Yeshiva Bochurim Still Face Arrest
We are all preparing for Chanukah. In a few days, the lights will come to life — not just the physical Chanukah candles but the spiritual illumination of the Yom Tov as well. Once again, we will celebrate a holiday in which we discover that the vast majority of Jews in Israel share the values of the religious community. At the same time, we will still be saddened by the bochurim who are still behind bars for failing to sign up for the army, and we will hope that a law will finally be passed to suspend the crisis for at least a few years.
This week, two more bochurim were arrested, and one more was arrested and released on the spot due to pressure from protestors. Menachem Aviv Hertzman, a talmid in Machon Ran in Moscow who is studying for the rabbinate, was arrested upon landing in Israel, where he arrived to continue his learning. The chief rabbi of Russia, Rav Berel Lazar, sent an outraged letter to Defense Minister Yisroel Katz, asking the minister to help advocate for the young man’s freedom. “I will tell you sincerely and candidly,” he wrote, “that I am familiar with the country of Russia … and even in Russia, I have never seen a yeshiva student arrested solely for the ‘crime’ of learning Torah and dedicating the years of his youth to his development in Torah.” He added, “The fact that a yeshiva student was arrested at the border crossing, without being allowed to go home or to his yeshiva, is inhumane and irrational. Even if his status hadn’t been properly sorted out, a time and place should have been set for him to take care of it. There was no reason for him to be arrested like the lowliest criminal upon entering the country.”
Last Wednesday, the military police came to Ofakim to arrest a bochur who hadn’t reported to the draft office and was therefore listed by the authorities as a draft evader. A huge crowd of local residents showed up to protest and frightened the soldiers, who decided to release the bochur. On Thursday night, a talmid of Yeshivas Mishkan Dovid was arrested by civilian police officers at the entrance to Maale Adumim. The police asked him for identification, and when they saw that he was listed as a draft evader, he was transferred to the military police. Within a few hours, he was sentenced to a period of time in military prison.
Gedolei Yisroel Encourage the Released Prisoners
Several bochurim who were released from prison received significant encouragement upon visiting the gedolei Yisroel. Last week, two members of the Knesset, Yoni Mashriki and Moshe Abutbul, visited the bochurim being held in Prison Ten. And one of the bochurim with a prominent role in these events deserves to be wished mazel tov: Ariel Shammai, a talmid in Yeshivas Ateres Shlomo who was arrested and became part of the impetus for the massive tefillah rally in Yerushalayim, became engaged this week.
But let us make no mistake: The wave of arrests is causing tremendous distress and outrage in the chareidi community, but there seems to be nothing that can be done about it. Let us hope that the light of Chanukah will penetrate this darkness and that we will experience miraculous salvation.
On that note, I have made a point of examining the details of the latest draft bill, trying in particular to understand the difference between the draft quotas and sanctions in Boaz Bismut’s version of the bill and those that appeared in the Gantz-Lieberman bill, which was rejected by some of the chareidi leadership at the time. I devoured every article that I could find in the media, including the chareidi press, and the more I read, the less I understood. One thing, however, was very clear to me: The writers themselves do not understand the facts, or at least they understand them less than I do. Amid a flurry of words, there was zero actual information. For instance, I read that Yuli Edelstein denounced Bismut’s bill as a mockery and a sham, in contrast to his own version of the draft law, which, in his humble opinion, would be rigid and effective. Ah, but what about the fact that the left derided Edelstein’s bill itself as a sham? I made an effort to understand the rules concerning the sanctions to be imposed on bochurim who do not enlist, as well as the consequences if the chareidi community fails to meet the quotas, but I came up with no clear information at all. And I have to wonder if most of the writers who are covering this story are likewise ill-informed.
Netanyahu Set to Meet Trump in Florida
Israelis are tensely awaiting the upcoming meeting in Florida between Netanyahu and Trump, scheduled for the end of the month (December 28, to be precise, and we must hope that it will not cause chillul Shabbos on the Israeli side). Every meeting with an American president is important, and it is especially important when the invitation comes from Donald Trump, and with a relative sense of urgency, to boot. We must hope that this isn’t a sign that Netanyahu will be coming under pressure from the United States. The prime minister plans to fly directly to Florida and then back to Israel after a 48-hour stay, without making a stop in Washington. It will be interesting to see if Netanyahu visits New York, considering that the new mayor announced that he will issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu if he sets foot in the city, while the prime minister responded that the mayor’s threats do not concern him.
