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Monday, March 18, 2024

Haredi life has largely continued as usual, untouched by the war and its toll. Yeshiva students have even been photographed enjoying ski vacations abroad while their same-age peers are on the battlefield. 66,000 military-age Haredi men received exemptions; just 540 had enlisted since the war began. Put another way, more Arab Israelis serve in the Israel Defense Forces than ultra-Orthodox Jews.

 

More Arab Israelis serve in the Israel Defense Forces than ultra-Orthodox Jews.

The Earthquake That Could Shatter Netanyahu’s Coalition


The most controversial Israeli comedy sketch of the current war is just 88 seconds long. Aired in February on Eretz Nehederet, Israel’s equivalent of Saturday Night Live, it opens with two ashen-faced officers knocking on the door of a nondescript apartment, ready to deliver devastating news to the inhabitants. The officers are greeted by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man who is similarly stricken when he sees them.

“I’ve been terrified of this knock,” he says. “Ever since the war began, I knew it would eventually come for me.” But before the pained officers can continue, he interjects: “Listen, there is no situation in which I will enlist—forget about it.”

It turns out that the officers have the wrong address. This is not the home of a fallen soldier, but of one of the many thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews who do not serve in Israel’s army, thanks to a special exemption. As the officers depart to find the right family, the man calls after them, “Tell them that we prayed for him! We did everything we could.”

The gag struck a nerve. Channel 14, Israel’s pro-Netanyahu equivalent of Fox News, ran multiple segments denouncing the satire. Commentators for right-wing media outlets called it “incitement,” a term typically applied to pro-terrorist speech in Israeli discourse. Why did a short sketch warrant such an overwhelming response? Because it took aim at the most vulnerable pressure point of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition—one with the potential to cause the current government’s collapse.

Since Israel was founded in 1948, it has fielded a citizens’ army with mandatory Jewish conscription—and one very notable exception: Ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, yeshiva students do not serve. This dispensation dates back to David Ben-Gurion, the country’s first prime minister. A secular Jewish socialist, he saw Israel’s ultra-Orthodox as the dying remnant of an old world, and when the community’s leadership requested an exemption from the draft, Ben-Gurion calculated that it was a small price to pay for their support. At the time, the ultra-Orthodox constituted about 1 percent of Israel’s population, and the exemption applied to just 400 young men in religious seminaries

[Read: The unorthodox of an ultra-Orthodox community]

That was then. Today the Haredi community numbers some 1.2 million, more than 13 percent of Israel’s total population. And because this community has the highest birth rate in the country, its ranks will only swell. In other words, the fastest-growing group in Israeli society does not serve in its armed forces. Since October 7, the divide has been thrown into stark relief. After Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more, the country initiated one of the largest mobilizations in its history. Children and spouses departed their families for the front, leaving fear and uncertainty in their absence. Nearly 250 soldiers have since been killed, and thousands more injured. Many Israelis spend their evenings at home fretting about that ominous knock on the door.

Meanwhile, Haredi life has largely continued as usual, untouched by the war and its toll. Yeshiva students have even been photographed enjoying ski vacations abroad while their same-age peers are on the battlefield. Some ultra-Orthodox individuals do voluntarily serve in the army, and others act as first responders, but their numbers are small enough to be a rounding error. In February, a record-high 66,000 military-age Haredi men received exemptions; just 540 had enlisted since the war began. 
 
Put another way, more Arab Israelis serve in the Israel Defense Forces than ultra-Orthodox Jews.

The Haredi carve-out has long rankled Israel’s secular citizens. Yair Lapid, the center-left opposition leader and past prime minister, rose to prominence in 2012 on a campaign that promised “equality of the burden.” Before him, the right-wing politician Avigdor Lieberman built his secular Russian constituency on a similar pledge. But what has changed since October 7 is that this discontent is no longer emanating solely from the usual suspects, such as the left-wing Eretz Nehederet, but from supporters of the current governing coalition, including the more modern religious right.

Unlike the ultra-Orthodox, Israel’s religious Zionist community is fully integrated into the country’s army and economy. Sympathetic to Haredi piety, it has typically sat out the debates over conscription—but no longer. In early January, a religious Zionist educator from Jerusalem published an “Open Letter to Our Haredi Sisters.” In it, she implored ultra-Orthodox mothers to encourage their sons to enlist in the IDF. “This reality is no longer tolerable,” she wrote. “For those who think that their son is not suited for military service, we say: Many of our children are not suited to be soldiers. None of them are suited to die in war. None of us are suited to sending a child to risk his life. We all do this because it is impossible to live here without an army … and we are all responsible for one another: it cannot be that others will take risks and risk their children for me, and I and my children will not take risks for them.” 
 
The letter now has nearly 1,000 signatures
 
The grassroots pressure on this issue from the non-Haredi religious community has risen to the point that Bezalel Smotrich, the ultra-nationalist politician and finance minister who has courted Haredi votes, joined the anti-exemption campaign, at least rhetorically. “The current situation is outrageous and cannot continue,” he said last month. “Israeli society’s claim against the [Haredi] community is just.” But this demand may be one that Netanyahu cannot satisfy.
 
