The settlement track and exemption from military service for yeshiva students

שו”ת › The settlement track and exemption from military service for yeshiva students

asked 2 years ago

Hello Rabbi, in continuation of column 609 on the recruitment of yeshiva students (in those days at this time), a few questions and clarifications.
A. What does the rabbi think about the Hesder yeshiva route? Apparently here too (even though the approach is light years away from the Haredi approach to this, and yet) the value of the Torah in a certain sense outweighs the value of carrying the public burden and military service is shortened by half. Isn’t there also a reason here for “your brothers will go to war and you will sit here?!” and other such arguments that the rabbi brought against the Haredi approach that can stand against any “reduction” in the public burden that is made for Torah students? (Asking as a Seder student, who is clarifying his path).

on. The rabbi claimed that “note that this exemption does not stem from the fact that his Torah protects all of us, but rather from the fact that it protects him. The claim that he also protects us is another claim, and it is difficult to find clear support for it in the Gemara issues there.” It seems clear and simple to me that there are sources for this, perhaps the rabbi missed them by mistake or you have a different understanding of them. He brings the first 2 that jumped to my mind at the first moment, just like that in a nutshell, and there are almost certainly more that prove that studying Torah actually protects and strengthens the warriors and the people:
Tosefta Tractate Sota Chapter 11 Halacha 15:
“Likewise, O God, our feet would stand within your gates, O Jerusalem, if it were possible. But who would stand our feet in battle? The house of David’s judges, who would sit within the gates of Jerusalem.”
Babylonian Talmud Tractate Makot Page 10 Page 1
“Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, from what does it say: Were our feet standing at your gates, Jerusalem? Who caused our feet to stand in battle? The gates of Jerusalem that were engaged in Torah.” And so on and so forth.

third. Is there a specific law or halacha that a person who is not an “elite” is violating if he evades the IDF? And is there a way to logically explain to a person who does not believe why that “elite” because of his “hobby” in Torah would not serve in the IDF. Apparently, he should make his contribution, even partially, and continue to study Torah at ease for the rest of his life…
thanks.

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מיכי Staff answered 2 years ago

1. It’s not black and white. You can also ask about those who serve in the Shekam or in the administrations facing fighters and certainly facing elite patrols. Everyone does their job. Hesder yeshiva graduates serve and do reserve duty like anyone else, and only part of the service is converted into Torah study (according to a key of two years of Torah = one year of service). Completely legitimate, like the Nahal and other activities of the army. This should not be compared to the Haredim who receive a blanket exemption regardless of whether they are students, and those who study also do not serve at all and are not always suitable for it. 2. There are midrashim on many things in many directions. This is not a magna Torah or a mitzvah. It is clear that they are talking about the right of studying Torah that is beneficial (in my opinion, this is also not true, but we will leave that aside). Even the midrashim on the raising of Moses’ hands. From here to drawing practical conclusions is a long way off. The question is how much one learns and how much the study protects, and certainly in relation to blanket exemption and the like. 3. I wrote that it’s not about whether or not it’s Halakha. It’s about a moral principle: Your brothers went to war… In matters of public awareness, it’s a different matter. You can explain to him why I think so, but it won’t convince him. But he must accept that there are different opinions in society.

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דמיאן replied 2 years ago

The comparison of the Hesder service to Nahal or non-combat or insignificant service is problematic in several ways:
1. The Nahal track today is not similar, it begins with a year of service and ends with a year of service of voluntary activity and is open to everyone. The Hesder track is open only to religious people and does not contribute to the general population (and this is before we talked about the months and a half of in-between times when the in-betweens make their homes).
2. The comparison to insignificant service is also irrelevant - even among the Hesder soldiers, there are those who do the shortened service in an insignificant way, not all of them are combatants and not all of them are in hourly positions.
3. The fact that they do reserve duty like everyone else is also not an argument, because they are like everyone else, how does that justify the exemption of a year and a half? Roughly speaking, in terms of the current Reserve Law, this amounts to 30 years of reserve duty in excess of someone who does full service.
4. A combat orderly has about 4-6 months of service (depending on the length of training and the timing of the training). A soldier who does full service is 3 times more likely to participate in life-threatening activities. What is the justification for the difference?
5. Even if all your claims are correct and there are other similar forms of service, how is this relevant to the ethical question? As the scouts said, “Both are offside” (Offside Story, ibid., ibid.)
6. Finally, we return to the categorical order, “This is a track based on political pressure from religious parties, which is open only to religious people, there is no acceptance criterion beyond being religious, there is no quantitative limit or quota, there is no real control or enforcement, and there are many liberties. If everyone acted this way, it would not be possible to maintain an army. Would those who participate in the track be interested in everyone being able to do so, or is their participation based on the fact that others do not have a similar exemption?