Rabbi Yitzchok Pindrus a Bald-Faced Liar

by Harry Maryles

 I can’t help it. I should be used to the myopic, self-centered attitude of Charedi leadership and their Askanim (Charedi Knesset members). But I’m not. Whenever I read an op-ed by one of them on the subject of drafting Charedim into the IDF or their insistence on no secular education, I nearly recoil with disgust.

 It happened again over Shabbos as I read a guest op-ed in Mishpacha by UTJ’s Rabbi Yitzchak Pindrus.

The scary thing is that he probably believes every word he says. In this case, that amounts to a conspiracy theory: a coalition of Israeli institutions whose goal is to destroy the Torah world. Only now, with unprecedented zeal and determination. As though the State of Israel is more anti-Torah than at any other time in its history.

When in fact, it is more than obvious that the opposite is true. There is more Torah study now in Israel than at any other time in Jewish history!

Some excerpts from the op-ed:

It is no secret that the chareidi community in Eretz Yisrael is facing one of the most severe challenges it has known since the founding of the state. Incitement and polarization have become routine, economic measures are increasingly wielded as political weapons, and pressure on those devoted to Torah study is no longer applied indirectly: It is systematic.

In the Knesset, we work toward one clear objective, guided by the gedolei Yisrael in this struggle for the soul of the state: securing the status of Torah scholars, who have served as the spiritual shield of the Jewish People in every generation.

This is no longer a technical debate over enlistment targets or budgetary clauses. It is a struggle over legitimacy itself: the legitimacy of a Torah-observant community to exist in Eretz Yisrael on its own terms… What we are witnessing is not spontaneous hostility, but a calculated and well-orchestrated campaign… a coordinated mechanism that operates as a strategic pipeline: manipulated data is produced, amplified, legitimized, and ultimately translated into policy. Each stage reinforces the next, creating a closed loop that tightens pressure around the chareidi home under the cover of professionalism and objectivity.

Rabbi Pindrus goes on to describe in detail why he believes this to be the case. I’m sure he sees it exactly as he tells it. And suggests that more must be done to counter this alleged campaign.

He may not intend violence to be part of that mission, but the urgency with which he frames his argument could easily be interpreted that way. After all, when fighting for one’s very existence, one must do whatever it takes to survive.

What is beyond belief is that he does not seem to care why the rest of Israel is so upset - even angry - at the Charedi world. He has to know about the sacrifices being made by the rest of the Israeli population. It isn’t a secret. How is it possible that he sees only enemies and not the blood, sweat, and tears so many of his own people have endured? Some of whom are just as devout as he is! How is it possible that he does not have the kind of deep compassion shown by Rav Asher Weiss when he visited a hospitalized IDF soldier who had lost two legs and an arm in battle?

Nothing. Not a word. It’s all about the ‘war against the Torah’.

The key to his willful blindness is actually mentioned in the body of his message: ‘guided by the gedolei Yisrael’.

The only possible explanation for his inability to see beyond his community’s narrow interests is his leadership’s refusal to speak about anything else. They see what is happening as an existential threat. Not only to themselves, but to the soul of Israel. If Charedim don’t get their way, Israel will lose its soul. The corollary is that it will no longer be a Jewish state and perhaps no longer deserve to survive.

The kind of high-level Torah study done in Charedi Yeshivos and Kollels is therefore portrayed as necessary for Israel’s very existence. A level of Torah study not done anywhere else.

This ignores the many Religious Zionist Yeshivos where high-level Torah study also takes place - fully supported by the supposedly ‘anti-Torah’ government.

For the sake of argument, let us concede that the Charedi Yeshiva world does contain Torah study at levels that surpass even the best of the Religious Zionist Yeshivos. And that they should be exempt from IDF service. Even if true, they would represent the elite of the elite. Hardly the majority. Besides, I would dispute the claim that there are no Religious Zionist talmidei chachamim of comparable stature.

That Rabbi Pindrus and his fellow travelers refuse to recognize this is appalling. It cannot be because they are unaware of Religious Zionist yeshivos. That would be like not knowing that the sun rises in the morning. He doesn’t mention them because their existence undermines his anti-Torah narrative.

Making matters worse, this attitude alienates not only the secular public, but even the Religious Zionist public — and, I dare say, a significant portion of the Charedi public as well. And this at a time when the secular public has rarely been more open to greater observance — perhaps not since the Six-Day War.

By coincidence, in that very same issue of Mishpacha, Jonathan Rosenblum addresses this dynamic and makes the following observation:

Unfortunately, we have, as a community, only imperfectly succeeded in instilling that imperative. In part, that is a function of a communal attitude of extreme isolationism that took hold in the early days of the state, when the Torah community was a small and beleaguered minority. That attitude continues to characterize some segments of the Torah community today, though the community is no longer small nor in danger of disappearing.

My own guess is that none of the young participants in the demonstrations that have repeatedly tied up traffic in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak in recent weeks have given a moment’s thought to what impact those demonstrations have on the larger community of Jews in Israel and their feelings about Torah…

The same challenge should be issued to Rabbi Pindrus.

Jonathan also cites two statements made by previous generations of Charedi leadership, which the current leadership seems to have forgotten. Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv said:

Torah-observant Jews have no higher educational imperative than to make the Name of Heaven beloved through our actions.

And Rav Eliezer Menachem Man Shach stated:

The elevation of any single mitzvah, such as yishuv Eretz Yisrael, above all others is a distortion of the Torah. And so too does a single-minded focus on opposition to Zionism or the state lead to a distortion of the Torah.

Although Rav Shach’s comment was aimed at the Religious Zionist settler movement, it can just as easily be applied to Charedim who focus exclusively on Torah study. No observant Jew debates the importance of yishuv Eretz Yisrael or Torah study. But when any mitzvah becomes the sole area of focus, it leads to a distortion of the Torah itself.