Much has been written about Netanyahu’s dependence on the Israeli far right to remain in power. But the backbone of his coalition for many years has actually been the ultra-Orthodox political parties. They stuck with the premier after he was indicted on corruption charges, and they refused to defect to the opposition even after Netanyahu failed to form a government following successive stalemate elections. Today, the far right provides 14 of Netanyahu’s 64 coalition seats; the Haredi parties provide 18.
 The Israeli leader has richly rewarded this loyalty by ensuring an ever-growing flow of public subsidies to ultra-Orthodox voters and their religious institutions. Because Haredi men can maintain their military exemption only by remaining in seminaries until age 26, they rarely enter the workforce until late in life and lack the secular education to succeed in it. As a result, nearly half of the ultra-Orthodox community lives in poverty and relies on government welfare—an unsustainable economic course that is another perennial source of Israeli
angst.

The Israeli public—and especially the Israeli right—was previously willing to look the other way on Haredi enlistment to advance other political priorities. But now, in a time of perceived existential conflict, Haredi enlistment has become a prime concern. Israel faces war with Iranian proxies—Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north—and it needs more soldiers, not more people who can’t be drafted. To cope, the country has extended reserve duty for current enlistees, further underscoring the disparity between their experience and that of the ultra-Orthodox. A long-standing fault line in Israeli society has now produced an earthquake.

Recent polls show that Israeli Jews—including majorities on the political right and center right—now overwhelmingly oppose blanket Haredi exemptions. A February survey found that an astonishing 73 percent were against exemptions—up 11 points from November. A poll released this week similarly found that 73 percent of Israeli Jews, including a majority of people who voted for the Netanyahu government, oppose the billion-shekel subsidies to Haredi institutions that are included in the government’s current budget proposal.

Unfortunately for Netanyahu, he’s running out of time to solve this problem, and his usual stalling tactics may not suffice. That’s because not just the Israeli public but the Israeli Supreme Court has put the issue on the agenda. Back in 1998, the high court ruled that the ultra-Orthodox exemption violated the principle of equality under the law, and ordered the Parliament to legislate a fairer arrangement to replace the existing regime. Since then, successive Israeli governments have tried and failed to craft such a solution, constantly kicking the can down the road. Months before the war, the current government set a March 31 deadline for passing its own legislation to resolve the Haredi-draft issue. This was widely expected to be yet another exercise in equivocation, leaving most of the ultra-Orthodox exempt so as to keep the coalition together, and likely setting up another showdown with the Supreme Court. In other words, more of the same.

But more of the same is no longer enough after October 7. With the public incensed at what many see as Haredi privilege, Netanyahu is facing revolt within his ranks. Most notably, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has publicly called for an end to the exemptions and said he will not support any legislation on the matter that is not also approved by Benny Gantz, a centrist opposition lawmaker and rival to Netanyahu who sits in the country’s war cabinet. But any Haredi-draft bill that satisfies Gantz and Gallant is unlikely to satisfy the Haredi parties, who perceive enlistment as a threat to their cloistered way of life. And if no new legislation is passed, the IDF will be required to begin drafting the ultra-Orthodox on April 1.

As this deadline approaches, tensions have exploded into the open. This past week, Yitzhak Yosef, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, declared that “if you force us to go to the army, we’ll all move abroad.” The ultimatum drew widespread condemnation, even from within the hard-right government. “Drafting to the military: A good deed!” retorted Smotrich’s party. “Army service is a huge privilege for a Jew who defends himself in his country and a great deed,” added the far-right faction of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. It’s not clear that these worldviews can be reconciled, and the failure to bridge them could bring down the government.

Polls show that the overwhelming majority of Israelis want Netanyahu to resign, either now or after the war; that most Israelis want early elections; and that the current hard-right coalition would be crushed if those elections were held tomorrow. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, surely aware of those surveys, called yesterday for Israel to go to the polls to choose new leadership. The problem for the Israeli public is that no external mechanism forces Netanyahu to hold new elections, and the terrible polls for his coalition give its members every incentive to swallow their differences and keep the government afloat rather than face voters. Haredi conscription is perhaps the one issue that could shatter this cynical compact.

It’s never wise to bet against Netanyahu, Israel’s ultimate survivor. He will pursue every possible avenue to paper over this problem. But if he fails, his ultra-Orthodox allies could be compelled to leave the coalition, breaking it from within to force elections and freeze the status quo until a new government is sworn in. And if that happens, Israel’s other civil war may claim its first casualty: Netanyahu’s political career.


MSN


Sunday, March 17, 2024

“Those who were killed because they are Jews — they sit in the first row before God.” Man With Funny Hat Becomes Ticket Broker for God's Theatre! Nosebleed Seats Reserved For All Secular Jews!

 

“Those who were killed because they are Jews — they sit in the first row before God.” - Not Haredi - Section 9 Rear

God's Ticket Agent claims his threat of Haredi exodus in case of army draft was ‘distorted’

 

Yitzhak Yosef does not walk back comments, but says he never meant to offend bereaved families


Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef attends a prayer for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Rachel's Tomb, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, October 25, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Sephardi Chief Ticket Broker Yitzhak Yosef
 

 
 

Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef pushed back Friday against criticism sparked by his recent threat that ultra-Orthodox Jews would leave the country en masse if their community-wide exemption from military service was nullified.

