Is it finally turning? Are frum people finally opening their eyes?
The Yeshivishe News Site wanted to portray Police in a bad light but it backfired!
The oilom, the silent majority are fed up with the Bnei-Torah and are speaking out!
see comments after the break
Moshe Gafni, had an interview with Haaretz 2017, and made the following outrageous comment.
“I am not on the right, on policy issues I stand closer to the Left’s position,” and declared that “the Palestinians were here before us and we displaced them."
What a sick perverted piece of slime! "Palestinians were here before us?" Mamash what Hamas says and is an outrageous lie!
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| The Satmar Rebbe, Yoel Teitelbaum, far right, when he arrives in Switzerland on the Kasztner transport from Bergen-Belsen. |
This is the second of a two-part investigation into the life of the Satmar Rebbe. Read part one here.
During his stay in the Cluj ghetto, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum hid rather than position himself as a leader. On the rescue train, he avoided the other passengers, failed to encourage or to comfort them, and did not share the precious commodities provided by his followers with them.
In Bergen-Belsen, too, despite the preferential treatment accorded him in the camp, he refrained from assuming a leadership role, even among the observant inmates.
After his release, Rabbi Yoel elected to run a rescue campaign from the safety of Switzerland. His efforts to rescue Jewish children raised by gentiles were restricted to fundraising, and even in that task he failed abysmally.
Once again, his conduct stands in stark contrast to that of other rabbis, who returned to their hometowns to lead their surviving flocks or worked relentlessly in the DP camps. All the sources describing the rescue activities of the Haredi community during the Holocaust, including archival sources, indicate that compared to other rabbis who survived the Holocaust, Rabbi Yoel’s contribution was negligible in both scope and significance.
As I’ve been writing over the past two weeks, there is a noticeable shift taking place in the thinking and hashkafah of many within the Charedi community. More and more people are recognizing that they cannot remain separate from the rest of the Jewish people, and that this separation is creating real resentment.
We all live in this country, and every individual has a responsibility to be part of Klal Yisrael and not to be poretz geder.
Many are beginning to realize that their elderly spiritual leaders are, in their view, increasingly out of touch — disconnected from the realities unfolding around them — and that these leaders are often influenced by handlers who filter what they see and hear.
We are at war, yet when speaking to a typical Charedi individual, you might not sense it. Some openly say that this is not “their war,” a statement that echoes language historically used by those hostile to the Jewish people.
At long last, some within the community are waking up. There is a small but genuine ray of hope that people are beginning to see the larger picture and reassess long‑held assumptions.
An emergency gathering attended by dozens of Lithuanian-haredi yeshiva deans was held Sunday to warn against what they described as a "grave spiritual danger" posed by the enlistment of haredim into army frameworks tailored for the haredi public.
Central to the gathering was the reading of a sharply-worded letter from leading rabbis opposing military enlistment, even in frameworks that claim to accommodate religious observance and allow soldiers to maintain their haredi lifestyle. In the signatories' opinion, these arrangements "regrettably do not endure over time despite promises and commitments."
Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch wrote: "It has unfortunately come to my attention that, as part of efforts to enlist Torah students, various tracks have been established and given names such as ‘Kodkod’ and others, and recently additional enlistment tracks have been added in the south, in Netivot and Be’er Sheva."
"And it is certain that all of these tracks are an integral part of the army, and one who goes there hands himself over to the control and authority of the military rulership, and becomes a full soldier in every respect, and it is similar to joining the army, which has no permissible aspect at all."
The letter also included remarks by yeshiva dean Rabbi Dov Lando, who warned: "Anyone who, G-d forbid, joins these tracks or similar, should know that beyond the personal tragedy that he brings upon himself and his household, others may, G-d forbid, be drawn after him, and his sin would be great to bear."
However within the Chasidic-haredi community: In groups such as Belz, Sanz, Karlin, and others, married working men are permitted to participate in supervised military initiatives.
