The Gemara in Sotah famously states: בעקבות משיחא חוצפה יסגא "In the days preceding Moshiach, chutzpah will proliferate."
They weren’t kidding.
This week, the contrast between true suffering and performative outrage couldn’t be more glaring. Hostages kidnapped by Hamas have begun to share their harrowing experiences—two years of starvation, torture, and psychological torment. These are Jews who endured unimaginable horrors simply for being Jewish.
And yet, back in Israel, a group of yeshiva students—bochrim—chant “we will die, but we won’t enlist,” while simultaneously panicking over a few days in a Jewish jail. A jail that provides Mehadrin meals, visitation rights, and basic comforts. The comparison is not only absurd—it’s offensive.
To equate the incarceration of draft dodgers with the suffering of Hamas hostages is a moral distortion. It trivializes the pain of those who were brutalized and dishonors their resilience.
Even more troubling is the recent statement by Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, long considered a “moderate” voice in the Charedi Litvishe world.
He reportedly threatened that if the situation doesn't improve the “entire public” will join the Peleg protests—demonstrations that have increasingly been marked by chaos, disruption, and hostility toward the state.
This isn’t moderation. It’s a dangerous alignment with extremism masquerading as religious conviction.
In a time when Jews are under attack globally, unity and responsibility must take precedence over ideological theatrics. The Torah demands truth, compassion, and perspective. We must not allow chutzpah to drown out the voices of real suffering.
6 comments:
As a Chareidi I am as about as sympathetic to the opposing view as you can get. I do think more Chariedim should serve ,I oppose those in Chariedi world who refuse all compromise I defended the secular viewpoint and financial sanction on Yeshivas both on and offline, I gave thousands of dollars to reservist organizations. But this is a red line. Arresting Yeshiva bochurim in their houses is just not something I can accept . I feel myself becoming radicalized and am starting to think that maybe the Satmar Rebbe was right all along. You can tell me I have no right to think that way and that I’m obligated to think that all Yeshiva Bochurim should be willing to join the army. You can scream at me and make fun of me for thinking this way. OK. I’m not taking that right away from you. But don’t complain about why am I becoming so radicalized and considering adopting the Satmar shita. It is with a heavy heart that I do so but I can no longer think otherwise when Yeshiva Bochurim are arrested.
So I have a question.
You and I know that, while Torah learning is important, it is not the only important mitzvah or even the only one that keeps Israel going. You and I know that there is no halakhic justification for widespread draft refusal. You and I know there is no halakhic justification for purposefully not working and expected the same tzibur that you condemn for existing to pay for your lifestyle. You and I know that there are plenty of major halakhic authorities who will confirm all that.
It's clear and obvious. Then you point it out to them and they ay "Well, 'The Gedolim'(tm) said that this is the Torah-true way and they know more Torah than you so you're wrong!"
So my question is: How do you respond to such tripe?
Well said.
I am not the OP, but I can respond that if the military focused on the boys that are working and getting paid under the table and the boys who are trying to leave the country there hands would be full, and it would be with people much more likely to enlist anyway. Taking teenagers out of their beds is simply not the logical next step on any level. Even Trump isn’t rousing otherwise innocent illegals from their beds. He’s concentrating on the ones who are criminals or are trying to enter.
Basic training in Talmudic thinking can lead to one conclusion: If you break the law, you will be arrested.
These boys aren't being arrested for learning Torah. The bases they would serve on have batei midrashim and daily shiurim. They are being arrested for violating the law.
Satmar's shitah led to the death of millions of Jews who should've tried to escape to Israel but were told to stay put. Its been refuted repeatedly by other Gedolim. It perpetuates hate and division. It's not for a good Jew to follow.
But The Gedolim(tm) have made it clear over and over that there is no difference between a boy sitting a learning, a boy sitting there bench warming or a boy wandering the streets with nothing to do all day. None of them can be draft! They'd rather die than be drafted! (Pretty sure that if they got their wish, there would be even more complaining)
So no, if every 18 year old non-Chareidi has to go, so do they.
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