[Be-Ahavah U-Be-Emunah – Metzora 5774 –
translated by R. Blumberg]
The ideal is, "They shall beat swords
into ploughshares," but in the meantime, it is G-d's will that there
should be wars, here in Israel and throughout the world. And if this be the
will of G-d, Who “is master of wars and causes salvation to flourish” [Morning
Prayers], then a blessing shall derive from this as well. True, that blessing
derives through suffering, but it is a blessing for all – Charedim, religious
and secular. “For G-d is good to all, and His mercy is over all his works” (Tehilim
145:9). And indeed, how many fine virtues our army has!
1. The Mitzvah of saving lives. It is a
great mitzvah to save someone who is in danger. “Do not stand by when your
friend’s life is in danger” (Vayikra 19:16, Sanhedrin 73a, Rambam, Hilchot
Rotzeah U-Shemirat Nefesh Chapter 1). It
is also a great Mitzvah to endanger oneself to save someone who is in possible
danger (Hagahot Maimoniyot and Kesef Mishneh), all the
more so for the sake of the Jewish People as a whole.
2. Protecting the Land of Israel. The
Mitzvah of settling the Land is equal in weight to all the other Mitzvot of the
Torah combined. We were commanded to conquer the Land and not to leave it in
the hands of any other nation (Ramban’s fourth footnote on Rambam’s Sefer Ha-Mitzvot).
3. Sanctifying G-d’s name. “I shall be
sanctified amongst the People of Israel” (Vayikra 22:32). When the nations
smite and wound us, pillage and rape us, exile and murder us, it is a
profanation of G-d’s name, for we are G-d’s people. Yet when we defend
ourselves, smiting our enemies fiercely, we sanctify G-d’s name (see Yechezel
28).
4. Holiness. Mitzvot hallow a person.
As our sages said, “Blessed are You, O G-d… who has sanctified us through His Mitzvot.”
Obviously, not everyone who does one Mitzvah thereby turns into a Kadosh,
a saint as defined in Mesilat Yesharim, yet every Mitzvah increases holiness,
all the more so such a great Mitzvah as saving the Jewish People and
sanctifying G-d’s name. Many of the Charedi newsmen and politicians are
intentional liars, unfortunately no better than those in other camps. They say
that the secular want to draft the Charedim in order to make them secular. This
is a bold lie that does not deserve to be dignified by a response.
Unfortunately, every Gadol, every Torah
luminary, has his Gehazi, and even several Gehazis. Every Charedi camp claims
that the Gedolim of the other Charedi camps have Gehazis who deceive
them, and that they also deceive a large portion of the public, who are naïve.
They lie to their Gedolim and they lie in the name of their Gedolim,
they incite and corrupt and cause divisiveness, as do a great many of the
newsmen and politicians in the rest of the Nation.
In the Nachal Charedi and in the Charedi Army
unit “Shachar” there are no female soldiers, and the Kashrut there is on
the highest level. The standards here
are even higher than inductees adhere to in their private lives. The Army meets
the needs of the Charedim on every issue, and keeps its promises, even without
an agreement in writing.
5. Becoming stronger in Torah. People
become stronger in Torah in the army. True, there are some who deteriorate in
the army, but that is due to their low level of commitment before they arrive
there. The fact is, however, that most yeshiva dropouts become religiously stronger
in the Nachal Charedi. Unfortunately, the “Yeshivot for strengthening people”
have almost no success in strengthening anyone religiously. That is not the
case with the Nachal Charedi. Thank G-d, the relationship between the Nachal
Charedi and the Charedi public is improving.
6. Good character. Responsibility,
seriousness, helpfulness, determination, steadfastness. In a word, army service
turns you into a “Mentch”, a decent human being. And the more combat-oriented
the unit is, the more it builds the soldier’s character. This is what I meant
when I said that in any case, the army also infuses the soldier with blessing
and holiness. The army is not just a
duty. It is a privilege. It is painful to see how much those Charedim who do
not go to the army lose out. Certainly the Torah is our life, but good character
is our life as well.
