Q&A: Conscription, Haredim
Conscription, Haredim
Question
You wrote the following in response to a question here on the site a few years ago:
“First, perhaps it would be worth reconsidering the decision to enlist in a regular track. In my opinion, the added value (I assume from your perspective this is the sense of equal sharing of the burden) is very small, if any at all, while the loss to one’s life (and likewise to one’s future spiritual contribution to the Jewish people) is much greater. That is my personal view for most people.
Of course, if study doesn’t speak to you and you think you won’t gain or advance, that’s something else. But if the consideration is where to contribute, then in my opinion you would contribute more in the yeshiva. I’m not talking about some mystical contribution, but a completely practical one. Moreover, since I don’t think that studying in yeshiva contributes less than military service, I also don’t see a problem on the level of equal sharing of the burden.”
If so, I don’t understand your complaint about the Haredim not enlisting, at least regarding the portion of them who study Torah (you can argue about the numbers, but it is certainly not an insignificant portion). Of course, it could be that you’ve changed your mind since then, but it doesn’t seem reasonable to me to attack people for holding something like the view you yourself held until not long ago. I’d be glad to understand your opinion on the matter.
Answer
I’ll preface this seriously, and really not in order to put you down. But I have to begin by saying that I am truly amazed every single time by people who devote most of their days to studying texts and logically analyzing them, and at the same time display such poor abilities in reading comprehension and logic. It truly amazes me. Every time I get questions about drafting Haredim or attitudes toward Haredim in general, the questions are so poor that it is genuinely hard to understand how far biases can take intelligent people.
Still, I’ll answer briefly.
- The Haredim do not enlist even when they are not studying. I have written more than once that I have no problem with an exemption for a small number of Haredim who study seriously and show potential to grow in Torah. But not everyone who studies in a yeshiva, because only a negligible minority of them are truly worthy of such an exemption (so you are not right when you say this is not an insignificant number. The number is utterly negligible, like the dust of the earth).
- The quantity and quality of the students do not justify an exemption. Let them enlist and study afterward and beforehand. Nothing will happen to them.
- In hesder yeshivot they undergo military training, so that in a time of need they all stand at the army’s disposal. The shortened service comes at the expense of operational deployment, and about that I wrote that the study itself contributes no less than the deployment does. But when there is a war and fighters are lacking, no study will help us. Not even the study of the “geniuses,” whom everyone is willing to exempt.
- Like everyone else, I object to the demand for an exemption. If the state were to decide to exempt them, there would be no problem (subject to the qualifications in the previous sections). But you are demanding the right to be parasites. That provokes anger.
- Parasitic Torah does not constitute a contribution to the Jewish people, and therefore even the Haredim who study contribute nothing. They only cause harm and desecrate God’s name. Torah studied in the hesder yeshivot is very beneficial to the Jewish people because it is Torah connected to reality and to action (and no, I am not claiming that the level and intensity of study in hesder yeshivot is better. That is not the point).
Now all I can do is ask you to think for a moment about how you didn’t understand all this on your own. Is it an extreme lack of ability or a severe bias (my bet is on the second).
Discussion on Answer
1-2. I explained it to you. Should I repeat myself again? I wrote that Torah study contributes more than military service consisting of operational deployment. But it does not contribute more than a soldier who is needed in war.
4. Again, do I need to repeat myself? It matters very much what the state says. If I am a poor person, do I have the right to rob you of money? You may have a moral or other obligation to contribute to me. That does not mean I am allowed to demand or take it. The Haredim demand and take. Beyond that, I already explained that serious Torah students can be exempted, and there is almost no public disagreement about that. The Haredim are not fighting for that at all. They are fighting for a parasitic exemption for everyone. Beyond that, the Haredim are not acting to promote their values. They are refusing to obey the law. Acting to promote legislation in their spirit means enlisting as the law requires and then working to change the law.
5. Torah that instructs people to exempt an entire society from military service is parasitic Torah. Those leading the struggle for parasitism are Torah students and Torah leaders. Such corrupt Torah is worth nothing. When people study such Torah, no one should be exempted, not even geniuses. This is not Torah but the destruction of Torah.
Under the current circumstances, is there also a moral obligation on the Haredi who fits the definition of a “genius”?
I mean to ask whether the exemption is granted to him only when the number is small and negligible, but not when many people make use of that exemption?
Is it possible that the same genius, if he were studying in Merkaz, would deserve an exemption, but as a Haredi it would not be fair?
There is no point discussing this. I am willing to recognize the legitimacy of the conduct of such a Haredi according to his own view. What do I myself think about the matter? Not interesting. There is room for a consideration that depends on the sector. Every sector needs Torah scholars who will lead it.
First, let me say that I am not Haredi (in truth, not even close), and what motivates me is nothing but a search for the truth and an understanding of your view.
Regarding 1 and 2: from the quote I brought, it sounded from your words that, in principle, Torah study contributes more than military service; you said that this is your personal opinion for most people. And it definitely did not sound like you were talking about a small minority of exceptional individuals.
4. The claim is unclear. What difference does it make what the state says? From the Haredi perspective, they want to pull the state in a certain direction (for the sake of argument, one in which Torah study is no less important than the army). Why should the fact that the law is currently against that mean they shouldn’t act? If it is morally right that Torah students be exempt from the army, then nothing is more legitimate than acting to achieve that.
5. Why should I care if some of the Haredim don’t study, when I’m looking at those who do study? What makes the Torah of Haredi Torah students “parasitic”?