Chochma BaGoyim Taamin

 

Sometime after the outbreak of the Shemini Atzeres war, I wrote two posts about the people who are behind this. The first one (Nov 3, 2023) was titled New World Order - Part 2: When Did it All Start? And What is the End Game? This was a hysterical historical overview of the New World Order globalists who are behind all the events that are going on worldwide.

The second one (Nov 12, 2023) was titled Brutal Betrayal. It was an analysis of the suspicious nature of the October 7 events and security lapses that point to a grand collusion from the inside. There are definitely traitors in our midst.

Both of these posts are well worth reviewing.

Over the past months, I chanced across two lengthy interviews of one very astute non-Jewish individual named Francisco Gil-White. I do not know his occupation or claim to fame but he is one of the most broad-minded, honest, and introspective analysts I have come across.

The earlier interview is the longer one. It is just shy of two hours long. His main point is that antisemitism is not only a hatred of Jews. It is no coincidence that the most virulent anti-Semites throughout history were also those who aimed to squash all manner of human rights.

Almost all past social disasters that appeared to be aimed at us Jews actually persecuted the freedom loving gentiles more than us.

The Spanish Inquisition was really a war against Christian heretics, not against the Jews. Nazi Germany enslaved and murdered about 20,000,000 non-combatants including half of Germany and all of Eastern Europe. Only one third of those were Jews.

Think Stalin and communism, Fascism, and all of the Arab regimes. We can also throw in Mao Tze Dung and the Khmer Rouge who didn’t even have any Jews tp kill. They all just murdered their own.

Antisemitism is just a ruse to get all the peaceful non-Jews to look the other way until their turn comes. It is also there because the only way they can succeed in forming a one world totalitarian government and enslave all peace-loving people, is if they can get us out of the way first, just like Nimrod couldn't get his plan to fly as long as Avraham Avinu was around.

You can see the earlier interview HERE:

The later interview is a little shorter and more timely. Here, Mr. Gil-White hypothesizes about who is really pulling the strings in the Middle East and Iran and he points the finger at…drumroll…the American shadow policy makers. He shows how its clear that the US is playing the game both ways but their true goal is to take down Israel. After that, the rest of the free world.

This is for the same purpose as he discussed earlier, to depopulate and enslave the peaceful masses.

He posits that the US policy makers are the quintessential wolves in sheep’s clothing. And, as I wrote in my posts, this did not just start today. World War II and the Holocaust itself was the brainchild of the American Eugenicists.

 

Yes, indeed, Adolf Hitler was a rabid anti-Semite of the highest order, but he could not pull off his Holocaust without international backing (and banking). Actually, he was merely a puppet for the American Eugenicist capitalists who bankrolled him, supplied him, encouraged him and protected him. These were the likes of John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil which flowed freely to Germany, Henry Ford and his trucks, Tom Watson and his IBM tabulation technology, Prescott Bush, Allen Dulles, William Randolph Hearst and the Pattersons with their propaganda. They all helped build and maintain the Nazi machine.   

Of course, there were British and German collaborators, too, not to mention the good ol’ Mufti, but the Americans were the most powerful.

Anyway, he claims it is the Americans who are bankrolling Qatar and Iran and, by proxy, Hamas and Fatah and Islamic Jihad and PFLP, and always were. They are the ones who set us up for the Yom Kippur war, with the help of good ol’ American goyim like Henry Kissinger and Golda and forced us into Oslo and the disengagement. Evidently, they are the ones who handcuffed the IDF not to respond to October 7^th, to disarm the settlers, and to get all the nice guards and sentries to look the other way. It follows that they are the protectors of the leftist Israeli judicial court system and the instigators of all the prewar unrest.

Good ol’ Uncle Shmiel.

When you listen to his theories, a lot of what is happening now falls into place.

You can see the more recent interview HERE:

 

I highly recommend looking in on them if you have the time (Tip: change the playback speed to 1.5x or 2x). Both are quite long. If you can only watch one, it is better to watch the second one since it is shorter, more relevant, and more up to date.

In any case, keep your friends close and your enemies closer – if there is any difference.

This person is very wise.

חכמה בגויים תאמין

Fools of the World - Here we Go Again!

This post is an exact copy of a post that I have posted twice before. The first time was on October 15, 2008 and the second time was again on June 15, 2010. In each case, I referred to a current news link of the time. 

14 years later and I only need to update the news link at the head of the post. Sadly, very sadly, nothing else has changed. 

