A Land in Which Tradition Breathes and Changes Flow ...The Daughters of Tzlafchad!

 The instructions for dividing the Land of Israel had just been delivered to Moshe. Larger shevatim were granted broader tracts of territory. 

To ensure fairness and to prevent suspicions of favoritism, the process was governed by a supernatural lottery or goral, not human judgment. Everything seemed ready. The long-awaited Divine promise was at last unfolding: we were poised to enter the Land of Hashem. Every shevet and every family had been counted and prepared. 

 All except for one. Thirty-eight years earlier, a man named Tzelafchad had died in the desert, for reasons the Torah does not disclose. He left behind no sons. As inheritance passes along the male line, his absence cast a shadow over the future, threatening to erase his legacy.

No sons meant no one to carry his name forward, no one to inherit his portion of land and no anchor to the soil of Israel. 

 His five daughters stepped forward, approaching Moshe in search of a solution. Moshe is confronted with a challenge he cannot resolve alone. How can he uphold halachic integrity while addressing their rightful yearning?

 Uncertain, he refers their case to Hashem. 

Both the Chazon Ish and Rav Eliyashiv Wrote that "Everyone is required to Defend Israel in Milchemes Mitzva"

 

by Menachim Rehat as printed in the pamphlet Matzav Huruach

Loosely translated to English 

This is not the first time that the Chareidie leadership has lost sight of reality who unfortunately stand on the sidelines while others have been serving for 400 days, their families falling apart, their businesses collapsing, and their health severely undermined; this callousness will never be forgotten and will be remembered forever 

The greatest poskim including the Chazon Ish and Rabbi Elyashiv require going out to defend Israel 

1. At two historical junctures, the Charedie  leadership lost the ability to see reality that was expected of them. 

The first time was about 80 years ago, when the biggest disaster befell our people.

 At the time, the leadership did not read the map correctly and instructed its followers not to immigrate to the Land of Israel and to continue to cling to the impurity of exile, a move that ended with the loss of millions of our brothers in the furnaces of Auschwitz.

The second time, is happening now, right before our eyes, when Talmedei Chachamim and Torah scholars insist on preventing their followers, through all kinds of political twists, from coming to Israel's aid from the hand of the oppressor that insists on killing all of us even at these very moments. 

So they yell, as is the custom of Satmar and the Peleg,: "We shall be killed and not transgress. 'We will die and not enlist.' 

Listen to the rhetoric of Minister Meir Porush in the Knesset plenum: 

"If they had told us at the establishment of the State that it would look the way it does today, that we would not be able to study Torah in the Land of Israel, they would arrest yeshiva students who study Torah... In my opinion, Agudat Yisrael would say that it does not want a Jewish state."

So That's it?  Burn down the club. Is A third exile preferable?

Liberman warns Iran is ‘obsessed’ with revenge, calls for Israel to strike first

 

Former defense minister Avigdor Liberman said Saturday that Iran is “obsessed” with seeking revenge against Israel following the 12-day war between the two enemy nations, warning that Jerusalem will have to strike again at some point.

Liberman, who heads the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, told the Channel 12 news program “Meet the Press” that revenge is “all the Iranian leadership thinks about.”

“I could tell you the same thing that the intelligence assessments and officials say” about Iran’s nuclear capabilities in the wake of the Israeli and US strikes, he added, saying “they all speak of around one to two years” for Iran to reconstitute its nuclear program.

While Tehran’s nuclear ambitions will remain a problem, Liberman said, “what is more worrying is that all Iran is currently obsessed with is waging a war of revenge” against Israel.

“That’s the only thing that interests them right now. A war of revenge, that’s it,” he stated.

When asked if he thinks that means Israel should attack Iran again, Liberman answered that “it would be worthwhile for us to strike first again.”

“This time, Iran wants to deliver the first blow,” he said.

He also said, “It’s not just theoretical” that Iran is working to revive its nuclear program.

“And what worries me most are the ballistic missiles,” Liberman said. “You saw what happened here when just 26 missiles landed inside Israel and the level of damage that it caused.”

“They are preparing for a major strike,” he continued, adding that Iran has thousands of missiles. “Imagine if it wasn’t just 26 missiles that impact Israel, what if it were 260 missiles? What kind of damage would that cause?”

Therefore, “we have no other choice” but to strike Iran first, according to Liberman, who said that is what he would do if he were in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position. “I hope that is what they are planning.”

“And I would tell the Mossad to work toward one goal: regime change,” he said, arguing that total regime change is the only way to ensure that Iran is not a threat to Israel.

