A Sign That Mashiach is Coming? Natan Admits that Torah Study Protects

Along with some basic, ignorant errors. But progress...

First, the good

During this troubled period, I have oft heard the sentiment expressed that Mashiach may be just around the corner. Perhaps I don’t take it as seriously as I should, since I have heard it so many times before, and I usually don’t give the matter much further thought. However, I have recently witnessed a sign that supports this theory. Yirmiyahu tells (31:33):

כִּ֣י זֹ֣את הַבְּרִ֡ית אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶכְרֹת֩ אֶת־בֵּ֨ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אַחֲרֵ֨י הַיָּמִ֤ים הָהֵם֙ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָ֔ה נָתַ֤תִּי אֶת־תּֽוֹרָתִי֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔ם וְעַל־לִבָּ֖ם אֶכְתְּבֶ֑נָּה וְהָיִ֤יתִי לָהֶם֙ לֵֽאלֹהִ֔ים וְהֵ֖מָּה יִֽהְיוּ־לִ֥י לְעָֽם׃

But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares GOD: I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

And indeed, in these times, we observe that many secularists are returning to the ways of Hashem and His Torah. I have seen evidence that this includes our good friend, Natan Slifkin.

Two days ago, Natan wrote a post complaining about the chareidi (really the Torah) claim that the merit of their Torah study contributes to national defense. However, surprisingly, he did so in a less vituperative and inflammatory manner than usual. Although we appreciate his unusual self-restraint, I noticed something else that was astonishing. In many, many previous posts and comments over the years, this “rationalist” was kofer in the countless statements of Chazal that the merit of Torah protects, dismissing them as “idealistic aggadah”, claiming that “Torah doesn’t PRACTICALLY protect” and absurdly attempting to prove this from attacks on shuls. Indeed, his prior view, summed up in his own words was:

The same is true for Torah. According the rationalist approach, learning Torah imparts valuable knowledge, improves our character, and teaches us how to improve society (see my post on The Rishonim on Torah Study.) That is it, and that is all.

Yup, standard tikkun-olam type kefira, worthy of any Reform rabbi. That is it, and that is all.

Or rather, that was it. In this recent post, he sings quite a different tune.

I’m referring to the various campaigns and statements like, “the yeshivah students are the soldiers in Hashem’s army, they are providing the merit by which the soldiers survive and triumph, they are fulfilling a role of equal (or greater) importance, look at our amazing achdus!”

This makes perfect sense from a charedi perspective, in which the starting point is that learning Torah automatically creates an unimaginably great merit. Therefore young men who are learning Torah are providing an invaluable service for the Jewish People. Accordingly, Israel is benefiting tremendously from all those many tens of thousands of young men who are learning in yeshiva rather than serving in the IDF. (I am not sure whether charedim believe that Religious Zionist young men should also exempt themselves from army service and stay in yeshivah; I’d appreciate hearing charedi perspectives on this.)¹

But from a religious Zionist perspective (see Rav Eliezer Melamed’s discussion here, here and here), the starting point is that every able-bodied Jew has an obligation to serve in the army and try to protect the Jewish People. This is a mitzvah, a chiyuv, on all Jews, which takes precedence over everything. (There may be an exception for a very small number of elite scholars whose mission is to be teachers of the nation, if they are not needed for the war effort, but there is certainly no exemption for standard yeshivah students.) It is like tefillah and every other obligatory mitzva and obligation. You can’t say “I’m not going to davven because I’m learning Torah,” or “I’m not going to say Kinnos on Tisha B’Av because I’m learning Torah,” or “I’m not going to help my wife because I’m learning Torah.” And if you do, your Torah has no merit.

It’s not that the spiritual merits are unimportant to religious Zionists; it’s that they are obtained elsewhere. There are many people who are unable to serve in the army - too young, too old, unfit for whatever reason - and their Torah is a source of great merit. Note that even if every single able-bodied charedi yeshivah student were drafted, there would still be more people learning Torah than at any previous point in Jewish history. And there is especially valuable merit from the Torah being studied by young men who will be serving later in life, or who have already served, or who are in the army right now.

Merit of the Torah.

Merit.

Merit, merit, merit.

In this post, he clearly acknowledges the concept that the merit of Torah study (and other mitzvos) provides national protection, not in the Reform tikkun-olam, “rationalist” manner of the previous quotation, but the way in which every frum yid, whether chareidi or dati, understands it. This is an amazing improvement, even if he wouldn’t admit it!

Now for the bad

Unfortunately, the post is full of still choc-full of the basic Torah ignorance that we have come to expect from him. He writes

But from a religious Zionist perspective (see Rav Eliezer Melamed’s discussion here, here and here), the starting point is that every able-bodied Jew has an obligation to serve in the army and try to protect the Jewish People. This is a mitzvah, a chiyuv, on all Jews, which takes precedence over everything. (There may be an exception for a very small number of elite scholars whose mission is to be teachers of the nation, if they are not needed for the war effort, but there is certainly no exemption for standard yeshivah students.) It is like tefillah and every other obligatory mitzva and obligation. You can’t say “I’m not going to davven because I’m learning Torah,” or “I’m not going to say Kinnos on Tisha B’Av because I’m learning Torah,” or “I’m not going to help my wife because I’m learning Torah.” And if you do, your Torah has no merit.

First of all, why should chareidim not follow their own rabbis? With all due respect to Rabbi Melamed, why would they accept the opinion over that of the Chazon Ish, the Brisker Rav, Rav Shach, Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach, Rav Elyashiv, and countless other greats that the Dati community also reveres and accepts?