Finally, it seems that parts of the Charedi world are beginning to recognize that they are being led by “gedolim” and roshei yeshiva who, in the view of many, are increasingly disconnected from the broader reality of Klal Yisrael — including large segments of their own Charedi communities.
October 7 changed everything. Many Charedim saw, in real time, that their leadership had painted itself into a corner with no clear way out. The long‑standing opposition to army service and to yeshivos that offer vocational training is becoming harder to defend, and it is isolating the community from the rest of Israel’s Jewish population.
Some observers believe that unless Torah leaders such as Rav Landau and Rav Hirsch open their eyes and begin to compromise, the Charedi community may face a serious internal split. In many ways, that process has already begun.
Rav Landau and Rav Hirsch are not fully aligned. Rav Hirsch, with his American background, is seen by some as more aware of the need for yeshiva students to acquire a trade, and he has expressed the view that those who are not learning full‑time should enlist. Yet he continues to sign strong kol kora declarations against the IDF — likely, as some suggest, due to intense pressure from factions within the community who prefer to maintain the status quo, allowing others to work and serve while they do neither.
A special enlistment day for the charedi sector was held on Sunday at the IDF Induction Center in Tel Hashomer. Young charedi men arrived at the recruitment office to integrate into meaningful service in the Israel Defense Forces, with an emphasis on combat units and frameworks adapted to their religious lifestyle.
The recruits were assigned to a variety of units, including the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, the Hashmonaim Brigade, the “Hetz” platoon in the Paratroopers Brigade, the “Avnet” platoon in the Israel Border Police and the Negev platoon in the Israeli Air Force.
One of the central focuses is the Hashmonaim Brigade, the first charedi brigade in the IDF, which operated during the war in the Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria sectors. Recently, its forces completed raids in western Lebanon.
The brigade runs an independent training base that includes squad commander courses, combat medic training, and technological tracks such as drone operation. In recent weeks, it also completed its first officer training cycle tailored for Haredi soldiers.
A notable feature of this enlistment day is that many recruits arrived after a long preparation process in pre-military academies run by the Netzah Yehuda Association.
Among the academies attended by the recruits are “Nitzotz Be’emunah,” “Derech Emunah,” “Tiferet HaArazim,” “Yadav Emunah,” “Batzavta,” and the chasidic preparatory program “Beit David.” Over the past year, students in these programs underwent training focused on strengthening values, building personal identity, and mental preparation for the challenges of combat service.
Two female IDF officers, simply doing their job and visiting a soldier under their care, were attacked by a mob of thousands — not enemies, not extremists from afar, but fellow Jews. The absurdity of it could be mistaken for a Purim skit, but the reality is sickening.
According to Yeshiva World News:
The usually quiet Chagai Street in Bnei Brak turned into a mob scene on Sunday after two female military police officers arrived in the area and rumors spread that they were distributing draft orders.
A crowd of over a thousand people quickly gathered. Police arrived to rescue the soldiers as the crowd grew. A police vehicle was overturned on HaRav Shach Street, and a police motorbike was set on fire. A burned siddur and tefillin were later found in the storage compartment of the bike, belonging to a frum officer.
Community leaders did condemn the violence. As YWN reported:
Rabbi David Stav, chairman of the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization and Chief Rabbi of the City of Shoham, sharply criticizes the Israeli government’s proposed legislation on the recruitment of haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces, calling the bill misleading, ineffective, and morally indefensible in the wake of Israel’s ongoing security challenges.
Speaking with Arutz Sheva-Israel National News, Rabbi Stav rejected claims that opposing the government’s proposal amounts to an attempt to topple the coalition. While acknowledging that political stability is a legitimate concern, he argued that the current legislation sacrifices fundamental values while pretending to achieve reform.
“It is a legitimate position to say: I want more haredim to serve, but I prioritize the survival of the government," Rabbi Stav said. “What is not legitimate is to present a bill as historic and transformative when everyone knows it will not draft anyone who does not already intend to enlist."
According to Rabbi Stav, the proposed law falsely promises the enlistment of tens of thousands of haredi men while quietly ensuring that no real change will take place. He accused politicians of privately admitting the bill’s ineffectiveness while publicly promoting it as a breakthrough.