Iran and Israel last exchanged blows after the Israeli military launched a surprise assault on nuclear and military targets inside Iran on June 13, 2025, kicking off a 12-day war between the two sides.

Israel said its assault was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.

Though Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. The Islamic Republic had taken recent steps toward weaponization, Israel said during the war.

Iran retaliated against Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel. The attacks killed 29 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals. Iran also attacked a US base in Qatar in retaliation for Washington’s strikes.

Obama "The Criminal" Exposed!

 

 "We had, in President Obama and his leadership team, people who did not want to accept the will of the American people in electing Donald Trump in 2016 - and therefore cooked up this treasonous conspiracy to... effectively launch a years-long coup against the sitting President of the United States."

DIN: I have to point out that the Satmar Rebbe of Monroe, R' Aaron Teitelbaum backed this criminal Obama against a Jewish Prime Minister, when PM Netanyahu came to address Congress on the danger of Iran. 

The Satmar Rebbe had his followers write thousands of letters to Congress to try to halt Netanyahu from speaking and not only that, but even after he spoke, the Satmar Rebbe denigrated and mocked a Jewish leader of millions of Jews! 

The Satmar Rebbe has yet to apologize for this perfidy, and to his pandering to an antisemite goy! 

This is surreal. Here in America, the Director of National Intelligence @DNIGabbard is now stating emphatically that a former President of the United States @BarackObama attempted a coup against the @POTUS @realDonaldTrump .

This is why @TulsiGabbard was attacked so relentlessly… pic.twitter.com/v0dK5xoKwb

— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) July 18, 2025

Crazy Ruling! Court Freezes Trump’s ICC Sanctions

 

A federal judge in Maine on Friday barred the Trump administration from enforcing sanctions on two U.S. citizens and human rights advocates who work with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On April 11, Matthew Smith and Akila Radhakrishnan, a human rights nonprofit leader and lawyer, respectively, filed a 39-page lawsuit against President Donald Trump and several other members of his administration over an executive order that imposes sanctions on the ICC, prohibits certain interactions with designated ICC officials, and threatens both civil and criminal penalties for any such violations.

The lawsuit was premised on the idea that the sanctions "violate their First Amendment rights, and those of others like them, by prohibiting their constitutionally protected speech." The plaintiffs, in late April, requested a preliminary injunction barring the government "from imposing civil or criminal penalties on them" for "provision of speech-based services" to the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor (OTP).

Now, U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen, a Barack Obama appointee, has granted that requested relief in a 16-page order.

Connie Francis, Whose Ballads Dominated ’60s Pop Music, Dies at 87

 

You may ask why would I post this? 

Well I grew up in Crown Heights and so did Connie Francis, and even though she was an Italian shiksa, she spoke fluent Yiddish and even put out a very popular Yiddish Recording! 

Francis was born on December 12, 1937, to an Italian-American family (one of her grandfathers having immigrated from Reggio Calabria in 1905)^[2][3] in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey, the first child of George Franconero (1911–1996) and Ida (née Ferrari-di Vito; 1911–2000). She spent her first years in the Crown Heights, Brooklyn area (Utica Avenue/St Mark's Place) before the family moved to New Jersey.^[4] Growing up in a mixed Italian-Jewish neighborhood, Francis became fluent in Yiddish, which led her later to record songs in Yiddish and Hebrew.^[4][5]

‘Too Close to Skver’: What One Mother Discovered About Her Neighbors

 

See the website that explains the Skver Terror Tactics on their neighbors!

As we stand on the threshold of the 17th of Tammuz and the start of the Three Weeks, I feel it’s important to highlight a different side of the so-called “Unholy Mile.” A few months ago, I took one of my children to a specialist in Westchester. In the waiting room, I noticed a young chassidish mother holding her baby. Later, as I was leaving, I saw her standing outside waiting for a taxi. I asked where she was headed. She said, “New Square.” I smiled and told her I lived in New Hempstead and would be happy to give her a ride. She gratefully accepted.

I think she may have misunderstood where I lived. On the way, she shared that it was “good” I lived in Wesley Hills and not too close to New Square. She explained that they didn’t want others moving nearby — chas v’shalom, they might want to send their children to their schools. So, leadership in the community came up with a plan: buy up the homes within a mile and rent them to non-Jews to discourage other frum families from settling there. She even mentioned her father-in-law had bought one of the houses.

I didn’t respond. I stayed quiet the rest of the way.

