Medinat Yisrael - Kosher or Treif?

 

Tzvi Fishman interviews Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat.

What is the proper orientation a religious Jew should have toward the State of Israel?

Just as we thank Hashem in the morning for each new day, and over each breath we take, as King David says, ‘Let every breath praise Hashem,’ and over each drop of rain, so too we should express thanksgiving over every second the State of Israel exists and continues to flourish, for this is the greatest miracle that has transpired in the world since the beginning of Creation until today.

On several occasions, your father, a former Chief Rabbi of Israel, of blessed memory, said that the celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut should focus more on Torah study and prayer, and less on half-day barbecues. Can you summary for us what his attitude was toward Medinat Yisrael?

Upon his appointment as Israel’s Chief Sefardi Rabbi, HaRav Eliahu, זצוק"ל, cited the Gemara which states that the surest sign of the revealed End of the Exile is when the Land of Israel gives forth her fruits in abundance, something which our generation has merited to witness. He often asserted that he only saw lights in Medinat Yisrael, not the shadows of doubt.

Each year on Yom HaAtzmaut, in his speech at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem, HaRav Tzvi Yehuda Kook would bemoan the fact that not everyone saw the Divine Hand in the establishment of the State of Israel, declaring that we only had to open our eyes to see ‘the return of Your Shechinah to Zion,’ as we say in our prayers. What is the source of this blindness?

The Rebbe of Chabad also said that for the Geulah to come, a Jew had only to open his eyes and proclaim, ‘Behold, the Mashiach is on the way.’ The blindness in not seeing the great events of our time as the workings of Hashem, this is the root of Amalek. When the Children of Israel went out from Mitzrayim, they asked, ‘Is Hashem with us or not?’ Immediately Amalek attacked.

Our Sages compared this to a father who carried his son on his shoulders and gave him everything he needed. With the passing of time, the father heard his son ask, ‘Where is my father?’ The father replied, ‘I am carrying you on my shoulders, yet you ask where I am?’ So he set his son down and a dog leapt forward and bit him.

In the same light, if an unthinking person were to witness the dividing of the Red Sea day after day, he would say that the wonder was the natural way of the world - not a miracle. In contrast, a person who contemplated the phenomenon would understand that its daily, repeated occurrence was a much greater miracle than a onetime event.

The same is true with the day-after-day miracles which have accompanied Israel’s restoration in Eretz Yisrael and our continuing development, including the tremendous ingathering of the exiles and the rebuilding of the Land and Jerusalem. Each of these things is a miracle, but they remain hidden when you forget that Hashem is the Grand Conductor of Jewish History.

The Torah informs us that the Children of Israel were compelled to wander in the Wilderness because they failed to see and acknowledge Hashem’s Providence and loving care. Only in the fortieth year did their eyes and ears open, and did their hearts comprehend. Because of this turnabout of understanding, they finally merited to enter the Land of Israel. In a similar light, our Sages teach us that King Hezkiyahu lost his chance to be the Mashiach because he didn’t sing Hashem’s praises over the great miracle granted to him.

Likewise today, what Heavenly Merit can we expect if we fail to thank Hashem for orchestrating our way back to Zion via the historical events of our time?

Charedim must become full partners in Am Yisrael’s national mission

 

by Moti Leitner

For the past year, I have travelled across Israel listening to members of the Charedi community. I met avreichim, working fathers, mothers carrying the financial burden of large families, educators, business owners and young people searching for a place within the community they love.

I heard deep devotion to Torah, but also growing anxiety. Families are struggling financially. Young people who do not fit within the existing educational framework are being lost. Dropout rates in parts of our community are alarmingly high. Parents fear that their children will reach adulthood without the education, qualifications or practical skills needed to build stable lives.

These conversations convinced me that the present situation cannot continue. They also convinced me that the natural partners in creating a new path are Israel’s observant right-wing public.

Watch as Charedie "rashaim" attack Charedie Netzah Yehuda soldiers

 

רשע למה תכה רעך

A demonstration in support of those involved in last month's riot outside the home of Israeli Supreme Court Deputy President Justice Noam Sohlberg was held in Jerusalem and ended in violence, during which three Haredi soldiers serving in the IDF's Netzah Yehuda Battalion were attacked.

The event began with a vehicle convoy from Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem, after which participants continued on foot to Shabbat Square. During the march, demonstrators carried signs opposing the enlistment of Haredim into the IDF, including one reading, "We will never serve in the enemy's army."

Participants also shouted slogans against police officers, and in several instances objects were thrown at them.

The three soldiers, who happened to pass through the area by chance, were assaulted by some of those attending the protest.

The march took place following the release of 63 haredi suspects who had been arrested in connection with last month's riot outside Justice Sohlberg's home in Alon Shvut.

According to the investigation, the rioters damaged Sohlberg's home and the family's vehicle. Windows were smashed, flower pots and planters were broken, and the entrance to the house was vandalized. Israeli flags bearing swastikas were also placed in the street.

Following the incident, Justice Sohlberg's wife, Meira Sohlberg, described what they found upon returning home.

"We are children of Holocaust survivors," she said. "Jews are hurting one another like this. Look at this destruction-a pogrom. What is this, Kristallnacht?"

שלושה חיילים חרדים המשרתים בגדוד “נצח יהודה” נקלעו לאזור שבו התקיימה קבלת הפנים ל”פורעי סולברג”, והותקפו על ידי ההמון במקום.

המפגינים השליכו לעבר החיילים בקבוקים ורדפו אחריהם, השלושה הצליחו להימלט מהמקום ללא פגע. pic.twitter.com/IThA3urExZ

— יעקב הרשקוביץ | Yaakov hershkowitz (@yaakov_hershko) July 30, 2026

Yeshiva World News Posted a Clip of Israeli Police beating the crap out of Charedim but look at all comments!! 99% for the Police

 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!

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see comments after the break

The deep divide between the Charedie & Dati-Leumi Culture!

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! 

by  Leonard Oberstein

I discussed the army issue with a chareidi person and see that we does not live in the same reality. The very existence of the State of Israel is not that vital to him. He says you can't draft weak students because they will become non religious and that there is a war between the secular who want to destroy our yeshivos and the olom hatorah. In other words, the existence of Israel as an independent country is not at all his priority. This person didn't make it up. Ther hashkafa which prioritizes the safety and existence of the Jewish State is not his concern. What matters is the religious security of the haredi populace . Torah is the only priority. Even if this person lives in Israel, that is not a permanent situation. If the existence of Israel harms the kedusha of the people, then it is not necessarily permanent.

Is what this person told me accurate or am I speaking about a daas yochid.

Another thing. They either ignore or denigrate the units created for observant men. Both Netzach Yehudah and Hashmonaim are not a factor. They might as well not exist. These people feel no obligation to defend their homes and family, that is totally outside of their zone. The claim that they are learning and thus they are the defenders is just a point to pull out but it is not the real reason. The crowning remark is "We were here first." This means that before the Zionistts messed things up we lived in harmony with the Arabs. That may not be factual and the ones who say it may be students on a gap year from the US, but it is their main argument.

Jeffrey Woolf

May 29 at 6:54 PM ·

Rabbi Leonard Oberstein, who I've never met but who I've come to deeply admire and respect, has published a number of deeply respectful and thoughtful posts about the refusal of Haredim, especially Lithuanians, to serve in the IDF.

In the latest one, he noted that Haredim object that drafting anyone is dangerous, especially weaker students because they may abandon a life of Torah and mitzvos.

It hit me that such an assertion is a condemnation of the entire Haredi educational system. It is incapable of meeting any kind of intellectual, spiritual or cultural challenge. Its Judaism is so vulnerable that unless they are kept in an insulated cocoon, it cannot survive. The faith that confronted, and whose gedolim successfully confronted every single trend in world history has, in their hands, become feckless and feeble.

One could, of course, object that withdrawal into ghettoes worked to staunch the effects of the enlightenment and the emancipation. That's partly true, but it no longer obtains. The isolated gedolim can scream bloody murder against computers, the internet and AI. They are helpless and unable to stop them from penetrating their walls. The only way to preserve religious integrity is, ironically enough, judicial and critical confrontation and partial integration. Muscles exercised are stronger than those left to wither. The Haredi ideologues have signed the termination warrants of their own world if they continue to stick their heads in the sand.

Ironically, they have created precisely the conditions that took such a toll on traditional Jewry after 1789.

Part 2 .......The Satmar Rebbe and the Destruction of Hungarian Jewry

 

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.

"Disconnected" Litvishe Roshei Yeshiva Running Scared as their Followers Wake Up and Enlist

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.

Charedi Recruits Enlist In Combat Units: Netzah Yehuda, Chashmonaim, Chetz, Avnet And Negev ...Despite Gedoilim Writing Kol Koras!

 

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.

 The month of Adar is meant to be a time of joy for the Jewish people — a time to dress up, to celebrate, and to remember how we were saved from a threat that once loomed over our entire nation. Yet this year, the threat we must confront feels painfully internal. What happened yesterday was not only dangerous; it was a near‑miss that could have spiraled into tragedy.

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: 'Charedi draft law is all a bluff'

 

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."

Lakewood-based WhatsApp group spreads unfiltered Lies about Eretz Yisrael!

 

DIN: The following is a post of a popular Lakewood-based WhatsApp group!

This post is not about the story itself which we posted as well, my beef is with the comment the poster made to appease his naive yeshivishe sheep who live in Chutz Le'aaretz in warm comfortable homes! 

I posted his sick comment in red!

 IDF Chief of Staff Approves Final Orders for Haredi Integration into the Army*

The IDF Chief of Staff has officially approved new General Staff directives aimed at integrating Haredi soldiers into the Israeli military.

Under the new regulations, special frameworks will be created to accommodate religious standards in certain service tracks. Among the measures: a complete ban on women entering designated bases, restrictions on any exposure of soldiers to women, the appointment of only observant commanders, and mandatory Torah study and daily prayer as part of the service routine.

In addition, an external rabbinical committee will be established to supervise and ensure proper Enforcing of the directives within the IDF.

*Mr. B -*  At some point, the IDF has to admit the truth. Maybe the army already knows this, and this is about politics and not results.

These changes won’t make a difference; mainstream chareidim aren’t enlisting. For many frum Jews, IDF service clashes with a Torah-centered life of full-time learning and values. No accommodations can change that core conflict.

The army was described by Ben Gurion as a secular melting pot (_koreh hituch chiloni_), and that’s without even getting into the ג' שבועות, כיבוש הארץ  התגרות באומות.

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.

Chardeie Gedoilim Heard in Secret Recordings "we will continue to take benefits and money from Government but no one will serve!"

We all know that Arab leaders say one thing in public and say another thing, totally contradicting themselves in private. In fact Muslims have a word for lying for the sake of the cause called "taqiyya (تقیة)"

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??

******************************                    **********************************

 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."

New Charedi Youth Movement Says It Aims to Redefine Ultra-Orthodox Life — And Israeli Society — By 2060

 

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.”

Amit Segal on the Interview With the Editor of the Hebrew Yated

 

What if the editor of a major American newspaper announced that the US military is basically irrelevant? That a dozen elderly scholars with enough Bible study under their belts could defeat China, Russia, and Iran combined? That fighter jets don’t fly because of engineering or pilots, but because God is pleased with how much Scripture is being learned in Dallas? If that sounds insane, welcome to an average Tuesday in Israeli politics. Because this is almost exactly what Yisrael Friedman, editor of Yated Ne’eman, one of the country’s leading ultra-Orthodox newspapers, told

@AkivaWeisz

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.