Last Monday, during a conversation between the two heads of state, Trump invited Netanyahu to meet with him in the United States. One may speculate that the purpose of this invitation is for Trump to explain to Netanyahu how he is expected to behave in the “new Middle East.” Trump has already made a public proclamation that it is important for a “strong, genuine dialogue” to continue between Israel and Syria, as part of a greater effort to promote regional stability, and the phone call to Netanyahu came after Trump made a thinly veiled hint to Israel that he wants the attacks on Syrian territory to cease. Trump expects the Middle East to enter a round of diplomatic talks rather than military conflicts, especially after his efforts, together with the assistance of Arab states, led to a ceasefire. Rumor has it that during their conversation, the president urged the prime minister to transition to diplomacy and trust-building measures to make it possible to move on to the civilian stage of Trump’s 20-point plan and to achieve a complete, lasting cessation of hostilities and possibly even several normalization agreements on additional fronts. This is essentially a peace plan of sorts for the Middle East.
The agreement requires the Arab states to ensure that Hamas is disarmed. This week, the media reported that Trump had appointed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, along with Tony Blair, the former prime minister of England, to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza as a peaceful area. Let us hope that nothing will happen to them while they are there…. Meanwhile, Trump conveyed an ultimatum to Lebanon concerning Hezbollah, which is set to expire at the end of the month (on December 31). Israel has already made it clear to the Lebanese government that if their demands are not met, the IDF will escalate its attacks. Trump is probably interested in averting such a scenario, which is likely the reason that Netanyahu was hastily invited to meet with him in Florida. On a side note, the American ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, visited both Israel and Gaza this week as well.
Netanyahu Will Not Retire for a Pardon
Israel received a visit from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who met with senior Israeli officials, including President Yitzchok Herzog and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Netanyahu took advantage of a joint press conference to answer questions, and the visiting chancellor discussed his visit to Yad Vashem. “The trauma of the Holocaust is part of the Jewish identity and continues to haunt my own country’s identity as well,” he said. “Here, at Yad Vashem, Germany’s responsibility becomes palpable. Hamas cannot be allowed to have a role in Gaza. We must lay the foundations for a new order in which Israelis and Palestinians will live in peace and security.” He added that Germany will continue providing aid to residents of Gaza and assisting their rehabilitation, but he stressed that Hamas cannot be given a position of power in Gaza, and that the two-state solution should be implemented only through negotiation.
Addressing the situation in the Middle East, Netanyahu said, “We have finished the first stage, and we are almost there. There is one more deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, a hero of Israel, who must be brought back here. We expect to move on soon to the second stage, which will be more difficult, or at least as difficult as the first. No one believed that President Trump would pressure Hamas to release the hostages, but we succeeded. Now it is time for the second stage: disarming Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza. There is a third stage as well: the deradicalization of Gaza. That was done in the past in Germany, in Japan, and in the Persian Gulf countries.”
It should be noted here that on Thursday, the body of another hostage was transferred to Israel. It was the remains of Sudthisak Rinthalak, the last remaining Thai hostage. His body was transferred to his home country of Thailand for burial.
Netanyahu asserted in the same press conference that the current campaign of slander against Israel has reached a level that hasn’t been seen in decades. “Antisemitism hasn’t disappeared,” he said. “It’s a cyclical phenomenon…. It goes from the Jewish nation to the Jewish state.” Turning to Merz, he asserted that, unlike in the past, Israel is no longer helpless. “The people who slander us will no longer be capable of destroying us,” he said. “When they try to tighten the noose around us, we will repel them.”
But the comment that probably attracted the greatest attention in Israel was Netanyahu’s response when he was asked if he would agree to leave politics in exchange for a pardon from President Herzog. He replied unequivocally (as much as one can be unequivocal in response to such a question) that he would not even consider such a move.
Political Squabbles and a Car Ramming Attack in Chevron
As usual, there is much more to report. For one thing, the cabinet has approved the state budget. The next step is for it to be brought to the Knesset for a vote. This year, the budget stands at 662 billion shekels, and the bill reportedly contains several economic measures that will be very difficult for the citizens of Israel. At the same time, many government ministers proudly announced that they managed to increase the funding for their ministries and thanked the prime minister for his support. How is it possible for so many ministries to receive more funding when the budget was reportedly slashed because of the country’s defense needs? I do not have a clear answer to that question.
In other news, there was a bitter dispute this week between Defense Minister Yisroel Katz and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, which revolved around two issues. First, Katz decided to veto a number of promotions that Zamir had granted to several officers in the army; Katz claimed that the candidates had called on reservists to refuse to serve, and he therefore nixed their promotions. The other subject was the army’s inquiries into the events of October 7. As I have mentioned in the past, the army has been conducting a series of probes into the disastrous events of that day, which have pointed to many serious lapses in the days leading up to the Hamas onslaught on Simchas Torah. The chief of staff decided in the past that the army’s inquiries were not complete, and he decided to appoint Sammy Turjeman, a general in the reserves, to conduct his own inquiries, which revealed extremely serious failures on the part of the IDF. Minister Katz is now claiming that Turjeman failed to investigate a number of significant lapses and that he must complete the job.