Well, maybe something has changed. For once we are engaged in a full blown war. Even so, the noise from the leftists is not that we don't have enough soldiers. There is no lack of leftist chiloni draft-dodgers. It's the same old racket about "sharing the burden". See my previous post from last month.

Fools of the World

Re: Times of Israel Article - AG to tell High Court gov’t must get ready to draft yeshiva students

The opening gemara in Masechet Avoda Zarah (2a) says:

In the future to come the Holy One shall bring a Torah scroll and set it in His lap and proclaim, “For each one who occupied himself with it, let him come and receive his reward.” Immediately all the nations of the world will gather and come in pandemonium…

 

The kingdom of Rome will enter before Him first…The Holy One says to them, “In what way have you involved yourselves?”. They will say before Him, “Master of the World! We installed many markets, we made many bathhouses, we amassed much silver and gold, and all this we did for no purpose other than to enable [the people of] Israel to busy themselves in Torah.” The Holy One says to them, “Fools of the world! All that you did, you did for your own purposes. You built marketplaces to situate harlots, bathhouses to adorn yourselves, and the silver and gold is actually Mine...”

 

The kingdom of Persia enters after them. The Holy One says to them, “In what way have you involved yourselves?”. They will say before Him, “Master of the World! We built many bridges, we conquered many metropolises, we waged many wars, and all this we did for no purpose other than to enable [the people of] Israel to busy themselves in Torah.” The Holy One says to them, “Fools of the world! All that you did, you did for your own purposes. You built bridges to collect from them tolls, you conquered cities to conscript the inhabitants and their property for your military campaigns, and, as for wars, I am the One who manipulates wars…"

 

I have oft-times reflected on this passage and noted that the great super powers of the world will line up to apply for this reward. Edom (the US and Europe) and Persia (Iran). No doubt Russia and China will also submit their applications.

And what about the State of Israel?

Will the State of Israel that tries so hard to be like all other nations, will the State of Israel also line up to ask for the great reward? And what claim will they make?

My guess is that the State of Israel will be right there clamoring away with the rest of the nations. And, as with the rest of the nations, HKBH will ask them, “In what way have you involved yourselves?” And they will say before Him, “Master of the World! We gave military deferments to those who could prove that they are studying Torah. And we made sure that they will not be able to legally work as long as they received these deferments. We gave child allowances for the children of your people - although we halved the child allowances at the same time as bread and milk doubled. And we set aside a special budgetary allotment for Torah schools - to make it look like we are giving them extra money when in truth we are giving them less since we didn't think that they deserve the same basic funding as State schools and so we made sure they didn't get it. And all this we did for no purpose other than to enable [the people of] Israel to busy themselves in Torah..."

And what will happen? Will the Holy One smile and heap infinite reward on the State of Israel for their sincere efforts or, as He said to the rest of the nations, will He say to them, "Fools of the world! All that you did, you did for your own purposes..."?

Just don't kick the sukka on the way out.

Related posts:

Service with a Smile?

The Pnei Hador have told the nation/They won't stand for segregation...

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.

Close the Window, I Feel a Draft Coming In!

Let me open this post with an announcement.

It looks like I will have a second son joining the IDF.

A quick rundown. I am blessed with six sons (and even more daughters). The oldest is the one I called Yaakov. He is more of a leather yarmulke type. He joined Nahal Chareidi in 2010. I wrote about it then. He did his three years and was discharged about five years ago. He has even done a stint in miluim. After the army, he went to Bar Ilan U and got an M.A. in financial mathematics. Currently, he works in the financial office of a large law firm in Ramat Gan. He is a very, very eligible bachelor.

Next is the one I called Yossi who was the star in many of my Shidduch posts. He went through the Israeli Yeshiva system and obtained an official p’tur. Then he went to Lakewood, found a bride and came back. He is currently learning in Kollel in EY and, I hope, living happily ever after.

Next up is one I will call Yitzi. He was only three when we came, but still, like his older brothers, he didn’t really take to the Israeli Yeshiva social system. He also managed a p’tur from the army and then promptly bugged off to the US and is currently learning in Rhode Island with some college on the side.

I will skip to my two younger sons, both Israeli born who blend in nicely with the “system”. They are both in Yeshiva Ketana (high school) and don’t seem to be candidates for army service in the long term.