“No one who does not intend to go to the army will go because of this bill," he said. “Everyone knows this."
DIN: #1
Let’s begin by addressing his argument about the ג' שבועות—an argument so weak that even Satmar abandoned it.
No Jew ever witnessed these “ג' שבועות” and no one can identify when or where they supposedly occurred.
This aggadatah appears in Kesubos 110a, yet Rashi and Tosafos offer no commentary on it. None of the major commentaries printed at the back of the tractate—Rosh, Ran, Maharsha, Rif etc., mention it. It is entirely absent from the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, and it receives no mention whatsoever in the Shulchan Aruch or its nosei keilim.
I have already cited Emailim BaTorah, which notes that
"the Zohar in Parshas Vayechi explains that “Bnos Yerushalayim” refers to the neshamah. The Avnei Nezer therefore concludes that since the oaths were made with the soul and not with the physical human being, they do not apply to us in any halachic sense.
Indeed, the overwhelming majority of Gedolim—Agudas Yisroel, Shas, Degel, and most of the leading Torah authorities—did not consider the ג' שבועות to have halachic force. Even those who opposed the establishment of the State did not base their position on these oaths."
#2
Next, he invokes כיבוש הארץ & התגרות באומות.
This claim keeps resurfacing, regurgitated by commentators living abroad in comfort and safety, while criticizing Israel.
They live far from danger yet speak harshly about the State of Israel—whose soldiers risk their lives daily to protect millions of Jews in the only Jewish country on earth, surrounded by hostile enemies—and then accuse Israel of “provoking the nations.”
Jewish husbands leave their families for months, placing themselves in danger and leaving their wives and children as living widows and living orphans in emotional and financial strain, all to defend Jewish lives. Yet this commentator dismisses and mocks their sacrifice as “התגרות באומות”
The audacity is astonishing. What exactly do they offer as an alternative—disband the army? Avoid defending ourselves so as not to “antagonize” others?
Insanity!
As for כיבוש הארץ: The Ramban explicitly writes that settling the Land of Israel and securing it are mitzvos aseh d’Oraisa בזמן הזה.
Every major war Israel has fought was initiated by surrounding hostile nations that swore to destroy and eliminate her. Suggesting that Israel should have simply stood by passively defies both logic and halachah.
Finally, he quotes a 75-year-old description by Ben-Gurion in reference to the IDF that the IDF is a “secular melting pot.”
And what of it? So?
Since when does a historical comment override Torah obligations such as
?לא תעמוד על דם רעך
or
?ואהבת לרעך כמוך
The army has made significant efforts to accommodate Chareidim, yet he claims that mainstream Chareidim should not enlist.
Why should others bear the burden entirely? Why should Chilonim die for you?
Moshe Rabbeinu has a message to this fool
?האחיכם יבוא למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה
My message to this Lakewood-based WhatsApp administrator is simple: We do not need your commentary, and we do not need your interference. Please stay out of our affairs.
But who would have expected this from Talmedei Chachamim and Gedoilei Hador? From people who are "marbitz" Torah?
In public, they are acting like they are capitulating and compromising and promising Netanyahu that they will vote to pass the budget ($$$$$$$) and to pass the conscription law yet in private they mocked the entire process except, of course, the $$$$$$ part!
What do they expect from the regular "Joe Shmo" if their leaders are deliberately lying!! One wonders if anything they now say is really what they mean??
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Recordings broadcast Wednesday evening on Channel 12 reveal that senior haredi rabbis backing the passage of a proposed conscription law view it primarily as a delaying measure, with no expectation that it will lead to the enlistment of yeshiva students into the IDF.
In the recordings, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch says he supports the legislation because it would “buy time" for the haredi community. Asked whether yeshiva students who fall outside existing study frameworks would eventually be required to enlist, he responded unequivocally: “God forbid."