IS CBN TURNING???? Are they finally seeing the light?

An elderly IDF soldier seen patrolling southern Syria wearing Tefillin. 

CBN is a WhatsApp News Site representing the Yeshivish world, primarily in Lakewood! 

It really gives the news short and concise and almost as soon as its happening! 

On Friday they posted a comment (see below) from a follower that is fed up with the Chareidie hashkafa that it shouldn't serve in the IDF!

The guy actually makes a lot of sense, and CBN probably, without giving it too much thought, posted it!

It didn't take 5 minutes that CBN had to say that it is not their opinion and that they follow "Daas Torah" whatever that means! They must have gotten, as they admitted, tremendous backlash! 

The truth is that most thinking and sane Charediem think exactly like that guy (below) and I would venture to say that CBN also agrees but had to back off because of $$$$$$$! 

I understand that completely!

Below the sane guy's comments, I am posting CBN's panicked response after getting hell from his brainwashed Fakewood followers!!

Having said that, I know that most Charedim cannot understand why Charedim are not there to defend their families after all, its our country, our soldiers and there is a "lav" in the Torah of לא תעמוד על דם רעך ! 

In addition, Moshe Rabbeinu said 

?האחיכם יבוא למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה

 I see this as a failure of yiddishkeit that we have parents and Zaydies who need to fight because there are those who think they are Pattur from a milchamah because of Talmud Torah. Somewhere along the line, daas torah took a wrong turn.

If the charedi leadership truly cared about this chiyuv to serve, they wouldn’t just say

 “the army service pulls people off the derech,” 

they would make it work. The idf is desperate enough for soldiers that if the charedi leadership came to them in good faith and said “here are our conditions for us to send you 60,000 soldiers,” the idf would bend over backwards to make it happen.

CBN Response:

*Mr. K here.*

A couple of points I need to clarify.

Wow. Walked right into a minefield 🤯

*I want to start by apologizing, not for posting an opinion, but rather, if the posts I sent offended anyone with deep emotions on the matter.*

*CBN is not a closed forum. We allow people’s opinions to be heard and said. There are tens of thousands of people on CBN with different opinions on this explosive topic. In hindsight, I probably should not have posted an opinion like this on a Friday morning…*

When it comes to Daas Torah, a subject I probably should have stayed away from due to limited understanding, I’ll just say this: The Chazon Ish ZT”L devoted years trying to resolve the matter and unfortunately couldn’t. We’re certainly not going to be the ones to settle it now.

*There are thousands of Rabbanim, each with their own shitos, and CBN’s position is simple: everyone has the right to follow their own Daas Torah.*

That said, my personal opinion is that this is far beyond my level, and it’s a matter that should be left to the Gedolei Yisroel of the generation. My hope is that Hashem helps us reach a true resolution to this major issue once and for all.

Religious Zionist Rabbis Oppose Partial Hostage Deal: ‘Harms War’s Main Goal- Defeating Hamas’

 

 In the midst of the advanced negotiations for a hostage deal with Hamas, several prominent rabbis from the Religious Zionist community have published a firm and uncompromising public declaration opposing the emerging deal.

In their letter, the rabbis warn that a partial deal undermines the goals of the war, endangers Israel’s security, and could worsen the situation of the hostages not included in the agreement.

The letter, titled “Public Declaration,” includes several points and reasons for opposing the proposed deal:

A. We, the rabbis, stand with the families of the hostages, the families of the murdered, and, lehavdil, with the soldiers — heroic families who carry on their shoulders the true spirit of the nation. We call for the return of the hostages through the defeat of the enemy.

B. The partial deal currently being negotiated is a dangerous one. It undermines, first and foremost, the main goal of the war, which is victory, and also harms the people of Israel and its unity.

C. A partial deal also harms and endangers the hostages who will not be released as part of it and who may remain in captivity for a very long time. The danger to the lives of those remaining hostages could grow.

D. The deal undermines Israel’s security. Hamas terrorists will exploit the pause to rebuild their strength and morale, and return to attacking our soldiers. They will view it as an Israeli surrender.

E. Halting the war and withdrawing from the area will, God forbid, cause many casualties among our soldiers.

F. It is our duty to defeat the enemy completely — to destroy its communities and expel all of its leaders from our land entirely. When Hamas is preoccupied with its survival, it will surrender. Only then can life in our land return to a healthy and whole path.

The letter is meant to serve as a call of responsibility from spiritual leadership to public officials — a reminder that a partial deal is not merely a tactical mistake, but a real danger to the future of the war, the state’s security, and our mutual responsibility toward the hostages and the soldiers.