“Some people distorted my words as though we had offended — heaven forfend — the bereaved families,” said the rabbi in an interview with Kan Moreshet, the public broadcaster’s religion-themed subsidiary. “Those who were killed because they are Jews — they sit in the first row before God.”

“All we had said on Saturday night was only in honor of the Torah — that we must continue and embolden Torah study in order to safeguard the people of Israel,” Yosef said.

“Of course, it is necessary to pray daily for the soldiers, who give their lives for the residents of this country,” he added, listing various prayer initiatives he had organized on behalf of troops.

Yosef did not walk back the threat he made at a weekly lecture on March 9, when he said: “If they force us to go to the army, we’ll all move abroad. We’ll buy a ticket… We’ll go there.

“All these secular people don’t understand that without kollels and yeshivas, the army would not be successful,” he had said, referring to institutions where religious men study Jewish texts rather than working or enlisting. “The soldiers only succeed thanks to those learning Torah.”

 

Ultra-Orthodox Jews walking past a pashkevil on the IDF draft law in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim, in Jerusalem
 

The Chief Rabbi’s comments were made while the government mulls a new military draft law, as a manpower crunch, effected by the Gaza war, has led the military to extend mandatory service, call up greater numbers for reserve duty, and raise career soldiers’ retirement age.

Yosef is the son of the late Shas party spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, and wields major influence within the faction, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

Yosef’s March 9 comments drew harsh criticism from both lawmakers and relatives of fallen soldiers.

National Unity chairman and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz called Yosef’s words “a moral blow to the Israeli state and society.”

“Everyone should take part in the sacred right to serve and fight for our country, especially in this difficult time — our ultra-Orthodox brothers included.”

 Protest calling for equal military service in Tel Aviv
 

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, chair of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said the remarks were “a disgrace and insult to IDF soldiers who sacrifice their lives for the defense of the country.”

In a statement, the far-right Religious Zionism party also criticized the chief rabbi’s comments. “After two thousand years of exile, we will never leave our country. A community that is willing to pay with its life for the Land of Israel will not give it up under any conditions,” it said.

Rabbi Tamir Granot, whose son Amitai was killed by an anti-tank missile on the Lebanon border in October, slammed Yosef. “You need to… go up to Mt. Herzl and apologize to my son, a yeshiva student and soldier,” said Granot in an interview to Ynet on Wednesday, referring to the Jerusalem military cemetery.

 Israelis protest outside the Tel Shomer army base calling for an end to ultra-Orthodox Jews’ blanket exemption from the draft
 

Successive Netanyahu governments have struggled to come to a consensus on legislation dealing with ultra-Orthodox military service since a 2017 High Court decision that determined blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students to be discriminatory and unconstitutional while ordering the state to find a solution to the issue.

The IDF’s Personnel Directorate told a Knesset committee in February that some 66,000 young men from the ultra-Orthodox community, the fastest-growing sector of the population, received an exemption from military service over the past year, reportedly an all-time record. Some 540 of them decided to enlist since the war started, the IDF said.

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/chief-rabbi-claims-his-threat-of-haredi-exodus-in-case-of-army-draft-was-distorted/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2024-03-16&utm_medium=email

Friday, March 15, 2024

The upcoming recruitment cycle, Nisan 5784 (March 2024), is going to be the largest Yeshiva student recruitment cycle in the history of the State of Israel! Around 1,000 fighters from the Hesder yeshivot; 300 combat supporters; another 300 from Zionist yeshivot gevohot (post high-school yeshivot); and hundreds more from religious pre-military preparatory schools.

 

The largest recruitment of Yeshiva students in history

 

Where do these people come from? From a great perception of Torah, which we call "the Torah of the Land of Israel" in the way of Rabbi Kook.

New Hesder recruits
New Hesder recruits Hesder Yeshiva Center

Some uplifting facts for these days:

The upcoming recruitment cycle, Nisan 5784 (March 2024), is going to be the largest Yeshiva student recruitment cycle in the history of the State of Israel! Around 1,000 fighters from the Hesder yeshivot; 300 combat supporters; another 300 from Zionist yeshivot gevohot (post high-school yeshivot); and hundreds more from religious pre-military preparatory schools.

These wonderful soldiers – who unfortunately also lead the number of fallen in the current war– are a new breed of fighters that the Jewish people has not seen in two thousand years (in fact, not so new, the IDF's ground forces have long had a profile of the religious and traditional recruits).

Here is a short and instructive story from the past month: students who returned from fighting in Gaza gathered at the Ma'ale Adumim Yeshivat Hesder for a summing-up talk. Their Rabbi asked that everyone choose a verse or a rabbinic saying that reflects their feelings.

One of them chose the sentence "there is no joy like the resolution of doubts" (Zevachim 90a). Asked why he chose it, he replied: "During the weeks of fighting in Khan Yunis, we were constantly fighting day and night with occasional breaks, without outside communication, and I was always wondering if I was on the right page within the framework of the Daf Yomi. Now that we have returned from the fighting, it has become clear to me that I was indeed on the right page, and I feel even more strongly the words of our sages that there is no joy like the resolution of doubts."

Got it? These are our fighter! And that's one reason – among thousands of others – that we are going to win!