Addressing the enlistment targets included in the proposed law, Rabbi Hirsch dismissed them outright. “Do they think we will want to meet the target? Of course we will not want to," he said, adding that he believes the law will ultimately collapse after a few years. “In the meantime, we gained time," he explained.
Rabbi Hirsch also referred to past attempts to create special enlistment frameworks for haredim under the leadership of the late Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, calling them a mistake. “Our community does not have such compromises," he said.
Another leading figure, Rabbi Dov Lando, was equally blunt, stating that there is no intention to enlist any haredim - including those not studying in yeshivot. “What they are talking about is nonsense - it will not happen. We will not go to the army; no one will go to the army," he said.
The revelations sparked sharp political reactions. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the recordings prove that “the spiritual leaders of the haredi parties are openly admitting that the draft-evading law is a fraud and that no haredi youth will enlist."
Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman echoed that criticism, saying, “The rabbinical council of draft evasion has revealed its true face. It’s all a bluff - no haredi will enlist. We will continue to send our sons and daughters to the army, and they will continue to send theirs to live off the taxes we pay."
Likud MK Dan Illouz called on his coalition colleagues to act, saying, “I once again urge my fellow coalition members to join my demand to amend the law."
The National Religious Reservists Forum also responded forcefully, stating, “It’s time to stop closing our eyes and face reality. The leading haredi authorities are openly admitting they have no intention of meeting enlistment targets and are merely stringing along the public that serves."
A newly formed ultra-Orthodox Jewish youth movement in Israel says it is trying to address what its founder calls one of the most destabilizing dilemmas facing Haredi society: the widespread belief that it is impossible to remain fully accepted as a “top-tier” Haredi while also participating responsibly in the life of the state.
The movement, known as ACHVA, was founded by educator Shneur Rochberger, 35, who says many Haredi teenagers grow up facing a rigid social equation with no sustainable solution.
“In the triangle of being Haredi, being ‘Class A’ socially, and being engaged with reality as a citizen, you can only hold two sides,” Rochberger told the Israeli newspaper Kol Hayehudi. “If you want to remain Class A in Haredi society, you need to be somewhat detached from the reality of the state. If you’re Haredi and involved in reality, you’re no longer considered Class A.”
Within Haredi society, Rochberger said, that status is not symbolic. “Class A determines whether your children are accepted into the best schools and whether they have strong matchmaking prospects,” he said, describing the pressure as “almost existential.”
That dynamic, he argues, places Haredi teenagers in an impossible bind. “If you tell a teenager that to be Haredi and engaged with reality the price is being considered damaged goods, he’ll say, ‘I’m not part of this story,’” Rochberger said. “At that point, he gives up one of two things: either being Haredi or being a citizen.”
in a jaw-dropping interview. Let’s start with the basics: why don’t Haredim serve in the IDF? Friedman’s answer isn’t subtle, to say the least. “Those who save the state are those who learn Torah, so someone who harms Torah learners harms state security,” he says. “Mathematically, what is incorrect about that? We are preserving the Jewish people, and in this matter of preserving the Jewish people there is no equality of burden — only we contribute.” Read that again. Only they contribute. So fighting in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran doesn’t count? “That’s not preserving the Jewish people; that’s preserving the Israeli people,” he says. Great, so Friedman thinks the IDF is pointless? Not quite. “If the yeshivas don’t study, the tanks won’t start. The planes won’t take off.” Ok, so perhaps, you’re hoping, deep down, he respects Israel’s astonishing military and intelligence capabilities. Nope. “The army has never won because of the number of soldiers,” Friedman told Weisz. “At West Point they study wars from around the whole world, but not Israel’s wars — you know why? Because the rules of war don’t apply here. There is no logic here.” But what about the fact that the IDF is missing 10,000-12,000 soldiers? Friedman isn’t rattled in the slightest. His solution for the army? “It lacks learners!” And then, citing a story of a famous rabbi from 19th century Europe, he asserts that “we need to increase study in the yeshivas even more, and then 15 elderly soldiers will