The letter is signed by:

Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, Rabbi Eitan Eisman, Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi Yosef Artziel, Rabbi Moshe Gantz, Rabbi David Hai HaCohen, Rabbi Uri Cohen, Rabbi Michael Hershkovitz, Rabbi David Dudkevitch, Rabbi David Fendel, Rabbi Orel Spaz, Rabbi Netanel Yosifon, and Rabbi Baruch Wieder.

The letter echoes sentiments expressed both by Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich and Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who both oppose partial agreements and demand that Israel push Hamas until it surrenders and leaves the Gaza strip.

 

Zera Shimshon Parshat Pinchas

 

IDF Wishes Klall Yisrael a Shabbat Shalom

 

'No connection to Torah values' Rav Stav Shlitah slams haredi politicians

 

Harav David Stav, Chair of the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, harshly rejected the criticisms voiced by Gafni (UTJ) targeting the Religious Zionist community amidst the ongoing debate over the IDF Enlistment Law.

In an interview with the Mashav channel, Rav Stav said, “Political powerbrokers show up and start making up halachot that are nowhere to be found in the Torah. There is no exemption in the Torah that allows yeshiva students to be absolved from serving in defense of the Jewish homeland, and there is certainly no exemption from the commandment to 'not stand idly by as your fellow man bleeds.' When your fellow Jew is in danger, you have no right to stand aside.”

Rav Stav further stated, “Haredi rabbis are demanding an exemption for all, simply because they wear a specific type of kippah or jacket. Where does such an idea come from that the Torah would possibly exempt religious people from a positive commandment of 'Milchemet Mitzva' (obligatory war), to go out and defend the land in times of war?”

Rav Stav urged members of the Religious Zionist community to avoid being intimidated by the haredi criticisms, saying, 

“Don’t be ashamed by those who stoop to insults, and from those powerbrokers that have no real connection to Torah values and fear of God but are only driven by a quest for power, control, and dominance. We will continue on our path of the traditions laid by our forefathers, the path of love and respect for one another, the Torah, and the land of Israel.”

Congress Committee states: "Biden funded groups to Overthrow Netanyahu.. "

 

The House Judiciary Committee released a memo yesterday (Thursday) titled "The Biden-Harris Administration's Funding of Anti-Netanyahu Non-Governmental Organizations," detailing accusations about how the Biden-Harris Administration neglected its oversight responsibilities and misused taxpayer dollars through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department, and other federal agencies. These funds were used—both directly and indirectly—to support anti-Netanyahu organizations and terrorist groups.

On March 26, 2025, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL) sent letters to six U.S. and Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to request documents related to any grants, cooperative agreements, or other awards received from the USAID or State Department. The six NGOs were Blue White Future, Movement for Quality Government in Israel, PEF Israel Endowment Funds, Jewish Communal Fund, Middle East Peace Dialogue Network, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. To date, the organizations have collectively produced 380 total documents.

The report states that the Israeli NGO Blue White Future received funds from NGOs—including some U.S. grant recipients—and funded the coalition headquarters for the anti-Netanyahu judicial reform protest.

The Biden Administration provided $42,000 to an Israeli NGO, Movement for Quality Government, to conduct "Civic Activism Training" in Israeli high schools, U.S. nonprofit PEF Israel Endowment Funds provided over $884 million to groups involved in what the report called "anti-democracy protests in Israel," and U.S. nonprofit Jewish Communal Fund (JCF) provided over $42.8 million to the anti-Netanyahu protest headquarters in Israel and the protests’ two main funders.

It further states that U.S. nonprofit Middle East Peace Dialogue Network (MEPDN) may be violating 501(c)(3) provisions of U.S. law by funding "anti-democracy protests in Israel."

In addition to funding groups that opposed the Netanyahu government, the report accuses the Biden Administration of providing U.S. government funding to terrorist-linked NGOs.

Bereaved Beit Shemesh mother: Moishy's legacy is - don't give up, look at what unites us

Miriam Noll's son, Staff Sergeant Moshe Shmuel Noll, a soldier in the haredi Netzah Yehuda Battalion, fell in battle last week when an explosive device detonated in the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza. In a conversation with Arutz Sheva-Israel National News, Miriam spoke about her son and his incredible energy and character.

"Moishy went straight from crawling to running. He never sat still. I guess he had a lot to pack into his very short life. He was constantly on the move," the mother reflects.

