During the last few weeks, I have been receiving many “forwards” on a family chat. Some of the items represent passionate cases for the need to support Torah learning over everything else. “Without learning in the yeshivas and Batei Midrashim we will lose the benevolence of G-d.” Equally passionate are the arguments advocating service to our country. Reservists (miluimnikim) and their families are pulled away from their lives for hundreds of days. Fighting soldiers face bullets, rockets, and IEDs with no relief in sight. “Israel cannot continue unless the burden is shared.”
This argument has, in some cases, become strident and hostile. Indeed, the current government is in danger of collapse because the draft law issue has not been resolved. Proponents in the various camps have sunk to name-calling and expletives. The Torah camp, national Zionists, and Charedim are divided.
The Jewish People Are Diverse
Jewish families through the ages have been diverse and heterogeneous. A visit to the Museum of the Diaspora north of Tel Aviv, now called Anu, reveals a graphic display of the evolution of the Jewish family with observant, secular, modern, Chasidic, etc. branches. Yet despite their differences, families manage to stay united. Such unity requires wisdom, empathy, and courage.
Examples of such courage to maintain the integrity of the family are instructive. For example, Rabbi Elazar Schach, the ultra-Orthodox head of Ponovezh Yeshiva, who was considered by some to be anti-Zionistic, was said to welcome his grandson wearing the IDF uniform into his Beis Midrash.
Unfortunately, today in Israel the various camps seem to exist in different worlds. This is the result of years of little contact and almost no communication between these groups. The Charedi Jews in Meah Shearim, Arzei HaBira, and even Bnei Brak rarely interact with their brothers and sisters from Dizengoff, Ramat Aviv, or the Hebrew University. Such self-ghettoization leads to mistrust and stereotypes. Most significantly, it results in societal schisms that threaten the integrity of the Jewish people.
At times of relative peace, the different lives led by various demographic groups in Israel are troubling but tolerable. During a protracted war, when a commonality of purpose is an absolute necessity, the rifts that are arising are breaking us apart. Watching all of this are enemies determined to eliminate our presence from the Middle East. Given our recent military successes on seven fronts, it might seem misguided to focus on our internal divisions.
Internal Strife Is Debilitating
History, however, teaches that the eighth front inside Israel may be our most serious challenge and most debilitating weakness. We recently finished the observance of Tishah B’Av. Many fasted in mourning the many calamities of that day. Foremost among these, the destruction of the First and Second Temples led to the dispersion of the Jewish people, the latter resulting in a 2,000-year journey through the Diaspora. According to Flavius Josephus, internal strife between Jewish factions in Jerusalem weakened the resistance and was a significant factor in enabling the Roman victory.
I, like most readers, have family members who are secular, modern Orthodox (dati leumi), and yeshivish (Charedi). We are a close family and are strongly bonded despite these differences. Nevertheless, we have nuclear families who have children fighting on various fronts and doing national service, and other nuclear families whose children are learning in yeshivot and seminaries. I have friends with seven children who have some grandchildren in the IDF and other grandchildren in the Beit Midrash. At gatherings, it is not easy to discuss and reconcile these differences. Conversations within the family are strained and painful.
All Citizens of Israel Must Serve the State
Yet these conversations are necessary. If we are to remain bonded, we must understand the worlds that our brothers occupy. How do we show such understanding? First, we must recognize that there is a universal responsibility to contribute through some form of national service. The ultra-Orthodox world has been excoriated in the media and by many secular pundits for their military exemptions. However, a study published in 2020 based on IDF data showed that nearly 33% of Israeli men, about half of whom were secular, received exemptions from service.
Israel must develop strategies that convince our youth and their leaders that the future of their country depends on their patriotism. Trying to do this by coercion and expecting it to happen immediately will lead to a fractious response that will be counterproductive. The number of Charedi youth enlisting is slowly increasing. Positive steps need to be taken to grow these numbers. At the same time, those who avoid service by playing the system also need to be convinced to enlist. Sometimes a carrot is indeed more effective than a stick.
Feeling Empathy for Our Family Members
Our Charedi brothers genuinely believe that their prayers and Torah learning are what save the Jewish people. Many in the dati leumi camp strongly subscribe to this position. However, Torah learning and national service are not incompatible. The non-Charedi sectors need to understand the fears that the ultra-Orthodox have concerning the maintenance of their lifestyles and keeping their children “in the fold.” The State and the IDF are trying very hard to address these fears. Similarly, those embedded in the Charedi world need to feel the stresses and disproportionate sacrifices made by fighting soldiers, miluimnikim, and their families. While many Charedim are indeed learning full-time, others are now on summer vacations and basking on the beach or traveling outside of Israel.
I attended a bris several weeks ago. From 9:30 in the morning until close to noon, tens of army-age yeshiva boys were shmoozing and enjoying a relaxed breakfast. At no time during this celebration was any public mention made of the plight of the soldiers or the hostages.
A bris is a prescribed service. Nevertheless, an opportunity was missed to make a special prayer for the welfare of those who enable such celebrations. Those few dati leumi participants were pained by this omission. In these tenuous times, sensitivity to the needs of others should be foremost in our minds.
When the Jewish Nation was about to enter the land of Israel, the tribes of Gad and Reuven approached Moses and requested that they remain on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Moses replied incredulously, “Shall your brothers go out to battle and you settle here?” Moses understood that allowing the tribes to be differentiated with respect to their service to the Land and the People would destroy our nation and could not be tolerated. Thirty-three-hundred years later, Israelis must understand this eternal truth: Am Yisrael Chai.
Dr. Naider is a former Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at the College of Staten Island and Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry at the City University of New York. He lives in Rehovot. The opinions in this article are his own.