Rabbi Weissman: Dying 'al Chillul Hashem' Redux....Part I

Dying al Chillul Hashem Redux

The eerie similarity between religious Zionists and suicide bombers

Before we get to the extremely important article, Dying al Chillul Hashem (a repost from November), here is additional context.

A few recent headlines from the Israeli Pravda provide insight into the contempt the Erev Rav regime has for even its most loyal subjects, and the seemingly limitless devotion of these abused subjects. If this is not indicative of Stockholm Syndrome, battered woman syndrome, and a religious cult, then what is?

Exhibit #1 (images link to the complete articles cited):

Thank you, Captain Obvious, and bonus points for blaming the soldiers you set up to “fail”. You've successfully regained my trust. It will all be different now, and everyone should join the IDF. Well done.

Exhibit #2:

They will own nothing and be happy, while scapegoating haredim for all their problems.

Exhibit #3:

An IDF officer who lost his leg fighting Hamas in Gaza, is being told by the military that he must reimburse the IDF with roughly $16,500 and that his military pay is suspended until he does. The demand is made because of the time he was away, receiving life-changing medical treatment for his injuries, in the United States.

Lt. Yonatan Ben-Hamo, a D9 bulldozer team commander, was gravely wounded in early November 2023 when an RPG struck his vehicle in northern Gaza. After months of severe pain and limited mobility, he traveled to New York for specialized surgery and to be fitted with a high-tech prosthetic that he said dramatically improved his recovery. The trip lasted about two months and was financed with the help of Jewish-American supporters…

…“Why do I have to feel like a second-class citizen?” he asked relatives. “I want to keep serving despite my injury. I’ve spent a year chasing people in the IDF for basic help.”

…His family said no senior military official has visited him in the past year, and that frequent personnel changes have left them with no consistent point of contact. “There’s a willful blindness toward wounded soldiers once they’re no longer seen as useful to the system,” they said.

Following the report's publication, the IDF released a statement apologizing for the situation and adding that the funds will be returned to Ben-Hamo in the coming days.

What will it take for people to realize that all of this is not due to human error, intelligence failures, gaps in the system, foreign pressure, or other vague buzzwords to explain away reality, but a consistent pattern of deliberate neglect, abuse and outright contempt for the peasant class — especially if they are religious?

Why does someone who had his leg blown off under the delusion that he was fighting to defeat our enemies and keep the people of Israel safe, then treated with utter contempt by the IDF for the sin of surviving, want nothing more than to continue “serving”? Is this idealism, or insanity?

If you’ve ever wondered how so many intelligent people could be so stupid to fall for a cult and give up everything, maybe it’s time to look around you…perhaps even look in the mirror.

I’m going to say something that will seem outrageous, but I want you to calmly consider it.

Religious Zionist cheerleaders for the IDF, whose proudest moment in life is when they serve up their precious child to serve, who consider this act the highest calling of a Jew, who continue to offer up sacrifices no matter what, and who revile no one on earth more than those who refuse this religious rite, have a lot more in common with Muslim terrorists and suicide bombers than they would like to believe.

Hear me out.

Why does the terrorist risk being maimed and killed, and the suicide bomber being blown to bits?

1. He believes that if he dies he will go straight to heaven and enjoy 72 virgins, irrespective of how he lived his life to that point. This act of sacrifice earns him automatic entry to the ultimate heavenly reward as he understands it.
   
2. He has been heavily indoctrinated from the cradle to believe he is fighting for the greatest of causes: his land, his people, the honor of his religion. No matter how much his experiences demonstrate that those in power are cynically using him for their own profit and agenda, and he is nothing more than a disposable resource to them, he will cling to this belief.
   
3. It’s the clearest path out of poverty. If he survives, he will receive financial compensation and greater economic opportunities than his counterparts.
   
4. He faces extreme social pressure.
   

Why does the Religious Zionist risk being maimed and killed?

1. He believes that those who die are kedoshim, and will go straight to heaven, irrespective of how they lived their lives to that point. Getting killed in the IDF (not sudden unexplained deaths after taking shots, but specifically being killed by enemies) is the holiest of acts! It is even more holy than surviving, for survivors are not celebrated as kedoshim or guaranteed a free pass to heaven.
   This is the main reason why the Religious Zionists are not revolting, despite being shafted by the IDF for decades, and despite being maimed and killed over the last year in record numbers — all for the sake of lopsided hostage deals that could have been made on October 8 and the delusion that they were “keeping us safe”.
   No matter how many funerals they go to, their mourning will always be consoled by the belief that the slain are the holiest of holy, and are now in the best place in heaven, next to Moshe Rabbeinu. Their pent-up fury will be redirected away from those whose “negligence” got their precious children killed, and toward haredim, who they are conditioned to believe are the true existential threat to Israel and the absolute worst people on earth.
   
2. He too has been heavily indoctrinated from the cradle to believe he is fighting for the greatest of causes: his land, his people, the honor of his religion. No matter how much his experiences demonstrate that those in power are cynically using him for their own profit and agenda, and he is nothing more than a disposable resource to them, he will cling to this belief.
   
3. He believes he will be unable to get a good job and earn a living if he doesn’t join the IDF (ignoring how the reservists are being economically decimated). So he rolls the dice that he will make it out with his body and mind intact. Gotta get that degree and corporate position.
   So much for bitachon.
   
4. He faces extreme social pressure. Never underestimate the power of social pressure.
   

I shouldn’t have to explain that the Religious Zionists are not evil like Muslim terrorists (though their vicious side during Covid, their malice toward haredim that borders on bloodthirsty, and their general kefira hardly afford them moral superiority over their fellow Jews).

Nevertheless, their reasons for slavish devotion to the IDF are eerily similar to their Muslim counterparts who get maimed and killed for nothing, too.

With this in mind, here is the authentic Torah perspective:

See Part II