Drafting to the IDF is the Jewish thing to do - opinion

I admit I have no comprehensive solution for the current crisis regarding how to increase the numbers of haredim in the Israel Defense Forces.

What must be taken into account, however, is the extreme aversion of the haredi community leadership to openly identify with Zionism. Zionism for them, historically, has had two fundamental elements.

The first is their presumption not that Zionism is un-Jewish, as was the claim beginning with the Rebbe Rashab of Chabad and the Teitelbaum clan of Sighet/Satmar over 125 years ago. They insisted that Zionism is God’s work and should be done by God. This school of thought insisted that the promised redemption could only happen miraculously, through an act of divine intervention.

The second issue that irked the ultra-Orthodox concerned the sacredness they see in the fulfillment of redemption. Those who engage in resettling the land and rebuilding it cannot be irreligious. An insight into this thinking can be found in Moshe Goldstein’s 2009 book, Journey to Jerusalem, which recounts the visit made in 1930 by the Munkacs rebbe to the Land of Israel.

Although these haredi communities are relatively small, nevertheless the habit of haredi leaders looking over their shoulders, so as not to get too close to the Zionist establishment, has once again seeped into ever-growing haredi circles, both Lithuanian and hassidic.

A more strident and extreme anti-Zionist messaging is seen in the posters, video clips showing haredim blocking roads and entrances to army camps or enlistment offices, and in the haredi press. The haredi community also puts immense social pressures on its members. These are factors that need to be considered when addressing any possible solution to haredi enlistment in the IDF.

Existing frameworks could ease haredim absorption into IDF

Programs are already being provided to ease haredi young men’s absorption into the IDF. These frameworks should stress to them that serving in the army is the Jewish thing to do.

We can start with our nation’s founder, Abraham, when he was still Avram. As we learn in Genesis, chapter 14, when Amraphel was king of Shinar, there was a battle in the Valley of Tsiddim involving nine kings. The four victorious kings carried off Avram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, as he was living in nearby Sodom. One who escaped reported this to Abram. 

What did he do? “He called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.” They attacked and routed their enemy all the way to the north of Damascus. Upon his return, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram, saying, “Praise be to God most high, who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

We can continue with Moses, the giver of Torah, the greatest prophet. As we learn in Exodus, after growing up in Pharaoh’s palace, Moses walked outside to see his fellow Jews suffering under forced labor. He saw a Hebrew, one of his own people, being beaten by an Egyptian. 

Did he go to the palace guard? No. He looked all around, and when he didn’t see anyone, he beat the Egyptian to death and hid the body in the sand. Was that the Jewish thing to do? 

According to the Midrash (Exodus Rabba 1:27), even though someone informed against him, resulting in Moses being condemned to death, God intervened. As the executioner’s ax came down on his neck, a miracle occurred and Moses’ neck became as hard as ivory and the ax had no effect. God awarded him a sign of approval.

Joshua employed trumpets and loud shouts to bring down the walls of Jericho. Nevertheless, as related in Joshua 6:21, the army followed through “with their swords.” All of the judges, male and female, were warriors. The prophet Samuel himself decapitated Agag, and Yael drove a tent peg through Sisera’s head.

We cannot forget King David. II Samuel and I Chronicles, he led a band of 37 mighty warriors. Three of them, witnessing David’s desire for water from Bethlehem while at Adullam, a distance of over 40 km., three of them 30 broke past the Philistine occupying force, drew water from a well, and took it back to David (II Samuel 23). One of them, Avishai, killed 300 men with a spear.

Another, Beniah, killed two of the best warriors of Moav, a lion in a pit on a snowy day, attacked a 7.5-foot Egyptian with a club, and killed him with a stolen spear.

There are many more incidents of Jews in history displaying power and prowess – Jews who were religious and served as leaders, such as Mar-Zutra II. He was a Jewish exilarch in the late 5th century CE. He led a revolt against the Sasanian rulers in 495 CE and achieved seven years of political independence in Mahoza, a city along the Tigris, in today’s Iraq.

It is a mitzvah to return to Zion, build up its cities, cultivate and plant its fields, and, as Rabbi Tzvi Kalischer wrote in Seeking Zion (1862), to form a Jewish military guard for the security of those returning. Akiva Yosef Schleshinger concurred in a book which he wrote in1873.

Being haredi and a soldier is part of being Jewish.

The writer is a researcher, analyst, and commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.