Superheroes

Every time a fighter falls, I try to find out a little about him and understand where the power came from; I am overwhelmed each time. In the case of Amishar ben David Hy”d, I can no longer contain the phenomenon: he was a Torah scholar; was an incredible educator; an exemplary father; a pioneer and a settler; commander of the commando brigade; and the head of the community's charitable fund; a MDA volunteer and a kidney donor. As the Israeli song goes, "what else will you ask of us, O homeland?"

(In Hebrew: מה עוד תבקשי מאיתנו מכורה, ואין ואין עדיין)

Where do these people come from? From a great perception ov Torah, which we call "the Torah of the Land of Israel" as did Rabbi Kook.

A growing list of Dror Weinbergs, Roi Kleins, Eliraz Peretzs, Emanuel Morenos, Noam Razs, Yossi Hershkovitzs and many more. In every war, extraordinary heroes fall, and then, inspired by them, an even more remarkable generation of fighters steps into their shoes.

We know that this breed of superheroes is still relatively small; on the one hand, there are those who see the State of Israel only as a place for getting material benefit and therefore threaten to refuse to serve if something does not work out the way they want it to; and on the other hand, there are those who see the State of Israel only as a place for spiritual fulfillment and therefore threaten to leave the country if they are forced to enlist.

However, these wonderful heroic figures are increasing in number (in fact, the profile of IDF's ground forces has long been religious and traditional) and the day is not far off when everyone will understand this. In the meantime, until day dawns and the shadows flee, these superheroes are the silver platter on which the Jewish state has been granted to us (to paraphrase poet Natan Alternman - see the famous poem in translation here, it is well worth the time)

Shabbat Shalom!

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/386759?utm_source=activetrail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

Thursday, March 14, 2024

No Hoax to Paul Alexander, Rabbi Dr. Fool~!

 

But Tatty...... Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky said "Even The Polio Vaccine Is A Hoax"

http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2022/03/but-tatty-rabbi-shmuel-kamenetsky-said.html

 

 “I see vaccinations as the problem,” Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky told the Baltimore Jewish Times in a story published in late August. “It’s a hoax. Even the Salk [polio] vaccine is a hoax. It’s just big business.”

If you are, or anyone you know is a godol --- please register at https://gedolim.com/

 

Polio Paul Alexander's cause of death after surviving 70 years inside 'iron lung'

 

After he was paralyzed by polio at age 6, Paul Alexander was confined for much of his life to a yellow iron lung that kept him alive. He was not expected to survive after that diagnosis, and even when he beat those odds, his life was mostly constrained by a machine in which he could not move.

But the toll of living in an iron lung with polio did not stop Mr. Alexander from going to college, getting a law degree and practicing law for more than 30 years. As a boy, he taught himself to breathe for minutes and later hours at a time, but he had to use the machine every day of his life.

He died on Monday at 78, according to a statement by his brother, Philip Alexander, on social media.

He was one of the last few people in the United States living inside an iron lung, which works by rhythmically changing air pressure in the chamber to force air in and out of the lungs. And in the final weeks of his life, he drew a following on TikTok by sharing what it had been like to live so long with the help of an antiquated machine.


 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

If Israel had wanted to wipe out Gazans as Germans sought to wipe out Jews, it could have done so on the first day of the war. Israel is fighting a tough war against an evil enemy that puts its own civilians in harm’s way. Maybe there should be more public pressure on Hamas to surrender than on Israel to save Hamas from the consequences of its actions.

Israel Has No Choice but to Fight On

A view through a windshield of a military jeep with a soldier carrying a gun. In the background is a palm tree and low-slung buildings.
Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip

Opinion Columnist


On Saturday, President Biden warned that Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the war in Gaza was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel.” The Israeli prime minister replied the next day that Biden was “wrong.” The rift between the two leaders means that Israel risks losing its most important pillar of military and diplomatic support.

I’ve argued that Israel has no choice but to destroy Hamas as an effective fighting force. Here I imagine a conversation with an intelligent critic of that view.

Thousands of Gazan civilians, many of them children, have now been killed, bombed in their homes or out of them. Now they face a humanitarian catastrophe in the form of medicine and food shortages, even starvation.

How can you possibly justify it?

Like all wars, this one is horrible and heartbreaking. But I blame Hamas, not Israel, for the devastation.

Look, Hamas is a terrorist group whose leaders should face justice for the massacres of Oct. 7. But it isn’t Hamas’s bombs, missiles or artillery that have leveled Gaza. It’s Israel’s.

Right. And Hamas, which started the war, could put a halt to that rain of fire tomorrow. It rejected a six-week cease-fire that would have paused the fighting and allowed much more aid in exchange for the release of roughly 40 of the remaining 100 Israeli hostages. It could stop the fighting for good by simply surrendering.

Hamas may not want to stop the fighting, but there’s little we can do about that. Israel can stop its assault, and thus spare Palestinian lives. And because Biden has leverage on Israel, he should use it.

The best way to get Hamas to stop fighting is to beat it. If Israel were to end the war now, with several Hamas battalions intact, at least four things would happen.

First, it would be impossible to set up a political authority in Gaza that isn’t Hamas: If the Palestinian Authority or local Gazans tried to do so, they wouldn’t live for long. Second, Hamas would reconstitute its military force as Hezbollah did in Lebanon after the 2006 war with Israel — and Hamas has promised to repeat the attacks of Oct. 7 “a second, a third, a fourth” time. Third, the Israeli hostages would be stuck in their awful captivity indefinitely.