And this brings us back to son number 4 – Eli. Eli is my first son born in Eretz Yisrael. Actually, he is my only child born in Yerushalayim. Everyone after him was born in Bnei Brak. Like his father, Eli is an independent thinker, left-handed, and very opinionated. In line, he is an idealist. Though his ideals are much more nationalistic than mine. He is not pro-Medinat Yisrael but is he very pro-Eretz Yisrael.

Eli is quite a character. Even though he never attended the Zilberman school system, he fully adopted their Vilna Gaon shitos. He doesn’t shave, he wears techeiles, tries to wear tefillin all day, and stops bentching after “al yechasreinu”. So he is part Zilberman with a touch of “hilltop” and 100% activist. He is a Lehava activist and Temple Mount activist and a Kahanist. He learns in Yeshiva Raayon Hayehudi which is the yeshiva established by Rabbi Meir Kahane, HY”D. He is pre-messianic which means he believes we should first build the Beis HaMikdash and reinstitute the avoda and [only] then Moshiach will come.

This means clearing out the Yishmaeli interlopers and he is all for it. He doesn’t believe in firing warning shots. He would just love to get his hands on an M-16 and so, he decided to sign up.

For those who don’t know, the chareidi presence in the army is expanding. Until now, there was only Netzach Yehuda (Nahal Chareidi) which is an infantry battalion in the Kfir brigade. They are now starting a Chareidi Tzanchanim (paratrooper) battalion and this is what he tried signing up for.

Unfortunately, he is a bit scrawny, very nearsighted, and, as I said, avidly idealistic so he wasn’t really able to get past the few physicals and the army shrink. So he is settling for Plan B which is to go into Rabbanut Tzvaii in the Shachar battalion.

What comes out of all this is that out of the offspring of yours truly, [Anglo] Chareidi-in-Chief, I might wind up with 2 out of 6 (equals 1 out of 3) boys doing IDF army service. And I am certainly not the only chareidi baal-haboss who is experiencing this phenomenon. All this without any crazy mandatory laws.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

Here in our neck of the woods, we are sitting with baited breath trying to get a handle on what is being called the new improved Hareidi Draft Law. It’s a bit like Obamacare (per Nancy Pelosi) – we won’t really know what’s in it until after we pass it. It is as mysterious as it is illogical. But, this is Israel. Everything works this way.

So for the record, I am getting all my information from these few articles in Haaretz which is not exactly the oracle of truth (HERE and HERE and HERE) but they (plus a few others from Arutz 7 and JPost) are the first ones that show up in my Google. 

This bill is a very strange type of compromise. On the one hand, it calls for financial sanctions against the Yeshiva world if certain quotas are not met. By itself, the chareidi parties would never accept such a provision and would bring down the government instead of supporting it. So, to take out these teeth, the bill gives a time schedule as if to say that there won’t be any sanctions for the first two years anyway. After that, there may be financial sanctions but it won’t affect the bill. Only if there are three consecutive years where the quotas fall short, then the bill will be voided and all Yeshiva guys will get drafted.

But, wait! If the bill is voided, the Knesset gets another 12 months to make a new bill before there is any mandatory draft. Mishpacha magazine adds that the Defense minister can issue automatic deferments for even another two years.

It seems that some of the chareidi parties (Shas and Degel HaTorah) are actually ready to support this bill because, at the extreme end, it totally kicks the can down the road for another six years (or more). There won’t be any sanctions for the first two years and for the next three, well, it’s only money.

Let me add, that it will not be easy for the government to apply any sanctions to any Yeshivos. The money the Yeshivos receive is so miniscule that there is almost no way to give less. Sure the government money helps and contributes to the budget, but none of the Yeshivas can and do subsist on it exclusively. Supposedly, Ponovizh has been the showcase Yeshiva for government assistance so they hang up a blue and white flag on Yom HaAtzmaut, but how much do you think Belz and Gur and Vizhnitz rely on government money? Who are you kidding?

And that’s where the numbers of “chareidim” really are!

After absorbing all this, I am puzzled by quite a few questions. First about the quota numbers themselves.

According to the Haaretz article, the numbers call for a starting quota of 3,996 “Yeshiva” guys in 2018 (bear in mind that it is already mid-July) and advance to 6,844 by the end of 2027. This would be a cumulative increase of about 71% over ten years.

The question is: 71%? Where is the army going when it comes to manpower? Does the army really want to grow? Does it need to grow? Does it intend to be 71% bigger in ten years?

