The Sentry
Real life stories. Documents. Quotes.
The 5th of Iyar is celebrated in Israel as “Yom Ha’Atzmaut” – Israeli Independence Day. It has been going on for some decades now, however there has been one segment of the population that traditionally has never taken part in the festivities. This is of course the chareidim l’dvar Hashem. After all, how can a chareidi celebrate the founding of a state that was established in order to oppose Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
A Rav in Haifa, Rav Eckstein, was asked to address his shul on this day. He traveled to the Chazon Ish and asked him; “How should I handle this ‘Yom Tov’, should I just find an excuse to disappear, or must I stay and protest?” The Chazon Ish was perturbed; “How can you [even jokingly] refer to such a day as a ‘Yom Tov’, truthfully we should mourn on this day.” He then instructed the Rav to stay and protest any idea of celebrating.
That was the standard outlook of all Chareidi Jewry – at least until 5782. This year a few of the leading “chareidi” army recruiters arranged a “chareidi” memorial ceremony to honor fallen chareidi soldiers. It took place in Yerushalayim and was open to the public. The director of the “chareidi” Netzach [which is an acronym for Na’ar Tzioni Chareidi] Yehuda brigade Yossi Levi commented after the event. He said; “I know many chareidim that support army service, [so] we decided to arrange this ceremony.... Over a thousand people were present yesterday, and they remembered together with us. In order to bring the chareidi community to come in large numbers, one must make a befitting and legitimate ceremony. The ceremony was very similar to a military ceremony, but it also allowed for reading of mishnayos that is not usually present in a standard army ceremony. As well as divrei Torah of leading Rabbis who were present and spoke yesterday. And this allows a chareidi family to feel a part. In the beginning I thought that only families of soldiers would come. To my surprise I saw that many regular people who are unconnected to army service came, and they want to be a part of this. It will take many years until the chareidi community will totally adjust to support Tzahal, the State of Israel, and its institutions. We want to create a different process; a process of dialogue. At the moment that the community is not opposed [to army service], whoever is not learning Torah will very quickly arrive at the army…
I was a child who used to break [Israeli] flags and burn them in on Lag Baomer in the bonfire. Today I proudly hang a flag on my car and home. Also, in my family, I have one brother who is very extreme, and one is not as extreme, both chareidim. When they see me, who serves in Tzahal they soften and are much more supportive… Yesterday there was something dramatic. For the very first time the chareidi political establishment was present. For the first time Aryeh Deri took part in our ceremony. He spoke very very nicely. He gave support to bereaved families, [he voiced support for] Netzach Yehudah and for the Rabbonim of the division. This is a truly a dramatic story, for even though the Rabbanim have quietly supported us, the political establishment has never officially supported us. This is a significant achievement. The mainstream of the chareidi community understands that we are not going to send vehicles to draft them by force, as in the past. Rather, today it’s a collaborative process. Only a small fringe group of chareidim [opposes army service].”
And here is an eye-opening statement of Rav Shach about how to view the State of Israel; “Mi harag et Yisroel?” – “Who murdered Yidden?”, scream-out a sobbing Rav Shach. “Worse than the six million that Hitler killed, here [in Israel] they shmadded millions who were brought from countries around the world.”
Do you find The Sentry informative? Please share the message with two friends.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/the-sentry/CA%2BLbpguhe-nZE5euXgpBynXsT84ty8jDY1dD1b6YYJwV3jXWrw%40mail.gmail.com.