Fourth, there would never be a Palestinian state. No Israeli government is going to agree to a Palestinian state in the West Bank if it risks resembling Gaza.

All that is speculative. The reality is that children are hungry, the sick aren’t getting medicine, innocent Palestinians are being killed, now. It’s wrong to avert theoretical harms by causing actual ones.

It might be more speculative if this weren’t the fifth major war that Hamas has provoked since it seized power in Gaza in 2007. After each war, Hamas’s capabilities have grown stronger and its ambitions bolder. At some point this had to end; for Israelis, Oct. 7 was that point.

Maybe, but why can’t Israel be much more judicious in its use of force?

Do you have any specific suggestions for how Israel can defeat Hamas while being more sparing of civilians?

I’m not a military expert.

I’ve noticed that whenever Israel’s critics lecture the country on better calibrating its use of force, they don’t have any concrete suggestions. Are Israelis smart enough to fight better, but too stupid to appreciate the diplomatic consequences of not doing so?

Maybe they’re thirsty for vengeance.

The reality of urban warfare is that it’s exceptionally costly and difficult. The United States under Barack Obama and Donald Trump spent nine months helping Iraqi forces flatten the city of Mosul to defeat ISIS, with results that looked even worse than Gaza does today. I don’t remember calls for “Cease-Fire Now” then. Hamas has made it even more difficult for Israel because, instead of sheltering civilians in its immense network of tunnels, it shelters itself.

Even so, that doesn’t relieve Israel of the obligation to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

It’s not as if Israel is not lifting a finger. On Sunday alone, 225 truckloads of aid entered Gaza through Israel, according to the Israeli military. But you seem to think that the government of Israel’s primary responsibility is to the welfare of the people of Gaza. It isn’t. As with any government, its obligations are to its own people.

Israelis are mostly doing fine now. It’s Palestinians who are dying.

Israel has spent the last five months degrading Hamas’s military capabilities to the point that it seems to have run out of rockets to fire at Israel. And around 200,000 Israelis are living as refugees inside their own country because its borders aren’t secure. No country can tolerate that. Israel didn’t come into existence to showcase the victimization of Jews. It came into existence to end their victimization.

Well, since you’re alluding to the Holocaust, it surely can’t be in Israel’s interests to be seen perpetrating a version of it in Gaza. Just look at the worldwide explosion of antisemitism since Oct. 7.

That analogy is false and offensive on many levels. Israel is fighting a war it didn’t seek, against an enemy sworn to its destruction and holding scores of its citizens hostage. If Israel had wanted to wipe out Gazans as Germans sought to wipe out Jews, it could have done so on the first day of the war. Israel is fighting a tough war against an evil enemy that puts its own civilians in harm’s way. Maybe there should be more public pressure on Hamas to surrender than on Israel to save Hamas from the consequences of its actions.

As for antisemitism, the war hasn’t generated a torrent of antisemitism so much as it has exposed it.

Probably a mix of the two. Still, you make the mistake of imagining that Hamas can be defeated. You can’t kill an idea, particularly by generating the terrible resentments that are surely brewing in Gaza and throughout the Arab world.

By that logic, the Allies should have spared Germany because National Socialism was also an idea. You may not be able to kill an idea but you can defang it, just as you can persuade future generations that some ideas have terrible consequences for those who espouse them.

So what do you suggest the Biden administration do?

Help Israel win the war decisively so that Israelis and Palestinians can someday win the peace.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/opinion/israel-hamas-war-military.html

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

George Bernard Shaw once said, “The greatest folly in a community effort is the illusion that someone else will do it.” Chelm Revisited!

 

" Let it be as clear as the noon sun in a cloudless blue sky, without the Israel Defense Forces at full force, all of the yeshiva students in Israel wouldn’t survive more than ten minutes before Ishmaelite murderers stormed into their yeshivot and slit their throats from ear to ear until their blood reddened all of their pages of Gemara, just as the Arab terrorists did to the devout holy Jews in Hebron and the Old City during the pogrom of 1929 when there was no Israel Defense Forces to protect them, the students at Otniel and Merkaz Harav yeshivas.

Just as the Torah alone didn’t protect all of the millions of devout holy Jews from Nazi firing squads and gas chambers. Just as Hashem brings healing through doctors and medicine, He brings security to the Nation through the tanks and holy soldiers of the IDF. All of the Jews in the Holy Land today can live here in the Holy Land precisely because the Holy One Blessed Be He has enabled us to have our own Jewish army after being slaughtered helplessly for 2000 years in foreign lands at the whims of the goyim.

No one is demanding that all yeshiva students be drafted. But there are many who can serve and indeed they must for the future of the Jewish Nation."

 

Parshat Shekalim: None of Us Can Be Bystanders




There is a timeless Jewish folklore legend, often set in the quaint, mythical town of Chelm, renowned for its endearing tales of simplicity and wit. The story always elicits a wry smile but also imparts a timeless lesson regarding the essence of community and the significance of each individual’s contribution.