Everybody knows that the Israeli army is totally swamped. As long as nothing really drastic happens, they have way more soldiers than they need and, it is argued, than they can afford. Currently, the system brings in enough inductees from all sectors that they are not lacking. They barely call anybody for mandatory miluim anymore.  If, chas v’shalom, some terrible catastrophe would call for the strength of the entire force, there are enough potential reservists between the ages of 22-36 to quadruple the standing force in a flash. This fact will hold year after year. And if even that won’t be enough, it obviously means that HKBH is not standing in our corner so we are anyway doomed no matter how many soldiers we produce.

So the manpower issue is a total joke and everybody knows it. In truth, as the general Israeli population continues to grow, kein yirbu, it becomes evident that the country is facing a more serious dilemma: how to deal with a potential soldier pool that is way bigger than we need?

And this is no joke. Currently, the Israeli government is dealing with it by quietly giving indiscriminate exemptions to people who do not meet the high end of their profile standards - especially if they want to be exempted. Not just to chareidim.

Perhaps, we can alleviate the army surplus problem by sending all the girls home. This might help to minimize what is now the biggest cause of death in the Israeli army – abortion. But, of course, then all the girls would get a head start in law school, pharmacy school,  and optician school while the boys in green are stuck playing shesh-besh by their Humvees and they will corner the job market (this is already happening).

Yep, Israel has its own version of the “shidduch crisis”.

I gather, many readers are probably saying that the purpose of this quota increase is not because the army wants to grow, but they want the proportion of the soldiers coming from the chareidi sector to be bigger than it is. Such a stance is likely to open up another few Pandora’s boxes.

Firstly, the concept of singling out one sector of the population to produce a “quota” is very undemocratic in today’s liberal world. It sort of goes against the principles of the left wing that is pushing for this quota to start with. Quotas for one are quotas for all!

I suppose the counter-argument might be that we would intrinsically apply quotas to any sector but it’s a foregone conclusion that any other “sector” already meets its phantom quota so there is no point in applying one. This may be true, but even so, the idea of even designating a “sector” is disturbing. Are Ethiopians a “sector”? Are Russians a “sector”? Are olim a “sector”? Are the handicapped a “sector”? Ashkenazim? Sephardim? Kurdim? Geirim?

Doesn’t secular pluralistic ideology state that all citizens are a part of one heterogeneous mixture?

The second Pandora’s box is that if we are dealing with a higher proportion of chareidim in an army of a basically static size, their influence and power will grow along with it. Is this really what the left wing army wants? The demands and “special needs” of the chareidim that are already in the army have always been a thorn in the side of the IDF. Real chareidim (not the renegades that run to the army to escape) are not too quick to follow orders that conflict with chareidi ideals. Chareidim will not take part in evacuations of Jewish settlements. They don’t believe in standing like statues while Arabs harass them and endanger them. And how many beard controversies and Torah shiur controversies does the army want?

Or does the army really want to turn black?

For the third Pandora’s box, we need to examine another part of the law as reported in the papers. Let us see what Haaretz writes:

The latest attempt, spearheaded by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, which passed its first reading vote in the Knesset on Monday night, aims to hit the ultra-Orthodox community where it hurts – the pocketbook.

According to the current version of the proposed law, yeshivas will be required to meet a quota of students who move from their studies into the military or do some alternative form of national service.

And in another article:

Financial penalties should be imposed on ultra-Orthodox yeshivas whose students fail to meet quotas for military or national civil service, a committee charged with preparing a new conscription bill recommended Monday.

But, wait! Look at this headline and lead from Haaretz July 2:

Explained: The Controversial Law That Would Press Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Community Into Military Service

The defense minister is spearheading legislation to get nearly 7,000 Haredim into the army by 2027. But neither the ultra-Orthodox nor left-wing politicians are happy with the proposed bill…

This is very confusing. Who is this quota calling on – ultra-orthodox Jews from the “community” or the students from any given ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva? If they want a quota of ultra-orthodox Jews, what does this have to do with the Yeshivos? How would one apply sanctions to the general charieidi sector?

So let’s first take the more logical route – this is not really a quota on the chareidi sector in general. It’s meant to be a quota on the Yeshivos. What does this mean? If they get their quota of “Yeshiva guys” they will be satisfied and if they don’t, they will sanction the Yeshivos? If it’s the collective Yeshiva system, which Yeshivos do you punish? Which yeshiva is “guilty”? All of them? Collective punishment?

And if its’ individual Yeshivos, does this mean that every Yeshiva will be given a quota of active students currently enrolled that are supposed to be de-studentized and “turned over” to the army?

