On December 25, I wrote about an asifa in Beit Shemesh where Rabbi Feldman of Baltimore was shouted down by a local resident who simply could not tolerate the blatant distortions and misrepresentations he was presenting.
Rabbi Feldman, the Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Yisrael in Baltimore, spends six months of the year living in Israel — yet refuses to recognize the State of Israel, the very country that hosts him, while fully recognizing the United States. For context, even the Vatican recognizes the State of Israel.
VIN: A senior Haredi rabbi has warned ultra-Orthodox students from the United States studying in Israel not to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces, arguing that the military is being used as a tool to undermine religious life.
DIN: This is a baldfaced lie, the IDF is a tool to protect the Jewish people from enemies like Hamas, Hizballah, Houthis and Iran! One can use this logic about Yeshivas as well, as there is now a pandemic of teens graduating Yeshivas such as Ner Yisrael going off the Derech!
VIN: Speaking to hundreds of foreign yeshiva students this week, Rabbi Yehoshua Aichenstein, head of the Yad Aharon Yeshiva and a figure associated with Degel HaTorah, said American students often misunderstand Israeli society and are “naïve” about calls for equal military service.
“There is real religious freedom in the United States,” Aichenstein said, contrasting it with Israel, which he described as a state founded on a secular Zionist ideology. He argued that the military was designed to create a new national identity and that service frequently leads to religious decline, including among religious-Zionist soldiers.
DIN: To claim that there is “real religious freedom in the USA” is simply disingenuous. This would come as a surprise to the Chassidic yeshivas in Brooklyn currently battling the New York State Board of Regents to prevent LGBT and gender‑identity curricula from being imposed on their students. If that is “religious freedom,” it certainly doesn’t feel that way to the communities fighting to protect their children’s education. And this Statement that there is "real freedom in the USA" will come as a shock to Jewish Students on College Campuses who have to hide their Jewish identities!
Equally misleading is the assertion that “the military was designed to create a new national identity and that service frequently leads to religious decline.” This is not only historically inaccurate — it is a baseless claim. Like every military in the world, the IDF was created to defend the country, not to reshape identities.
R’ Aichenstein offers no data whatsoever to support his claim about “religious decline.” He is simply making assertions without evidence. In reality, the existence of religious frameworks such as Hesder yeshivot — and entire battalions structured specifically for religious soldiers — proves the opposite. Thousands of young men serve honorably while maintaining, and often strengthening, their religious commitment.
VIN: Haredi organizations opposing conscription say they are increasingly alarmed by a growing number of U.S.-born ultra-Orthodox students who arrive in Israel for yeshiva study and later express interest in enlisting, particularly after months of war. Some have volunteered for service despite not being Israeli citizens and not being legally required to serve.
The remarks were delivered at a gathering organized by “Agudim,” a new initiative launched by the Haredi assistance group Ezram U’Meginam, which is working to dissuade foreign students from joining the military through outreach efforts and a hotline for those considering enlistment.
Event organizers said the speech reflected clear rabbinic guidance and urged students to follow what they described as the direction of senior Torah authorities.
The following are some comments :
First, in Judaism there is no such thing as a “senior rabbi” rank mentioned in this article. Unfortunately, we don’t even have a real smicha in the past fifteen hundred years. In our time, all talmidei chachomim are part of the chain that transmits mesorah misinai. There are no official ranks. No “senior rabbi”, no “grand rabbi”, and no officially appointed or hyped-up “gedolim”. We are not catholics, and we don’t have popes.
"Second, Once he said American and temimus in the same sentence, it became obvious that his speech was not about Torah and mesorah misinai, but his personal opinions, and that his personal opinions can be severely misinformed.
It’s amazing how so many people here who would identify as frum right wingers have the exact same position as extreme Israeli secular leftists.
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