks. In a milchemes mitzvah, anybody who is needed needs to show up. But they need to be needed. When the Mishna in Sotah says that even a chassan and kallah must show up, this is obviously subject to common sense. It certainly does not mean that the first thing we do is collect all the chassanim and kallos and send them to the front lines. First, we call up the regular milchemes rishus type of soldiers. If we still need more, we can begin to call up those who may otherwise be exempt.

Q. What is the Halachic age for army service? (This is a tough one that will surprise many).

A. There is no Halachic age mentioned anywhere in Talmud Bavli, Yerushalmi, Midrash, Rambam or anywhere. Rashi notwithstanding, the 20-year mark mentioned in the Torah is inconclusive and may only be applicable to kibush Haaretz since only men 20 years on up would be getting a portion. Still, it’s not worse than an “asmachta”. As such, nobody less than 20 should be called up unless they are specifically needed or they volunteer.

Q. What are the responsibilities of the "avodas hakodesh" class in this regard?

A. Those who are designated for Temple service and for teaching Torah are not supposed to engage in war. This automatically applies to the Bnei Levi (Rambam Shmitta and Yovel 13:12).

Q. Can one be part of the "avodas hakodesh" class even if he is not from Shevet Levy?

A. Any human who so designates himself has this privilege (Rambam Ibid 13:13).

Q. What are the Halachic standards that a Jewish army must live up to?

A. No girls, no gays, no promiscuity, no kol isha events, best kashrus obtainable, complete observance of mitzvos and shabbos when hostilities are not in effect and set times for Torah study.

What emerges from all this is that, as long as there is no essential war going on, there is no Halachic basis to support any forced conscription. If the army does not maintain the standards of modesty and observance, it is actually forbidden to join it and certainly to force an observant Jewish person to enlist.

In times of war, an observant person may be drafted if:

·         The army maintains the rules of modesty (no girls, gays, etc.)

·         He is needed

·         He is released when the active hostilities are no longer if effect

This does not apply to Yeshiva students unless all other available candidates have already been drafted and more manpower is still needed. This is a very unlikely, and frightening, scenario.

If this is the basis of a draft law and is not violated, we will be able to maintain our national teamwork and even thrive. וכל העם הזה על מקומו יבא בשלום.

Such a law would not be too difficult to write up. The way to do it is to loosen draft requirements across the board, including the secular, so that it can apply to everyone. This means to invoke a more generous list of situations which are subject to deferrals possibly including those who want to study in university under certain conditions. With today’s demographics, I believe enough people will opt in that there won’t be recruitment shortages.

But one thing is for sure. If the Charedi draft issue reverts to the same left-right anti-Yeshiva political power play like it has been since the days of Ben Gurion, we will stay where we’ve been for the past 75 years.

Albert Einstein was offered the position of President of Israel after Chaim Weitzman passed away in 1952. He turned it down and it’s a shame. Perhaps, if he would have become Israel’s president, he could have taught this country, as well as people such as Lapid, Liberman, Gallant and Kahana, a valuable lesson:

Anyone who keeps repeating the same actions over and over again and expects different results meets the definition of insanity.