7. Torah for the sake of heaven. One
has to learn Torah sincerely, and not just go through the motions to evade army
service. Rambam said (Hilchot Talmud Torah 3:10): "It is forbidden to
benefit from Torah learning in this world. Our Sages said, 'If someone benefits
from Torah learning, it removes him from this world.' They further commanded
us, ‘Make it not into a crown for self-aggrandizement, nor an ax with which to
chop.'" Ha-Gaon Ha-Rav Yechezkel
Abramsky said that if someone does not learn and does not enlist, the laws of
the “Rodef” [assailant] apply to him. In other words, he is considered
to be endangering all the others who learn Torah sincerely.
8. Learning a trade. In the Nachal Charedi,
soldiers learn a trade during the third year, and the same is true with the
Charedi “Shachar” program.
The army likewise saves people from poverty.
Poverty is a terrible thing that causes religious and moral deterioration. It
poses a grave danger which cannot be circumvented through spiritual shortcuts
or superstitions. Poverty deprives a man of his senses and of a knowledge of
his Creator. What man’s intellect does not do, not even the intellect of Torah,
necessity will accomplish. Yet how much better is it for one to plan on his own
to learn a profession in the army.
9. Gratitude. We must show our
gratitude to the soldiers. Ingratitude is a terrible thing. See Chovot
HaLevavot. We must say the “Mi Sheberach” blessing for soldiers presently
serving, as well as the Yizkor for the soldiers who have fallen in
battle. And one has to enlist himself. One should not say, “Anyway there are
too many soldiers, so I’m superfluous.” That isn’t true. There’s no
unemployment in the army aside from the “functional unemployment” of any
gigantic system. There is a shortage of soldiers required to bear the security
burden. It is therefore ethical for everyone to join up.
10. Loving One’s Fellow Jews. In the
army, everyone gets to know one another and everyone admires one another.
Otherwise, we are in danger of becoming two peoples who are entirely alienated
from each other, each group viewing the other as having horns. In the army,
they can get to know one another. The Charedim will see the good traits of the
secular, their values and ideals, and they will cease their systematic defamation
which desecrates G-d’s name and causes the secular to respond in kind. It is a
mistake to think that the Torah will be strengthened by our blackening the name
of the secular. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter said, “If you want to grow taller, don’t
dig a pit for your fellow man. Instead, build him a mountain.” Such an approach
will lead the secular, as well, to see that the Charedim are very fine people,
that they provide a healthy, natural foundation for the Jewish People, and that
ultimately, everyone is going to have to be Charedi. This will end the false,
mutual estrangement between the secular and Charedi worlds. If you repeat a falsehood
enough times, it becomes the truth. It is true thst every group has people who
are not normal. Yet they represent a minuscule minority. The exception to the rule, not the rule
itself.
A story is told of a Polish landowner who got
drunk in a tavern and came to an agreement with another landowner that the
following week each one would bring his bear and the bears would fight each
other. When the first landowner returned to his estate and sobered up, he
remembered that he did not own a bear, so he summoned a Jew to go to the
marketplace, buy a bear skin, and disguise himself with it so that he could pretend
to be the bear. The Jew begged him not to make him do this, arguing that it
represented a death sentence for him, yet the landowner insisted, threatening
the Jew that he would expel his family. On the appointed day, the Jew stood in
the bear suit trembling with fear before a frightening bear, freezing in place.
Yet the crowd of gamblers pushed him towards the awesome creature.
Understanding that his last moments had come, he cried out, “Hear O Israel,
Hashem is our G-d…” Much to his
amazement, the other bear completed the passage, “Hashem is One!” No one is
really a bear. Everyone is amicable. “Who are like Your people Israel, one
Nation in the Land!” (Shmuel 2 7:23).
