Q&A: Putting Yeshiva Students on Trial
Putting Yeshiva Students on Trial
Question
Hello Rabbi, for quite a while now I’ve been bothered by a question that I still haven’t found an answer to. The Haredim claim that Torah protects and saves, right? So if Torah protects and saves, why not put yeshiva students on trial for the failure? They failed just like the Shin Bet and the IDF, or maybe they failed even more badly than those institutions, because after all the power of the Holy One, blessed be He, and of the Torah is greater than that of human beings. Or even if not to put them on trial, at least to investigate them and get answers from them: why did October 7 happen?
Answer
An old question that has been asked by many. Of course it has no basis. The state prosecutes according to the law. The law does not recognize that Torah protects. But the state (that is, the coalition) is willing to accept that there is a group for whom this is their worldview and to exempt it from military service (that is not the legal situation at the moment, but they want it to become the legal situation). There are people who perform terrible curses against their enemies. Are you suggesting that they should be tried for that in court?
Discussion on Answer
Not at all. There certainly is protection and deliverance here, but Torah I have not found in any of this. It seems that something else is protecting them (the coalition protects and saves). To test the thesis that Torah protects, you’d have to examine it on someone who actually studies Torah.
In my opinion they should, and must, be put on trial. It’s only fair to me, and I assume to all citizens of Israel, because they took upon themselves an invented role in the physical-spiritual defense system of our state. Just as we point an accusing finger at the Shin Bet and the IDF, we should point an accusing finger at yeshiva students as well.
And I always get idiotic answers like “the Jewish people are heretics,” “it’s a punishment from the Holy One, blessed be He,” and so on. So if that really is the reason — that we are heretics and therefore deserved that they put a baby in an oven and raped corpses — then let’s sort it out and separate things through privatization: whoever wants direct protection from the “agents” of the Holy One, blessed be He, who fight our enemies in an almost mystical, pagan way, is welcome to pay them money. We’ll see in the future who really managed to protect and guard us.
You’ve completely departed from our simple and accepted answer — that we protect you through our Torah — namely, that what happened on the seventh of October happened because of you, because by shirking the observance of Torah and commandments you brought upon all of us, and especially upon yourselves, this calf of a punishment.
There’s a clear logical flaw here. The Haredim never claimed that their Torah would save the Jewish people and that there is no need for an army at all, only that a significant part of the defense of the Jewish people comes through Torah. That doesn’t mean they didn’t do the maximum — it’s possible they did everything that needed to be done and nevertheless what happened happened. Who knows what would have happened without their Torah.
A, well then they still remain part of the defense array, and as such they have to answer for it.
Just as the Shin Bet and the IDF are separate parts of the defense array and are still investigated, so too the yeshiva students.
Zvi, if so, then what’s the point of the state paying yeshiva students? It’s our right to “deny,” it’s our right to “be punished,” and it’s our right not to pay you money.
Friends, I find it a bit hard to believe that this silly discussion is taking place here. I suggest you stop this nonsense. If you want to waste time, that is perfectly legitimate. Do it among yourselves.
From here is the proof that Torah really does protect and save!! Why, after all, haven’t they been put on trial!!!