14 Comments

Sadly this won't work although the idea behind the letter is correct - change will only come from the bottom up. I am a father of 4 children (3 sons and a daughter) who served in the IDF - the sons in combat. Those three sons left their families before noon on October 7 and have been fighting in Gaza and the West Bank. My son in law also went in. They left wives and children at home. Sadly, the haredi community is living life as if there is no war and their politicians are still trying to get what they can - business as usual. The 200 who were drafted are not joining the army but are doing civil defense in their towns. That is very important but does not alleviate the manpower problem.

The only way to solve the problem is to withhold social security and medical insurance from those who don't serve their country.

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It’s not just sons, but daughters too that die in service to the country. Instinctually, as a man, I find that doubly shameful.

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Yes - the women are serving bravely. The same rabbis that complain that women should not serve in combat units won't send their sons.

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My father gave me your book “Israel: a concise history of a nation reborn “ and I just started reading it. I so appreciate your work. You and your family are always in my prayers.

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I had assumed it was because of some religious or pacifist reason that they didn't have to serve, which I could understand even if I thought it was wrong (given the many threats to the country). Matchmaking, ugh. Given that their country would not exist were it not for the sacrifice of so many soldier's lives over many years, I find this shameful and frankly selfish.

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It's not *just* matchmaking. They feel that studying Torah is their way of bringing God's protection to the country ('our study is what lets/causes the IDF [to] win.' Good thing the Maccabees didn't think that way...

Also, the Haredi hierarchy is afraid that exposure to the army, etc. will cause these men to become irreligious, or leave the Haredi world.

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Thanks for the clarification. That makes just as much sense as two football teams praying for victory to the same god.

I have no doubt exposure to the world beyond their religious bubble would indeed cause some to leave, as happens with any closed religious group.

(Irrelevant question - do the matchmakers use the same sort of genetic profile info they do in Iceland?)

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I wonder if secular Israelis would be willing to "trade" Torah study and prayer by their members for Haredi participation in the IDF. Is this such a crazy idea?

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The letter was sent by Religious-Zionist mothers - those whose sons and daughter study Torah AND serve in the IDF. This is not a religious vs secular issue. 40% of IDF deaths in this war are from the Religious Zionist community. They are less than 20% of the population.

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I want to register with the IDF and am willing to defend the Israeli homeland with my life

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deletedJan 8
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I will explain to you that even though I am Indonesian, I am a Christian in Indonesia and I am a descendant of the Israeli Gad tribe who live in Eastern Indonesia. We have strong evidence that we are descendants of the Gad tribe. Our evidence is all recorded in Rabbi Resley's book and I am very pro Israel because Israel is my sibling !

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I want register to idf

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RemovedJan 8
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... from Hamas and the PA

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RemovedJan 9
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Fascinating how Palestinian population and standard of living increases by 300% during Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing - i guess its one of those things they are really bad at. Maybe you can give them some instructions on how to perform genocide. I am sure you have read up quite a bit on it.

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