Will the US Re-enact the Draft?

A VERY CHALLENGING TASK
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana

A month ago, with the onset of the worldwide Coronavirus plague, hundreds perhaps thousands of young men and women left the safe shores of Eretz Yisrael to return to the open loving arms of their parents and siblings.

They said goodbye to Yeshivat Hakotel, to Netiv Aryeh and to the other yeshivot and seminaries across the country, to settle down to the comfort of their familiar surroundings in preparation for the next stages in their lives.

At this crossroads in world and Jewish history permit me a suggestion based on foreboding, intuition and premonition that points to the opposite direction.


Dear parents, your moment of truth is approaching.
You love your children, and want to guarantee their future, as well as your own.

Sit down with your sons and daughters and in a trembling but confident tone tell them that they have to return at the first opportunity to Medinat Yisrael. Parents in the age group of 45-65 are stuck in the routine of their lives, but young adult children are still free.

Before the US prohibits the departure of young people, as will happen when the draft will be restored, send them here.

Let them come even without detailed preparation as students, soldiers, farmers, kibbutznikim, but that will insure their lives. No one can predict what will happen in galut, but two things are imminent - life will not revert to what it was, and anti-Semitism will spike to new heights. I can hear the reaction of most people to what I am writing; but that’s irrelevant if I can save Jewish lives. Young people are resilient; they can take of themselves.

I am not comparing your situation to the Kindertransport of pre-World War Two times, that brought ten thousand Jewish children to England (although the conditions were horrendous), but to the reality of life in the States today. At this moment you cannot come here because Israel has temporarily limited air travel; however, tomorrow you could find yourselves in a situation where the US will prohibit young people of draft age - men and women, from leaving.

Think seriously about it!