One day, the residents of Chelm decided they were going to celebrate a great communal occasion, and that each household should contribute a bottle of wine that would be poured into a collective barrel. The barrel would then provide a blend of the town’s finest vintages for all to enjoy on the great day.

The local beadle was charged with taking the barrel from home to home, where each family poured their bottle of wine into the barrel, so that on the festive day, everyone would benefit from the full selection of wines from across the community.

Finally, the day of the celebration arrived, and, with great excitement, the community president was given the honor of opening the spigot into the first glass of wine. Imagine his surprise — and everyone else’s — when the liquid that emerged was crystal clear. The president took a sip, and lo and behold — it was water.

Apparently, each contributor to the wine appeal had reasoned that if they substituted water for wine, among all the other contributions, who would notice? The result was a barrel of water — and great disappointment.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “The greatest folly in a community effort is the illusion that someone else will do it.” His pithy observation was thoroughly underscored in 1968 by a seminal study conducted by John M. Darley, a professor of psychology at Princeton, and Bibb Latané, a prominent social psychologist at Columbia.

The study focused on a phenomenon they defined as the “bystander effect,” where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. Critically, the lesser the number of bystanders, the more likely any one of them is to help.

Darley and Latané conceived the study after the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, a young woman who was stabbed to death outside her apartment in New York City. Reports claimed that numerous witnesses did nothing to intervene or contact the police. The researchers sought to understand why the witnesses failed to act, hypothesizing that the presence of others can lead to a diffusion of responsibility, with each bystander feeling less pressure to respond due to the assumption that someone else will do so.

To test their hypothesis, Darley and Latané conducted a series of experiments. One of the most notable involved participants being placed in a room alone or with others, who were actually confederates of the researchers and not real participants.

During the experiment, participants overheard what seemed to be a real emergency: for example, a person having a seizure in an adjacent room. The key measure was whether participants would leave the room to try and get help, and how quickly they would do so.

The findings were striking. Participants were significantly less likely to help when they believed that others were also aware of the seizure. If they were alone, 85% of participants went for help, compared to only 31% when they believed that there were four other witnesses.

This compelling evidence of the “bystander effect” demonstrated how the presence of others inhibits people from taking action in emergency situations.

This Saturday, in synagogues across the world, we will hear Parshat Shekalim, recalling the time in Jewish history when every adult Jew gave a half-shekel donation towards the upkeep of the Temple in Jerusalem. This passage from Exodus (30:11-16) describes God’s commandment to Moses to take a census of the Israelite men over the age of 20 by having each one give a half shekel of silver.

It has always struck me as odd that each person was expected to give the same amount, notwithstanding their economic circumstances. But perhaps this was God’s way of ensuring that the “bystander effect” never gained traction among the Jewish people.

By mandating the same amount from everyone, the Torah emphasizes a revolutionary concept: not just the equal worth of every individual’s contribution to communal life but the importance of everyone’s involvement in society, not just letting others do the work while you stand on the sidelines.

This message of half-shekel uniformity is that no one’s offering is deemed less significant because of its monetary value. It is a statement that every person, regardless of their economic status, has an invaluable role to play in the community’s well-being and sanctity. This inclusivity fosters a sense of belonging and significance among all members, reinforcing the idea that collective strength is derived from the unity and commitment of its individuals. 

No one can ever afford to be a bystander, and no community can afford to have bystanders.

The equality of everyone’s contribution also serves as a reminder that in the eyes of God, the intentions and heartfelt commitment behind an act of giving are as important, if not more so, than the gift itself. This perspective is an inspiration for a community where values like compassion, empathy, and collective responsibility are paramount, creating an environment where everyone’s participation is not only valued but seen as essential to the communal fabric.

This concept of valued contributions extends beyond financial giving to encompass the diverse talents, time, and energy that individuals bring to their communities. Just as the half-shekel symbolizes financial equivalence, the broader application of this principle recognizes the unique contributions each person can make, whether it be in the form of volunteer work, sharing knowledge, or offering moral support. In recognizing and valuing these varied forms of contribution, the community is enriched and strengthened in multiple ways.

In the wake of the harrowing events of October 7th, a profound and stirring example of the principles embodied in Parshat Shekalim and the psychological insights into the bystander effect has unfolded across Israel and the Jewish world. Amidst the devastation and heartbreak, a remarkable array of individual contributions has emerged, which has been a wellspring of strength for us all.

In this time of unparalleled challenges, each person has stepped forward, offering their “half shekel” — not in the form of silver, but through acts of kindness, solidarity, and support, tirelessly working to alleviate the pain and to address the multitude of challenges that have arisen. This collective endeavor, where no act of giving has been deemed too small and no offer of help too insignificant, reflects the very essence of communal resilience and unity. It is the anti-bystander effect phenomenon.

What Parshat Shekalim has taught us — and clearly, it is deeply embedded in our Jewish psyche — is that none of us are bystanders. And this is a principle that guides us, animates us, and ultimately helps us get through a crisis so that we get to see better times.

The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California. 

https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/03/11/parshat-shekalim-none-of-us-can-be-bystanders/

Monday, March 11, 2024

Who Needs An Army When You Have Bench Kvetchers - Part 5 - Purim Come Early!