Like, Ponovezh will have to go over their current student list and fork over 50 guys? Will they be sohnim or mechablim (or a separate quota of each)? And Mir and Chevron and Wolfson and Rosen and Lomza and Meor HaTorah, etc, etc.?  And what about Yeshiva Grodno Ashdod (don’t make me laugh)? I can assure you this is never going to happen. Not before every major road artery between Tel Aviv and Yerushalayim is repeatedly plugged up to a standstill.

The problem is, if a boy goes into the army, he isn’t enrolled in a Yeshiva! So how is any boy a ward of any given Yeshiva? Which Yeshiva gets all the unaffiliated “wildcard” guys? In terms of increasing from 3,996 to 6,844, do you mean we already have 3996 Yeshiva boys in the army? Which Yeshivos are they from? Why can’t every Yeshiva point to let‘s say ten soldiers hanging around the chareidi battalions and say they came from us?

This looks a lot like the Cantonist decrees to me. Netanyahu is getting way too friendly with Vladimir Putin (or is it Avigdor Lieberman?).

After all this there are more questions. How is the government even going to punish the Yeshivos with sanctions? Give them less money? No money? If the Yeshivos will survive without the government money, what effect will this have?

And if they can’t survive, it means the Knesset is closing them down. I can’t imagine any government willing to take on such as task nor surviving to tell about it. Incidentally, I predict that just as the proportion of the chareidim in the army increases, the proportion of the chareidim in the Knesset will also increase. As the right wing gets more and more established in the Knesset, it is a sure thing that such a debacle as closing down Yeshivos will never pass the plenum.

Sof davar, there is just no chance that these sanctions will ever be applied; especially on a per-Yeshiva basis. The left-wingers and Avigdor Lieberman are never ever going to get their “Yeshiva guys”.  And no Yeshivos are going to get sanctioned.

So let’s go back to understanding this law at a more communal level and assume that they will just have to settle for calling for a quota of chareidim that are not Yeshiva guys.  And, sure enough, if we look at the headline of the last Haaretz item I quoted, the terminology seems to indicate this.This is not a per-Yeshiva quota, but a chareidi-sector quota.

And we are back to square one. With new Pandora’s boxes.

According to the press, “Yeshiva students” and “Ultra-Orthodox” are interchangeable. But this is not the way it is in real life. We already noted a problem of singling out a specific group from a “politically correct” perspective, but now we are faced with a much stickier problem: how do we identify what counts as a chareidi community and a chareidi?

Those who read my book probably know that a big section of it deals exclusively on how to define a chareidi so we know who counts and who doesn’t. Not everybody agreed to my definition. But there is one thing we can all agree on ­– there is more than one definition.

When it comes to demographics, if one does not have a monolithic definition on his subjects his numbers are totally useless. I expounded on this point both in my book (Chapter 9) and in a lengthy post eight years ago about how to define a chareidi for the purpose of statistics.

And,  after all is said and done, is such a thing really necessary? As I opened in this post, the IDF already got my Yaakov and it looks like they will be getting my Eli (I am not sure they really want him!). Are they “ultra-Orthodox” or not? Eli is even currently in a real honest to goodness Yeshiva (even though the founder was banned from the Knesset).

MK Yisrael Katz says the same thing. Right here in Arutz 7:

Minister Katz also stated that the intervention of the judicial system in the law was unnecessary. ​​"The Supreme Court erred when it intervened on this issue of enlistment," he said.

Katz also added an unusual figure that has received no media attention. "According to data presented by a committee in the Defense Ministry, the number of haredim who serve in the army is not far from the percentage of the general public who serve."

Of course, as I have written countless times, the validity of his statement boils down to what counts as a “chareidi”. Though, by my own definition, I believe he is right.

There is really no way out of this Pandora’s box. The Bagatz is spinning its wheels. They can give a hundred 12 month deadlines. There can never be a logical law. We have always defied logic, anyway.

Nobody really knows what this law is. According to Mishpacha magazine, there is currently a rift between Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisroel. Degel HaTorah is looking at this as a quota for the ultra-Orthodox community, so they can live with it. Agudas Yisroel is looking at it as a quota of Yeshiva boys, so they cannot live with it.

Whether or not this bill passes, nothing is really going to change. It’s all smoke and mirrors. There is only one thing it can accomplish. If you ask Moshe Gafni, it may just save Netanyahu’s coalition.

But if you ask Yaakov Litzman, it may not.

