Meir Ettinger 29.11.2017 – About Pelah Against Recruiting

ברגשות מעורבים

מאיר אטינגר כותב על הפגנות ה'פלג' נגד הגיוס

The Demonstrations of Peleh

A. With mixed feelings -

The things I write in this column are not the easiest things to say, and not the easy things to say, but I still have to write what I think.

In two things, I think that the ultra-Orthodox protestors are absolutely right. The first is that enlisting in the army is a decree of extermination for them in every respect. IDF service is the most dangerous thing to the spiritual world of Ben Torah and God's servant, certainly now that the IDF is not interested in taking significant steps to make military service spiritually protected. It is enough to look at the names of those serving in the army, for the members of the national religious public, the high percentages of religious departures from soldiers, and the weakening of spirituality among every army veteran.

And this is also its stated goal - to bring about the assimilation of the ultra-Orthodox community within Israeli society, ie, the collapse of the religious walls and the breach of borders.

The second issue in which the demonstrators are right is that this is not a matter that the Haredi public can solve by means of lobbying, lobbying, etc., as they were used to in the past. Even if the large majority can continue to receive an exemption, the goal will be to slowly increase the circle of recruits who will not get the exemption and the tail of the backward, to bring in the melting pot, especially those who do not exactly learn or find themselves. The process of assimilation into the general culture will be easier.

The secular public, which sees itself threatened by the relative size of the Torah-observant public and the growing mitzvot, does not intend to give up, even if they may agree to concede in many articles. By the way, in the very same way that women's service is conducted vis-a-vis the Torah-national public.

But despite all this, I can not identify with the ultra-Orthodox demonstrations, here too I can enumerate two things:

The first is the difference in outlook: While the general spirit that prevails there is that there is no need to fight or act to protect the security of the Jewish people, Torah study is more important in the yeshiva. I believe as I have learned that the war against the enemies of Israel is a mitzvah, a mitzvah that rejects the saving of life, and that it is permissible and obligatory to close the Gemara in order to demonstrate against the enlistment sector, all the more so.



It is true that the IDF has not been engaged in fighting for a long time, and even when it goes to the battlefield, it can not be called 'Israel's aid', because the IDF does not see a difference between Israel and a foreigner, and does not believe in the right of the people of Israel to its land. Even when the IDF acts effectively against strategic threats, it is unable to decide the test points: In the country like all other non-Jewish nations, the army, like all non-Jews, aims to maintain quiet and fight anyone who violates it - whether Jewish or Arab - Day to preserve the possibility of handing over the land of Israel to foreigners.

In spite of all this, and precisely because of this, this does not absolve us from bearing the real burden - to take counsel and act to protect the Jews, to be prepared to take the heavy security responsibility on our shoulders - we fear Gd, the Torah and mitzvot - And be ready to go to war against the enemy who is blaspheming God's life.

The second point, which is derived from the first thing, is the 'visibility' of the struggle against the 'recruitment sector'. The general public does not understand what the haredi public demands from it, even if it can accept the fact that enlisting in the army is a ' The general public is not interested in the aspirations of the instigators of the quarrel - to 'secularize' the ultra-Orthodox public, the people on the street, wondering why their children are bleeding, or giving up their young years, while the ultra-Orthodox are not? Moreover, if the ultra-Orthodox, who constitute a demographic majority, will not enlist, who will protect us from the enemy?

The cynical cynicism is exploited by those who aspire to 'secularize' the ultra-Orthodox public, and to turn the army into a non-militant - that means "not a fighter" - to force the Haredi public to assimilate into the bad culture of the State of Israel. Nevertheless, in practice, the ultra-Orthodox struggle in the recruitment sector is not good, and therefore may fail.

B. An alternative is needed

I passed this week at the entrance to the city of Jerusalem, near such a demonstration by the 'Peleg', a roadblock - an accepted act of protest, which all sectors use. I was not part of the demonstration but as an observer, I saw guys who had come to an ideological struggle and were willing to pay a price, singing intently to God, learning Torah even when they sat inside the intersection.

People who are fighting against the violent coercion of foreign values ​​on an entire public, people who do not seem to be looking for action in their daily lives, alongside those who love action (a natural thing that is limited only to ideological struggles). But how familiar it is, how easy it will be to turn everything into an action, cancel it all with tongue-lashing against the shocking violence.

Who, like the national-religious public, still vaguely remembers the demonstrations against the expulsion from Gush Katif? How instead of paying attention to the pain, they talked about the alleged violence, which remembers how easy it is to belittle the pure intentions of the struggle, and how the government likes to use the so-called "moderates" to denounce, defame, and tarnish ... Who knows, painfully, It is possible not to struggle, and on the other hand it is clear that the struggle will lead to persecution, contempt, condemnation, and slander.

It is clear that beyond the demonstrations, an alternative is needed, one that will enable the public to identify with the pain of the haredi public, and to understand that there is another way, a Jewish leadership that carries the burden and takes the most responsibility. It is not enough to resist only the "decrees," in order to prevent them. We will all need all the Torah and mitzvot to initiate, create and be prepared to replace the foreign government.

But what then what do we have to offer? If the situation is really so that service in the IDF is a spiritual edict, and that the IDF is not at all engaged in fighting the enemies of Israel, how can one answer the natural questions of people from the street?



C. A professional and focused army.

There is no doubt that the secular struggle for enlisting Haredim does not stem from a desire to fight the enemy. On the contrary, if they wanted to fight the enemy, there are far more critical problems in the army that must be rectified. On the contrary, the IDF is no longer perceived as a fighting force, but rather as a melting pot - and even a unifying factor in Israeli society. The founders of the state wanted to turn the army into a melting pot for the ideology of Zionism. Every child in the kindergarten learns that the army is the unifying factor in the State of Israel. This ideology has become a flag in Zionist thought. "The IDF as the People's Army."

The reality is completely the opposite, the issue of compulsory enlistment in the army - rips the ground : The extreme left that refuses to serve in the territories, the national religious public that was forced to fight against the recruitment of girls into the IDF, and the anti-religious coercion of the IDF, and the ultra-Orthodox public, which is fighting for its existence against the High Court that wants to destroy it and erase its unique character. Instead of dealing with the war, we are dealing with the re-education of Israeli society, according to extreme and dangerous agendas of radical left-wing extremists: The IDF is not a fighting body but an educating body. While Israel is not deterred by war, War man, "but the war is not the aspiration of the people of Israel, nor can it be the unifying factor of the people of Israel. The unifying point of the Jewish people is its spiritual aspiration to correct the world in the kingdom of the Almighty, and to call upon the name of God, the people of Israel, and the people of Israel.

The army is destined for war, important and necessary, but only for war, which is why a professional and wise army is needed, one that will be preoccupied only with war, the unity of the Jewish people will lead to yeshivas. Which will be based on Jews who really want to sacrifice their lives in order to defend the people of Israel, such an army will be more efficient, cheaper, and more focused , And he will miraculously become a Jew more, out of his desire to make the best religious soldiers to join the army, and the security forces must be privatized, and a Jewish army must deal only with the war against the enemy, in the spirit of King David, "I will persecute my enemy and attain them.”

If the Haredi public is able to carry this flag out of responsibility for the concern for the security of the Jewish people, and against the model of the "melting pot" to model the "army" professional". Which requires taking responsibility, and carrying the burden of thinking of dealing with threats from Israel's enemies. There is no doubt that such a struggle will receive wide support among the public, which is clearly aware of the rot in the IDF in all areas, and thirst for a security alternative, of wanting to fight the enemy and destroy Israel's enemies. His people will give (and there is no 'Oz' but Torah) Hashem bless his people in peace “