" Let it be as clear as the noon sun in a cloudless blue sky, without the Israel Defense Forces at full force, all of the yeshiva students in Israel wouldn’t survive more than ten minutes before Ishmaelite murderers stormed into their yeshivot and slit their throats from ear to ear until their blood reddened all of their pages of Gemara, just as the Arab terrorists did to the devout holy Jews in Hebron and the Old City during the pogrom of 1929 when there was no Israel Defense Forces to protect them, the students at Otniel and Merkaz Harav yeshivas.

Just as the Torah alone didn’t protect all of the millions of devout holy Jews from Nazi firing squads and gas chambers. Just as Hashem brings healing through doctors and medicine, He brings security to the Nation through the tanks and holy soldiers of the IDF. All of the Jews in the Holy Land today can live here in the Holy Land precisely because the Holy One Blessed Be He has enabled us to have our own Jewish army after being slaughtered helplessly for 2000 years in foreign lands at the whims of the goyim.

No one is demanding that all yeshiva students be drafted. But there are many who can serve and indeed they must for the future of the Jewish Nation."

 

Chief Sephardic rabbi turned comedian says ultra-Orthodox will leave Israel if forced into army

 

‘All these goyim (secular Jews), not really people, don’t understand that without kollels and yeshivas, the army would not be successful,’ says Yitzhak Yosef & Jackie Mason, sparking backlash across the political spectrum


Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef speaks at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium on April 13, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef moonlighting at the Improv.
 

Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef warned Saturday that ultra-Orthodox Jews will leave Israel en masse if the government ends exemptions of mandatory military enlistment enjoyed by the community.

“If they force us to go to the army, we’ll all move abroad,” Yosef said during a weekly lecture. “We’ll buy a ticket… We’ll go there.”

“The [biblical] tribe of Levi was exempted from the army,” he noted by way of comparison, referring to the biblical tribe from which the priesthood was drawn in Temple times. “They didn’t take them; absolutely not.”

Yosef is the son of the late Shas party spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef and wields major influence with the faction, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

“All these secular people don’t understand that without kollels and yeshivas, the army would not be successful,” he said, referring to institutions where religious men study Jewish texts rather than working or enlisting. “The soldiers only succeed thanks to those learning Torah.”

Pressure is mounting for the coalition to end the exemption from military and national service for the ultra-Orthodox community, especially amid the war against Hamas.

The IDF’s Personnel Directorate told a Knesset committee last month that some 66,000 young men from the ultra-Orthodox community, the fastest-growing sector of the population, received an exemption from military service over the past year, reportedly an all-time record. Some 540 of them decided to enlist since the war started, the IDF said.

In 2022, the Haredi population was some 1,280,000, about 13.3% of Israel’s total population, according to the Israel Democracy Institute. By 2050, nearly one-quarter of Israel’s population will be ultra-Orthodox, according to projections by Israel’s National Economic Council.

Impassioned reactions poured in after Yosef’s remarks were publicized.

National Unity chairman and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz called Yosef’s words “a moral blow to the Israeli state and society.”

“Everyone should take part in the sacred right to serve and fight for our country, especially in this difficult time — our ultra-Orthodox brothers included.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, chair of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said the remark “is a disgrace and insult to IDF soldiers who sacrifice their lives for the defense of the country.”

“Rabbi Yosef is a state employee, with a salary from the state — he cannot threaten the state,” he wrote on X.

 

A police officer removing an ultra-Orthodox protester from the street, Route 4 near Bnei Brak, March 3, 2024.
 

Avigdor Liberman, chair of Yisrael Beytenu, wrote: “Without duties, there are no rights.”

“It’s a shame that Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and the ultra-Orthodox hustlers continue to harm the security of Israel and act against halacha,” he said.

Even the coalition’s far-right Religious Zionism party lamented the remarks: “Drafting to the military: A good deed! We are grateful for the privilege of serving the people of Israel, learning Torah, and helping Israel in a time of need.”

“After two thousand years of exile, we will never leave our country. A community that is willing to pay with its life for the Land of Israel will not give it up under any conditions,” it said.

Religious Zionism party leader and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose cousin Amishar Ben-David was killed in Gaza on Friday, noted that his relative was “a son of Torah and a hero of Israel, who fought to defend the homeland and fell sanctifying the name of God, the people and the Land.” Referring to Yosef’s comments, Smotrich went on, “Comments to the contrary contradict the Torah, cause pain, and deepen the wounds, and I hope that he who uttered them will be wise enough to recognize his error, backtrack and apologize.”

The ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party said that “army service is a huge privilege for a Jew who defends himself in his country and a great deed.”

 

Ultra-Orthodox Jews block a road during a protest against drafting of Haredi Jews to the IDF, Route 4 near Bnei Brak, March 3, 2024.
 

Successive Netanyahu governments have struggled to come to a consensus on legislation dealing with ultra-Orthodox military service since a 2017 High Court decision that determined blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students to be discriminatory and unconstitutional while ordering the state to find a solution to the issue.

A law that authorizes the exemption expired in June 2023, and a temporary regulation to extend it is set to expire at the end of March, after which the military will not be authorized to exempt ultra-Orthodox men from the draft.

While the Haredi-backed coalition seeks to legislate a new law extending the exemption, the matter has become increasingly contentious, given the war in Gaza and the great strain it has put on the serving population.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced Wednesday he opposes extending blanket exemptions and that he would only back legislation on the matter that is endorsed by centrist ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, who joined the cabinet for the sake of the war effort.