But it is the second part that is much worse. He writes that since according to the religious Zionist view, chareidim are required to join the army, therefore their Torah learning accrues no merit, just like if one would learn instead of davening. This is really astonishing amaratzus. Number one, it is false that if somebody learns instead of davening, his Torah has no merit. He is probably basing this on an erroneous understanding of the principle of מצוה הבאה בעבירה, as he writes in a discussion with my very close relative², Joyous:

He is saying that there is a chiyuv for the vast majority of yeshiva students to serve. If someone does not fulfill their chiyyuv, they are doing an aveira. There is a principle that mitzva haba b'aveira is an aveira. Hence there is no zechus.

His comment displays profound ignorance of the sugya of מצוה הבאה בעבירה, which requires one to actually be committing an active sin, and that the sin be the cause of the mitzva. There is no principle that if one does one mitzvah in place of another, more pressing mitzvah, he does not fulfill the mitzvah he is doing. Certainly, such a person is acting wrongly and sinning by neglecting the more pressing mitzvah, but that in no way contradicts the fact that he is doing a mitzvah presently.

Now, if that was Natan’s only mistake, he could still be making a good point, since it would be possible that the sin (assuming, theoretically, that chareidim are sinning) of avoiding army service is a rebellion against Hashem. which overwhelms the merit of Torah study and brings retribution to the Jewish people, ח”ו. But that would be utterly fallacious here, because in this case, chareidim sincerely believe they are doing the right thing and are following the Torah. Even if, theoretically, they were sinning by avoiding the military, it is בשוגג, inadvertently, and certainly not an intentional disregard for the mitzvah. It is like somebody who mistakenly believes he already davened, and devotes the rest of his morning to learning. Is there anybody stupid enough to think that he does not get the merit of Torah study or is not serving Hashem with that learning?

Furthermore, it is much better than שוגג in this case, since the chareidim are following eminently reliable halachic authorities, great Geonim who are revered by chareidim and datiim alike, who themselves are ruling based on their understanding of the Torah. The Gemara in Shabbos (130a) relates that the followers of Rabbi Eliezer who carried milah knives on Shabbos were praiseworthy and attained special merit for their devotion, despite the fact that the consensus of halacha is not like Rabbi Eliezer, and according to the majority opinion, they were desecrating Shabbos. In our case, it is infinitely better, since even if theoretically, the chareidim are wrong, they are relying on רוב מנין ובנין of the Gedolei Poskim. Therefore, there is no question that even from the Dati perspective, the Torah study and observance of chareidim contributes a great deal to Israel’s protection.

Taking offense at solidarity?

Finally, we get to the second point of the post, that chareidim are somehow being offensive by showing solidarity with the army via their spiritual efforts, because they don’t risk their lives like combat soldiers. This bizarre complaint is seriously erroneous, as well as ironic.

It is seriously erroneous, because nobody has a problem with the concept that a technician or an engineer plays and equally vital role in the war as a combat soldier, despite the fact that their lives are in much less danger. This is because everybody recognizes the importance of an engineer to the war effort. From a Torah perspective, whether Chareidi or Dati (but perhaps not from a "Rationalist Judaism" perspective), the merit of Torah scholars is equal if not more important to the efforts of the engineer. So the outrage over this "tone deaf" equivalency, and the disingenuous deflection towards the fact that yeshiva students are not risking their lives, can only come from somebody who does not appreciate the merit of Torah and Mitzvos compared to engineering, ie, the secularist "rationalist" perspective. But since Natan has done teshuva (as demonstrated above) and now acknowledges the great merit of Torah study and the protective ability of this merit, he should not be using this argument.

It is also ironic, because secularists have constantly complained about how chareidim isolate themselves from Jewish society as a whole, retreating to their enclaves and showing no interest in the welfare of their fellow Jews. This has always been false, but if anybody needed to see this clearly, now is a good time. Chareidim are publicly proclaiming solidarity with everybody else, and urging each other to strengthen their learning and avodas Hashem, and are taking action to that effect, as a merit for Israel’s protection (a concept that both chareidim and datiim believe in, as stated above). They are also taking part in assisting the soldiers with their spiritual and physical needs, such as making tzitzis and food packages. And instead of appreciating this display of unity, Natan and his silly band of cronies take offense.

In the end of the day, the people who are outraged at this are going to be the ones who are looking for an excuse to be outraged at Chareidim in general. These are probably the people that Natan surrounds himself with (just look at his Facebook page, ה’ ישמרנו). Such individuals are always seething with rage, for them it is never not a good time to incite hatred. And as our previous poster who is presently serving mentioned, they are almost all either rabid secularists, or Anglos who have themselves never served (and Rationalist Judaism-type people are generally both types combined). But emotionally healthy people will not feel that way. And anecdotally, besides for the testimony of the previous poster who is presently serving, I know plenty of chareidim and non-chareidim with relatives who are called up, and I am hearing only positive things, not resentment, and certainly not rifts. The faithful religious community is encouraging everybody to contribute through their tefilos, Torah study, and shemiras hamitzvos. And as the Torah that we have emunah in makes clear, this is the the way that those of us who are not fighting or engineering can make a difference.

1. He is actually not interested in hearing chareidi perspectives on this, since he blocked comments on the post.

2. עי’ רש”י סנהד’ ט: ד”ה רבא אמר