Guest Podcast
Living in Israel as an Anglo-charedi has been a dilemma for many. On the one hand, we can understand the need to preserve halachic standards, and the history of broken commitments by the government. On the other hand, we are painfully aware of how much damage has been done by positions that have shown disregard for the needs and sensitivities of the rest of the country. To hear more, check out the discussion between my good friend Rabbi Avraham Kivelevitz on his podcast, appropriately titled “Dangerous Insularity-The Charedi Hardline has Created a Burden Unbearable.”
For almost two weeks my Eshes Chayil and I took a special birthday trip to Israel . We toured and saw what Hamas attempted to do in the Gaza Envelope the Temple Tunnels a more Torah friendly Yad VaShem The National Library where avreichim research Kisvei Yad Yehudah v Shomron and a packed Rova and Shul in Yerushalyim We saw old friends and spent Shabbos with them and rode the packed Light Rail and saw tremendous Chesed ranging from policemen helping us a change a flat on a tour bus to two residents of a moshav pulling a tour bus out of mud to R&R for Chayalim whose quiet determination can only be contrasted to their contemporaries in the US There is a great sense of quiet Achdus on the streets and I davened at shuls ranging from Zicron Moshe to R Z shuls all of which were marked by serious kavanah to Tefilah Rabnosai do t wait for a mission -if you can go come here and see all of the evidence on the ground that connects Am Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael that you have learned about in Tanach and Shas
The questions are better than the answers. The idea that ‘we are not the chazon ish’ is not tenable and does not hold water. Yiftach bedoro kishmuel bedoro. No generation can make progress on any issue if they are just paralysed by an inferiority complex. Does it take courage? Of course, but there’s no option. A great leader is defined by what he does, not by what he does not do. I long ago became dissolutioned with the charedi world whilst maintaining respect for its devotion to limmud haTorah. To remain viable it must adapt to the needs of the generation and recognise it cannot continue to behave like a persecuted minority
Yiftach bedoro kishmuel bedoro has little relevance to a political question and situauton like this one. Who is the Yiftach of this generation? The Chazon Ish was universally recognized as the leader of the Charedi world in Israel. He was able to say things that everyone out of the Yishuv Hayashon would accept. Today there is no such person, There are many, many subgroups in the Chareidi world with differing views on contemporary political issues. Yet both the outside opponents of the Chareidi world and many of the internal groups expect it to move in lockstep. Both groups expect it act and be treated the same on an across the board level when it comes to issues like the draft law. That cannot be done in absence of a guiding figure like the Chazon Ish in the late 40s and early 50s
“Broken Commitments” – Sounds like they just started a brand new unit designed specifically for Chareidim so I would say the gov’t deserves praise for bending over backwards to accommodate. Somehow the Hesder guys survived without special accommodations.
fairness Hesder itself is a big accommodation-during the 5-year program the man spends most of his time learning and serves 16 months of active-duty time. Until recently for about the past decade active duty time for males was 32 months.
FWIW the vast majority of Dati soldiers who serve in the IDF don’t serv e in religiously segregated units.