According to Gallant, manpower strains on the army during fighting in Gaza and on the northern border require the contribution of all sectors of society, making the exemption that ultra-Orthodox men receive in order to study in yeshivas impractical.

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/chief-sephardic-rabbi-says-ultra-orthodox-will-bolt-country-if-forced-into-army/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2024-03-10&utm_medium=email

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Ask The *Wise* Rabbis Podcast!


 



Can I get the measles… again?

Can you get measles as a grown up if you had measles as a kid? Also, does a vaccine when you were a kid still protect you later in life? Kristin, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Measles has been in the news a lot lately. As of Friday, there have been 45 cases reported in 17 states so far this year. For comparison, in 2023 there were 58 cases in the entire year. That uptick is concerning enough that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised doctors and other healthcare providers on January 25 to be on alert for measles cases. 

“Most of the measles cases involved in these outbreaks are children and adolescents who had not received a measles vaccination,” says Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at University of Illinois Chicago. 

Declining vaccination rates are the reason measles has had such a resurgence in recent decades. Measles was considered to be eliminated from the US in the year 2000. But in 2019, there were more than 1,200 cases, the biggest reported case load since 1992.

It’s an extremely contagious virus. If one person has it, says Wallace, as many as 9 out of 10 people around them will wind up infected if they aren’t vaccinated. That’s why containing the spread of measles requires a very high vaccination rate, about 95%. And according to a CDC report from November, kindergarten immunization rates have dropped nationally to 93%.

Misinformation about the MMR vaccine, which includes the measles, has proliferated in the last two decades, fueled further by vaccination concerns that arose during the pandemic. (I have a podcast episode on that topic you can listen to here.)

But, says Wallace, adults are sufficiently protected from the measles if one of these four things applies to you:

  • You had measles at some point in your life.
  • You were born before 1957.
  • You’ve had two doses of a measles-containing vaccine if you spend time in a high-risk setting for transmission, like schools or hospitals. 
  • You’ve had one dose of a vaccine if you don’t spend time in high-risk settings. 

Kids and teens need one or two doses for protection depending on their age. 

If you aren’t sure whether you’ve been vaccinated or had the measles, you can get what’s called an MMR titer test, which is available commercially at various labs for about $129, Wallace advises. 

Measles, she says, can cause severe complications and hospitalization. In November 2022, for example, there was an outbreak in Columbus, Ohio, among primarily unvaccinated children. 

“It is never too late to get children vaccinated or catch up on missed doses,” says Wallace. “Or adults for that matter.” — Kristen V. Brown


Friday, March 08, 2024

Who Needs An Army When You Have Bench Kvetchers - Part 4 - The Need To Replace Fellow Dead Soldiers, That Happen To Be Proud Jews, Who Died Defending Their Homeland!

 

IDF chief again slams exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews from national, military service 

 מי יימר דדמא דידך סומק טפי דילמא דמא דהוא גברא סומק טפי".  

סנהדרין עד ע"א

 

 

Halevi said that broadening the sectors of Israel's population that serve in the IDF and national service is the only way to replace the many Israeli soldiers who have died in the current war.


IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi seen on February 13, 2024 (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi seen on February 13, 2024

 

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Thursday slammed the exemption of haredim from IDF and national service for the second consecutive day.

Speaking at the graduation of the IDF officer course in the South, Halevi said that broadening the sectors of Israel's population that serve in the IDF and national service is the only way to replace the many Israeli soldiers who have died in the current war.

Further, he said that Israel as a country and the IDF as an organization would only remain united if all of the sectors of Israel's population become part of the IDF and national service - clearly referring to a need to draft haredim.

Just yesterday, Halevi appeared to issue a veiled rebuke of any government officials who are considering maintaining the haredi sector's blanket IDF and national service draft exemption.

Calling on the hardeim

Speaking at the navy's captain's graduate course on Wednesday, Halevi said, "We promise at all times that our victims, those who have fallen, will not have been in vain. There is no other way to do this other than to be drafted for substantial service, to adorn the uniform, and to become commanders."

 

A group of ultra-Orthodox Jews blocked traffic and the light rail  in Jerusalem demonstrating against a Haredi draft into the IDF. February 26, 2024. (credit: SOL SUSSMAN)
A group of ultra-Orthodox Jews blocked traffic and the light rail in Jerusalem demonstrating against a Haredi draft into the IDF. February 26, 2024
 

Halevi's comments came as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant lined up alongside War Minister Benny Gantz, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and others against the government's haredi parties over the issue.

In addition, Halevi and Gallant's aggressive stances have also potentially pitted them against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, in principle, is in favor of additional haredi service but, in practice, has been a major enabler of their exemption to maintain their political backing for his various governments over the years.

It is still unclear whether the sides will reach some kind of compromise on the issue, whether Netanyahu will try to push through what the haredim want at the expense of losing Gantz and possibly even Gallant, or whether the disagreements over potential solutions will eventually cause the government to fall entirely.

Courage and bravery: These are the 248 soldiers who heroically fell in the war

These are the 248 soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting terror.

Military cemetery (illustrative)
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379499?utm_source=activetrail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl