@LongTimeLurker and all other interested DDFers
I'd like us all to play a thought experiment.
Here are the ground rules:
Everyone is acting in good faith. (for example: you can't call yeshiva learning - army service)
The actions of the "kanoim" dont come into play.
We are not dealing with anti-medina who won't deal with the state.
Yair Lapid, Avigdor Leiberman and Shikma Bressler come to a meeting of a united Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Degel and Agudah.
They present the current emergency situation, explain the manpower shortages, the hard feelings among the general population...They say "we understand that we have no more idea what conditions the chareidim need in order to be able serve than do Galant, Eisenkot or Heleivi, we understand that its not Nachal hachareidi - but we are so determined to make it work that kavod harabanim - you have a blank check to set up an appropriate acceptable framework for chareidim to serve. We will make sure that it passes in the Knesset with no amendments at all to what you decide.
What are some of the conditions that the rabbanim may setup?
Answer as fully as possible, before looking at what others answered
Lets try to brainstorm together for a few days before we start to pick apart the suggestions....
When I first read this, I thought, hey, this is an interesting thought experiment. I'll think about this even though I come from a non haredi background.
Then I thought about it some more later on, and I realize that this question misses the forest for the trees.
Why do you get to choose?
On shabbos I ran into a friend. I asked him how he was doing. "I didn't sleep last night", he said. What happened? I asked. "There was a knock on our door Friday night. Our son is in Gaza. No one ever knocks on our door", he replied. "I thought it was the Army coming to notify us. Thank God it was just a neighbor, but I couldn't sleep after that."
Why do you get to choose?
The army is asking to lengthen miluim service dramatically because of a lack of personnel. We're talking years of peoples lives here.
Why does a certain segment of Jewish society in Israel get to say, hey, not for us? Thanks, that looks good for the right people, but unfortunately it doesn't fit into our value structure so we'll leave the sacrifice to you guys? But thanks for thinking of us!
My neighbor hasn't been home for
months. He pops in every now and then but his wife is basically alone with the kids.
My kids teachers weren't around for months because they were fighting a war. They came when they could to give hizzuk, but it wasn't much.
Why do you get to choose?
I keep going through this thread and there's some sort of weird thing that happened that some segment of Jewish society decided not to participate because they were worried about how it would affect their lives, without ever worrying about how others lives were affected.
As if a group who claim to be the torch bearers for yiddishkeit are asked to be moser nefesh for clal israel in a way that might be uncomfortable, and instead they respond with
השומר אחי אנוכי?
and to add insult to injury, their brothers are the ones who have to be
literally moser nefesh for them, and when they complain about it, they get called anti-jewish!
If there had been some upswell of something like, "Hey, we want to serve. We need this hecsher, these tnayim, and we'll come en masse", then I think the feeling would be different.
But there is has been no groundswell. The davening for me is nice, but I'd much rather you learn how to fire an m16, drive a tank, become a supply person or a million other roles that would meaningfully contribute to the wellbeing of all of clal israel.
BTW, you can do all these things, still manage to have a minyan 3x a day, eat kosher food to your standards, and probably get an hour of learning at least on a training day.
I have friends, who btw are talmidei chahamim, shomerei torah and mitzvot,
who are still in miluim. No one asked them if it was ok or if there was something they needed or if the conditions met their hashkafot.
The security posture of the State of Israel is going to change drastically over the next decades, especially on the manpower front. You might not like the State as it is now, but if you live in it, there are things you need to do.. If for nothing else then the safety of your own community.
The enemy, yemach schmam, did not come on Simchat Torah and say "yitbah al kibitzunikim" (murder the kibbutzinikim).. They didn't say "yitbah al hilonim" (murder the hilonim)..
They said, as they always do, "yitbah al yahud". (Murder the Jews)
So now we're coming to our brothers and saying, we need your help. We've lost so many soldiers, so many injured, we need you to help us protect our families and your families..
All we get is a shrug.
You can see why people are upset, and why you're missing the forest for the trees right?
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