The War Against the Torah
Should we fear?
There are two wars happening in the Jewish yishuv of Eretz Yisrael now. One is the war against the external non-Jewish enemy, for which we need plenty of רחמי שמים. And the second, more serious war is the one of the secularists against the Torah.
Now, the struggle of the secularists against the Torah and everything it stands for is nothing new. That has been the situation since the Haskalah and the founding of the State, and is not particular to chareidim but manifests with any interaction between the Torah and public life. The secular Zionists historically have sought to remake Judaism in their own image, as a secular nationalistic movement, and pulling it away from its “primitive” religious roots. Shabbos, Kashrus, Geirus, Chametz, the Rabbinical career, and gay marriage and many more have always been in their crosshairs. The secularists despise the truly religious Dati Leumi ideology almost as much as they do the chareidim and constantly paint them as Messianic extremists who are a danger to the country, despite the fact that young men from these communities are the most dedicated soldiers. And despite the fire being long gone from the secular Zionist movement, the hatred of the Torah still remains. Therefore, the latest attempt to pull yeshiva bachurim away from the Bais Medrash in the ostensible interests of a delusional “equality of the burden” should be seen as nothing more than a continuation of the same.1 However, it represents a new development in the war, which is violent interference in the Torah education system.
At the very beginning of the State, Ben Gurion wisely came to an agreement with the chareidi community to leave them alone and not demand that their young men leave yeshivah. Ben Gurion did not do this out of altruism, and not because he was a hidden believer, but out of pragmatism. He realized that a “Jewish” state would need buy-in from those who truly represented Judaism. He understood, deep-down, that secular Judaism is an empty wagon, transparently so, and that secular Zionists could never grant the “Jewish” part of the state validity without the laden wagon of those who clung to the Mesorah. This was when the need for military manpower was much greater than it is now. The Litvish chareidim, for their part, never refused completely to participate in defense. They participated in the War of Independence, in the Six Day war, in the Yom Kippur war, and tens of thousands of them served in the reserves as late as the 90s. However, chareidim refused to have their bachurim removed from yeshiva for several years during their most formative stage of Torah development, to instead be placed in a secular chinuch system, which would guarantee that most would come back as damaged goods, never to return to their studies or former observance. To the contrary, by staying in yeshiva, these students would be protecting the country with the merit of their Torah study, while leaving open the option of serving in some capacity once they eventually left yeshiva (which was exceedingly common not too long ago). And the secularists, until now, despite continually lambasting the yeshiva students as traitors and deserters, did not earnestly try to force the issue. The current threatened violent interference with Torah education is an unprecedented escalation in the secularist war against the Torah, and should be taken seriously as such.
In previous articles, I addressed some of the fallacies surrounding the draft issue. I discussed the so-called existential threat, the “fairness” argument, and the various arguments rooted in rejection of the Torah. I also mentioned that as an American, it’s difficult for me to have an opinion on the legitimacy of the particular Israeli chareidi approach to dealing with secularism. After all, it seems the American chareidi approach is different, perhaps more moderate. Maybe the religious datiim are right? But none of that has to do with the current unambiguous battle of the secularists against the Torah, which only the blind can miss.
Some have questioned whether this can really be a secularist war against the Torah, given that so many datiim support the push to draft yeshiva student. Are these otherwise religious datiim also fighting against the Torah? This question is like asking “can good people support a bad cause?” And the answer is, they can, and they do. I was amazed to see a “kol koreh”, an actual pashkevil from dati rabbis calling on chareidi yeshiva students to enlist in the army. I was amazed for two reasons. The first is that they thought that chareidim would pay attention to their opinion. It’s like a coalition of Litvishe roshei yeshivos petitioning chassidim to exit chassidus. But I was much more amazed at the selection of signatures. It included legitimate rabbonim alongside bonafide secularist amei ha’aretz and apostates. Rabbi Yitzchak Sheilat alongside Benny Lau and Dr. Michael Abraham. I’m surprised that Natan Slifkin isn’t there. That is like Litvishe roshei yeshivos signing a kol koreh alongside Reform rabbis petitioning chassidim to exit chassidus. How on earth?! Did the datiim lose all self-respect? Or is this just like any other pashkevil, where the rabbis don’t know what they are signing? In any case, אוי לרשע אוי לשכנו.
Now that we have established that we are in the midst of a serious war over secularism vs. the Torah, should we fear? On the one hand, the war concerns the most serious issue of all, the Jewish future of Israel. Will it be a Torah nation, or will it G-d forbid be a repeat of the Churban, in which our ancestors rebelled against the Torah and were ejected from the Land? The situation is grave enough that even the Arabs are rejoicing at the development. But on the other hand, there is reason for hope, based on a statement from Hagaon Rav Elya Brudny printed in the Mishpacha Magazine.
I believe it’ll only bring the best out in us. We — the shomrei Torah u’mitzvos — are the ultimate protectors of Klal Yisrael, and this new threat will only motivate us to reach greater heights and to ascend to higher levels. Some worry that this ruling will decrease our Torah learning. I think the opposite is true. If anything, this ruling is going to increase and deepen our motivation to keep learning…Even outside the beis medrash, this ruling may well have positive reverberations: It can help us understand where we do and don’t belong. It can spur us to separate ourselves from the culture permeating the state...And it will motivate us to daven with true feeling and urgency for the return of our shoftim. It is clearer than ever that the judges on the Israeli High Court are not the shoftim of our mesorah…In every time of pervading darkness lies the potential for great illumination….On one hand, the powers that exist are causing great desecration, but on the other hand, many hundreds of thousands are countering that hollowness with great kiddush Hashem. The path to ultimate victory for all of Klal Yisrael lies in our redoubling our efforts in limud Torah…
If I can add one consolation, it is the fact that we are so much more committed to our position than the secularists are to theirs. We saw how the so-called Zionists threatened to leave Israel because they are sick of too many chareidim. How much fight can you have in you when all you have to fight for is an empty wagon? May it be Hashem’s will to turn the heart of our wayward brothers back to His word, and bring Mashiach speedily, Amen.
To the extent that the secularists believe there is a true emergency need for chareidi manpower (highly doubtful, especially in light of the military rejecting thousands of chareidi volunteers), that is at best the immediate impetus for the current movement, not the root cause. The rhetoric from both the press and the Supreme Court continues to be about שווין בנטל, the same as before the war started. What does the value of equality have to do with the immediate need for manpower? And even more damningly, why would an emergency situation necessitate the permanent cessation of the תורתו אומנתו exemption, which is what all the secularists were clamoring for and the Supreme Court delivered? Obviously this is just an escalation of the pre-existing war on the Torah, with the emergency serving as a convenient pretext.
The biggest problem with your take on the situation is the Hesder and Hesder Mercaz systems. Perhaps as an American, you simply don’t know much about it. My son learned full time for 5 years post high school and then went in for an abbreviated army service under hesder mercaz. He chose a tank unit , as do many of his friends from yeshiva, because the tank units are not mixed.. Granted, there were women instructors. After spending so many formative years in yeshiva there was little to no chance of him going of the derech. He was/is super strong in his learning and avodas hashem, he was a model of a frum soldier, as are all of his yeshiva friends. My son really has no complaints about charedim who are learning. He believes that their learning provides shmira and continuity for klal yisrael just as he and his friends did in their time. My issue is that the charedim are just on the wrong side here. They are missing an opportunity to inspire and unite the Jewish people by participating even in a small way in the army or in hesder mercaz. They argue against serving in the army as a mitzva, instead they have made it beyond the pale. My heart sank as I read Rav Brudny’s article. Their attitudes cause such a chillul hashem, it pains me that you don’t see it. Eventually they will have to stand before Hashem and justify it. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.
The reason the DL Hashkafah is considered inferior to the Charedi one is because it is untested and new.
Right now, the energy behind those that are 'on fire' with Torah, the Land, and their mutual responsibilities as Am Yisroel is the State of Israel and their hopes for its future as a Torah State and perhaps the background for Moshiach. In essence, not much different from the early generation of Zionists, whose idealism is unmatched. Read the memoirs of Yaakov Meridor, or Leon Uris' novels. Even Perfidy gives this impression. They didn't think about the future, and had no plans for when their plans had come to fruition.
The DL community, since Reb Zvi Yehuda gave it a boost by educating a generation of educators, have undergone a great awakening in recent years. There are many of them 'on fire' right now, learning, serving Hashem and His nation, and bringing up large families in their hashkafah. But how will they perpetuate this mindset? Right now, they have idealism with them, they are pioneers, builders, and the vanguard of a new world. How is that a sustainable ideology?
Charedism has withstood the test of time. Torah was the transfer from Spain to Poland, Torah brought us over from Eastern Europe to America, and it rebuilt a world in Eretz Yisroel. That hashkafah of dedication to Talmud Torah above all, not building a nation, not fighting Hashem's wars, not working the land, but Torah only, is a tried and true method. We can't risk giving it up for the novel idea called DL.