With this energy, though, Moshe was afflicted by severe learning disabilities. Despite these disabilities, which included dyslexia, he battled to succeed: "He made it his business to learn how to read, and he took full advantage of the help he was given. He started with children's comic books, and he worked his way until he could read a full children's book. At prayers, he only knew what he would memorize. For his bar mitzvah, it took six months for him to memorize his Maftir (Torah reading). He worked with a teacher to learn week by week, a little bit more, and a little bit more, so by the time he graduated high school, he knew the entire morning prayer by heart."

As opposed to many in the haredi community, Moshe enlisted in the IDF; Miriam explains the process and decision: "The special yeshiva where Moshe studied is for boys who can't sit and learn, it's called Kfar Zeitim, and the program there is that the boys who graduate go straight to Netzah Yehuda. So he went with five of his friends to the army."

She noted that while she tried to convince him to enlist in a non-combat unit, he always responded: "I might not be good at reading or writing, but this I can do. Somebody needs to defend our country, and I am proud to do it. I am not a quitter, and I'm going to serve my country, the full term. I'm happy to be doing it." She shares that they saw this as a great "kiddush Hashem" - a sanctification of G-d's name, since "he used the skills he was given to serve his people and to serve Hashem in the way he was gifted to."

Miriam added that, as sad as they are about his loss, they celebrate his life and his dedication. "If this is the number of years that G-d has allotted to him, we are very proud that he went out fighting for his people."

She reminisced that while he may not have been booksmart, Moshe knew how to connect with everyone. "He looked for things that connected him to everyone around him, not what separated him. If you ask every one of my children, he was their best friend. He knew how to meld with anyone he was with. We're going to miss that warm, welcoming, listening ear, he gave the best bear hugs in the world, and it's going to be very hard for our family to continue without him."

Moshe's mother shares two lessons that she thinks everyone should learn from him, the first: "Don't let difficulties define you. With Hashem, you'll be able to overcome. Once his teacher asked him: 'I'm shocked at how difficult it is for you to read, why aren't you unhappy, why aren't you depressed?' He replied: 'It's enough of a challenge for me to tackle the reading, do I need to add depression on top of it?' He was happy, despite the difficulties. As long as he was making progress and working on getting better, he was happy; he knew he was doing what he could and fulfilling his role."

The second message that Miriam wants everyone to learn from Moshe is one of unity: "Let's look at what unites us, not what divides us. He saw everyone as one big family, and I think it's very important for everyone to have that unity in order to defeat that enemy."

Huckabee threatens to declare Israel not welcoming Christians, as visa row blows open

 

Moshe Arbel

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has threatened to publicly declare that Israel no longer welcomes Christian groups to Israel over what he said was Jerusalem’s failure to approve tourist visas for evangelical missions.

The threat was issued in a letter that Huckabee sent on Wednesday to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, which was leaked to Hebrew media on Thursday. Arbel pushed back on the allegations in a response letter that was obtained by The Times of Israel.

Huckabee in his letter threatened to order his embassy to take reciprocal measures against Israeli tourists seeking visas to enter the US.

Given Huckabee’s longstanding support for Israel and close ties with the current government in particular, the rhetoric in his letter represented a shockingly quick deterioration.

But the issue at hand — the ability of Christian groups to tour Israel — is close to Huckabee’s heart, given that he has led countless such trips as an evangelical pastor over the past half a century.

The back-and-forth letters came almost two months after Huckabee and Arbel met on May 27 to discuss problems encountered by Christian Zionists seeking to visit Israel.

“It is with great distress that I express to you my profound disappointment [that the] meeting held in your office has not resulted in what I had hoped to be [the start] of a resolution of the issue of routine granting of visas for Christian organizations,” Huckabee wrote in the letter, which was partially shown on Channel 12’s broadcast.

According to the Ynet news site, Huckabee wrote to Arbel that at the start of 2025, the Interior Ministry launched investigations into several evangelical Christian organizations with long ties to Israel, including the Baptist Conference in Israel and the Christian Missionary Alliance.

Huckabee informed Arbel that these organizations were required to complete lengthy questionnaires and that they had still not received new visas for religious leaders to travel to Israel, despite submitting their applications at the beginning of the year.

Chareidim Are Now Those that Are Fighting "AGAINST THE TORAH" .... The Huge Scandal !!

 

On Monday evening, the United Torah Judaism party, which consists of Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah, quit the Netanyahu government over its proposed Chareidi conscription bill. 

As formulated by Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, the bill failed to satisfy the demands of the two factions of United Torah Judaism.

Last night, the Shas party decided to withdraw from the government for the same reason; ministers from Shas handed in their resignations today.

Edelstein has kept his cards close to his vest, so we don’t actually know the details of his proposed legislation. 

But spokesmen from UTJ have openly explained the aspects of the bill that they find problematic, and from their objections, we can discover at least some details of the Edelstein bill.

As reported by Sam Sokol in the Times of Israel, one of the objections voiced by UTJ is the requirement

that yeshiva students who receive military exemptions sign in and out of their yeshivot using a fingerprint scanner. 

Apparently, the idea that students who attend yeshiva would be forced to actually attend yeshiva is unacceptable to the Chareidi politicians in the Knesset!

Let’s take a step back. 

The official reason that the Chareidi parties demand exemptions from the army for yeshiva students is the claim that their Torah study is equivalent to military service.

 Most authorities in the Chareidi world argue that yeshiva study protects the Jewish people from physical harm as much or more than the actions of the IDF; drafting them into the Israeli army would only hurt Israel’s ability to defend itself. 

Others may acknowledge that while the physical protection afforded by Torah learning can be debated, the spiritual needs of the Jewish people require the constant study of thousands of yeshiva students, even at the expense of creating a greater burden upon other sectors of the population to serve longer in the army.

 And there’s a third group which openly fears for the spiritual welfare of Chareidi soldiers, and believes that all Chareidim, regardless of whether they attend a yeshiva, should receive military exemptions.

For the sake of argument, however, let’s work within the Chareidi mindset.

 Let’s assume for now that the Chareidi leaders who demand exemptions from the army truly believe that Torah study is a valid replacement for military service.

We also know that every rabbinic leader in the Chareidi world believes that Torah study - whether or not it provides physical or spiritual protection for the people of Israel - should be maximized. 

They would unquestionably argue that those who do not serve in the IDF should use that exemption in order to study Torah to the greatest degree possible. Even those who want all Chareidim - even those who are not studying in yeshiva - to be exempt from the army would acknowledge that their mandatory yeshiva attendance would be a net positive.

Why, then, would representatives from United Torah Judaism publicly admit that they are bothered by the idea of a fingerprint scanner, and that this was one of the factors that convinced them to withdraw from the current government?

The use of this device would force those who receive military exemptions because they are enrolled in yeshiva to, in fact, attend yeshiva. It might even force them to study for three sedarim a day - a development which every Chareidi leader should obviously encourage.

It is mind boggling that Chareidi political leaders simultaneously claim that yeshiva study is a valid replacement for IDF service, and assert that enforcing yeshiva study is beyond the pale and a reason to reject the impending legislation.

It only makes sense if we acknowledge the open secret of the Chareidi world: 

namely, that there are countless yeshiva “students” who, in fact, barely spend any time in yeshiva. They are officially enrolled while concurrently working off the books, or attending trade schools, or doing nothing at all.

This farcical situation involves numerous Torah prohibitions. 

These supposed students are forced to lie, falsely testifying that they are yeshiva students on official government documents.

 Many of the institutions steal government money, as the yeshivot receive government funds based on the number of students who are officially enrolled. (The pseudo-students who receive kollel stipends from the government are stealing, as well.) 

Those who work while legally attending yeshiva inevitably cheat on their taxes, as they cannot acknowledge that they are earning money when they are supposedly spending their days within the four walls of the beit midrash. And this is before we even get to the problem of bitul Torah, when people who are enrolled in yeshiva choose to do something else instead.

This is a scandal, and all of us are literally paying for it. A marvelous way to stop it is to institute an enforcement mechanism. Something like a fingerprint scanner.

Yet that very point was one of the reasons that UTJ quit the coalition.

So let’s get this straight. 

The Chareidi parties claim that Torah study is a valid replacement for service in the IDF. Every Chareidi rabbi wants the Chareidi public to learn Torah as much as possible. They should all celebrate the introduction of a fingerprint scanner: it will force the Chareidi public, which claims to be learning in yeshiva, to actually learn in yeshiva. It can put an end to the fraud, the thievery, and the lying. It would be the government’s gift to the Chareidi public. If it were legislated, the amount of Torah learning would rise to unprecedented heights.

Instead, it was a thorn in UTJ’s side that helped convince it to quit the government.

The next time we hear about the “war against Torah,” we should remind those who use this misguided term that the war against Torah is literally being fought by the Chareidi politicians themselves.

by Scott Kahn