win all these wars, and I believe this with complete faith.” Weisz, however, had a trick question up his sleeve — or so he thought. Israel, after all, is full of religious Zionists, Jews who are Orthodox (and often spend years learning Torah and other religious texts), yet are fully integrated into Israeli society and serve in the military just like everyone else. Indeed, according to some surveys, the number of religious Zionists in reserve IDF duty since October 7 make up almost twice their share of the population. Friedman’s response? He dismisses them as “people whose kippah on their head is merely a social identity badge, barely connected to any religious reality.” If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably gathered that Friedman isn’t exactly worried about offending others. There is one group, however, that he says the ultra-Orthodox have sworn to never offend. “We don’t go against the United States,” he told Weisz. Why? Because “we [Israel] are an American protectorate.” Still haven’t given up? Great, because I now want to address the question I’ve been asking in this newsletter: what is the Haredi business model? Right-wing Israelis have a vision for the country. So does the left. But what does the ultra-Orthodox public want? For that too, Friedman has an answer: “Yated Ne’eman, like the entire Haredi public, has always carried two passports in its suit pocket: a Jewish passport and an Israeli passport. The Jewish passport is 3,300 years old, since we stood at the foot of Mount Sinai. The Israeli passport is 80 years old.” “As long as we weren’t asked to choose, we had two passports… But the State of Israel forced us to choose: either-or. It does not allow us today, under the current circumstances, to have both. 3,300 years ago, we chose the Jewish passport, and let there be no mistake: this is what we are fighting for.”
Well, that was a lot to take in. There is, however, a question that Friedman didn’t answer: do the Haredim reallybelieve this story that he just sold us? Some certainly do, and some most likely don’t. And while the different sects within the Haredi world will all offer varying takes on what you’ve just read, perhaps now you have a greater understanding of the anger (to put it mildly) that other Israelis feel towards the ultra-Orthodox. After all, this isn’t the musings of a fringe crank. Friedman’s worldview dominates Israel’s Haredi political parties, which control the coalition’s survival and shape draft policy, welfare budgets, and so much more. These ideas aren’t whispered in private — they are mainstream inside a community that may well be 1/3 of the country in the near future, leaving many in the Jewish state increasingly worried that they’re running out of time to stop the ship from sinking. But for those Israelis who would dare interfere with the ultra-Orthodox lifestyle, Friedman has a warning: “This way of life cannot be stopped, because the day it stops, neither we nor they will remain. There will be no state here, no people here, and the Land of Israel will lie desolate.” Truth be told, Friedman may well be right. But not for the reason he thinks.
Speaking with Radio Kol Hai, Rabbi Moshe Maya, a member of Shas’ ruling Council of Torah Sages, states that “if there is an arrangement whereby someone who enlists would not come to desecrate the Sabbath and would preserve his holiness and purity — why shouldn’t he enlist? But there is one condition: that it be an official IDF General Staff order. As long as it’s just declarations, it’s worthless.”
Last summer, following the High Court of Justice’s ruling ending service exemptions for yeshiva students, Maya took a very different tone, telling Kol Barama Radio that it was “forbidden for those who don’t study to go to the army,” arguing that “those who do will end up violating the Shabbat.”
This June, the rabbi was one of several senior Shas rabbis who signed an open letter expressing opposition to any enlistment compromise that would lead to the conscription of yeshiva students. In the letter, the rabbis declared that it was forbidden for those not in yeshiva to enlist, even into “the so-called ‘ultra-Orthodox’ tracks.”
However, he started softening his position not long after, stating several weeks later that while at the moment no Haredim at all may enlist, “if military frameworks are established with the approval of the rabbis, which will certainly safeguard every Haredi—and we know that this will have legal validity—then only those who do not study at all should be drafted.”
The IDF currently maintains several service tracks for ultra-Orthodox soldiers, including the Netzach Yehuda battalion (also known as Nahal Haredi) and the recently-established Hasmonean Brigade.
The post Senior Shas rabbi appears to backtrack, says Haredim who don’t study full-time can serve in the IDF appeared first on The Times of Israel.
