Q&A: Enlistment When There Is a Risk of Heresy
Enlistment When There Is a Risk of Heresy
Question
Why is it permitted for us to enlist in the army, when there is a significant concern about heresy in Religious Zionism in general, and in the army the percentages are rising dramatically!!! Where does the justification for enlistment come from in our current situation?
Answer
First, you can enlist in some kind of religious framework, and then the concern is reduced.
Second, with all due respect to your concern for yourself, there is an obligation to fulfill your civic duties to the public. So if you are worried about the spiritual state that will develop in you—make sure that it does not happen. No one else should have to bear the cost for you.
Discussion on Answer
Yehuda, it has nothing to do with the army. There is no unusual social pressure in the army pushing people toward leaving.
The phenomenon probably would not be any less common if they went to study at university or to work outside without serving in the army. It is the age and leaving home. An age at which people stop just going along on the strength of the education they received at home and choose their own path.
Obviously this is not an attempt to dodge service, but nowadays in our community there is a huge number of people who leave religion. Is there really no room to say that we are unable to enlist? With all due respect to the IDF (and it deserves respect), what about protecting religiosity?