War(time) and Peace(time)

Since my last post (and even before) I have been spending a lot of time doing research on the Halachic status of the BDA prenuptial agreements. I have wanted to write on that subject ever since Emes V’Emunah put out a few posts in favor of the prenups back in August. I am too preoccupied to write about it now, but maybe I will get a post out in time for Chayei Sara ;-).

Currently, the army issue is making the headlines along with some severe traffic jams in Yerushalayim. It is annoying. I had to miss the Tolna Rebbe’s shiur last Thursday because it was impossible to drive out there.

Personally, I am caught between the two rabbinic opinions. I understand the position of the “hardliners” despite the fact that I am from the moderate camp who believes that if you can just show up at the Lishkat HaGiyus and get a legal deferment, why be obstinate and aggravate the IDF?  

Besides, I do have a son who served. (My other sons obtained legal deferments.)

I have never yet written a full 1A7B overview on the army issue. It is a very complex issue and it is very hard to do justice to it in a blog post. My posts are way too long as it is (which is because it is very hard to do justice to any major issue in a brief  blog post).

That said, a fellow blogger who is a very sincere Char-da”l (Chareidi/Dati-Leumi) type has just posted on the issue and it was brought to my attention. It follows the same widespread erroneous assumption that “serving in the army” is identical to “fighting in a war”. As such, these people apply the known halachos of fighting in a war to the concept of serving in an army (when there is hardly any war).

You can see his analysis HERE.

My comment is there, as well, but I have since enhanced it and, therefore, I am reprinting it here: 

I really haven’t written directly about the army issue, but there are many misconceptions at play.

1. There is no obligation to be part of an "army" whatsoever. There is an obligation to participate in a "war" (milchama) but not to serve in an army when there is no war. So the important thing is, how do we define “war”?

Every indication from Tanach and shas is that a "war" is an active military engagement in the face of enemy hostilities; when an armed force of men is mobilized for battle. In the past 30 years, there has been very little activity which meets the criteria of “war”. Desert Shield can be called “war”, Cast Lead can be called “war”, Second Lebanon War, Tzuk Eitan, Amud Anan, whatever you want. All these “wars” probably won’t add up to six months over the past twenty years. Manning checkpoints and going into Arab villages to arrest terrorists are not wars.

2. Every indication from Tanach is that there was no major standing army in Biblical times. The Jewish armies in those times were militia style armies of regular people – farmers, laborers, and perhaps even scholars – who were called up to arms when there was a call to arms. The rest of the time, they stayed home and worked or studied. We see this clearly in the wars of Barak and Gideon as well as Moshe's war against Midyan.

Indeed, there were professional Jewish soldiers under the command of the kings’ generals like Yoav and Avner but there is neither reason nor source to say that these soldiers were anything but volunteers. Also, a proper king has the right to draft anybody he wants into his personal guard. Nevertheless, there is no indication whatsoever that anybody was ever forcibly conscripted into a standing army to hang around and waste their lives when there was no active war going on.


In fact, as far as I know, the only place in Tanach that discusses a long-term conscription of any kind was Shlomo Hamelech's labor force for building the Bais HaMikdash (Melachm I 5:28). Even that was a rotation of one month on duty and two months at home.

Interestingly, the gemara in Sanhedrin (94b) clearly relates that when the nation of Yehuda was beiong attacked by the army of Sancheiriv which comprised 185,000 commanding officers, Chizkiyahu Hamelech conscripted every able bodies person to study in the Beis Midrash!

3. Today’s army is forced enslavement of young people for three crucial years using the excuse that they must be thus enslaved so that they can fight in combat just in case there is a week or two of actual “war” during this period. There is no Halachic premise to sanction this. Ironically, when the second Lebanon war occurred (34 days in 2006, the longest in the past 20 years), the IDF mostly left the army intact and called up reservists!

4. Incidentally, almost nobody who takes on this issue, including our esteemed blog host, seems to mention that Rashi,in no less than three places in Chumash, goes out of his way to stress that, even for a call up for active hostilities, the minimum age for soldiering is 20 years old.

So, to answer your title question, nobody has to serve in the army but anybody over 20 who is needed has to fight in a war for as long as that war is in effect.

Y. Hirshman

Author – One Above and Seven Below

עת מלחמה ועת שלום

May we be zocheh to see the final geula and put this whole controversy to rest once and for all. BB”A.

Once we are in Parshas Lech Lecha and discussing the Kedusha of Eretz Yisroel, please see this fascinating post from 2008:

Who Did the Land of Israel First Belong to After the Flood?

Good Shabbos!