There was also a dispute concerning the appointment of the next head of the Mossad. Prime Minister Netanyahu tapped his military secretary, General Roman Goffman, who immigrated from Belarus to Israel as a child, to take the place of David Barnea as head of the Mossad following the end of the latter’s tenure. This led to explosions of outrage from a number of public figures who objected to just one thing: the fact that the appointment was made by Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues to rage between Chief Justice Yitzchok Amit of the Supreme Court and Justice Minister Yariv Levin over the investigation into the military advocate general. And while the power struggle continues, the investigation itself is dissolving. Meanwhile, in an interesting and highly unusual development, Justice Noam Sohlberg, the deputy chief justice of the Supreme Court, spoke out critically against Amit.
Finally, there was an attempted car ramming attack in Chevron. On Motzoei Shabbos, a Palestinian terrorist tried to ram his vehicle into a group of IDF officers at a checkpoint in Chevron. Officers from the Paratroopers’ Brigade opened fire and eliminated the terrorist; a worker on the cleaning staff, who was not connected to the incident, was also killed in the crossfire, and an Israeli youth was lightly injured. At first, the army reported that the two Palestinians who had been shot to death were both terrorists; however, they later backtracked on that assertion and informed the public that one of the men hadn’t been involved in the attack at all.
Lieberman’s Anti-Religious Campaign
Yvette “Avigdor” Lieberman made a sharp about-face long ago; the man who was once considered a friend of the chareidi community redefined himself as an ardent foe. Now, with the next election on the horizon, he has decided to take his antagonism to the next level. Lieberman has apparently decided that an anti-chareidi stance is his pathway to securing the largest possible number of seats in the Knesset, and he made his agenda very clear this week. First, he announced that he will not settle for a ministerial portfolio in the next government; instead, he intends to be the next prime minister. “Anyone who is interested can ally with me,” he added, in a clear message to Yair Lapid, Gadi Eizenkot, Naftoli Bennett, and Yair Golan that he expects to be at the top of the pyramid.
Lieberman’s platform includes a number of points. First and foremost, he calls for the next government to consist exclusively of “Zionist parties,” which means that the Arabs and the chareidim will be left out. Some of his principles, such as the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7, aren’t relevant to this story; let us focus instead on his blatant antagonism to the chareidim. For one thing, Lieberman called for a universal draft; he promised to bring a law before the Knesset that would require every citizen of Israel at the age of 18 to enlist in either military or civilian service, regardless of their ethnic origins or religious beliefs. According to Lieberman’s plan, the IDF will choose the recruits who will be soldiers, while the rest will enter the civilian track, which will include placement in the health system, the firefighting service, the police force, and the Prison Service, and facilities providing aid for the elderly or disabled. Lieberman and his party members insist that this legislation will ensure complete equality in sharing the national burden and will impose severe sanctions on evaders.
Lieberman also spoke about promoting a constitution for Israel, which is expected to create problems for the chareidi parties. “The constitution will anchor the principles of a democratic regime, human rights, and the division of powers among the branches of the government, will limit the terms of the prime minister and several other ministers, and will require all citizens to share the national burden,” Lieberman announced. Such words have never boded well for the chareidim. Lieberman also called for the core curriculum to be mandatory in all schools as a precondition for government funding, and he resolved to limit Israel to a single chief rabbi rather than two, to institute civil marriage and divorce, to allow local governments to permit public transportation to run on Shabbos, and to eliminate religious councils. His rhetoric is heavily reminiscent of the ideas promoted twenty years ago by Tommy Lapid, who received 15 mandates in an election but whose party quickly evaporated. Perhaps we can take solace in the fact that Lieberman has always been a big talker but has failed to translate any of his promises into action. For instance, he vowed to eliminate Ismail Haniyeh within 24 hours of becoming the minister of defense, but he did nothing of the sort after he was installed in that position. He also promised to strip voting rights from Arabs who refused to declare their loyalty to the state; once again, this did not come to pass.
Yair Golan Shamed by the Records
Lieberman isn’t the only politician who has taken up an anti-religious agenda as his path to success. Yair Golan, a general in the reserves and chairman of the Democrats party, has done the same. Last week, I mentioned that he remarked that the country does not have any need for people who learn Torah. I should really explain exactly who he is (a topic I will cover at greater length in a future article on the new political map). Golan is the man who once claimed that he was observing processes taking place in Israel similar to those that occurred in Nazi Germany. As a general at the time of the Disengagement, he ordered IDF soldiers to beat the right-wing settlers viciously as they were evicted from their homes. Today, he heads the left-wing Democrats party, an amalgamation of Meretz and Labor, which is projected to win ten mandates in the election.
As a general in the army, Golan is naturally viewed as a more serious politician than Yair Lapid, who did his own military service as a correspondent for the IDF’s magazine. But like Lapid, Golan is often caught contradicting himself. The archives do not lie; in fact, they are often the greatest enemy of people such as Lapid and Golan, with their penchant for reversals. Case in point: There is a major controversy in Israel at this time over Defense Minister Katz’s decision to shut down the Galei Tzahal radio station. Some maintain that in a democratic state, there is no place for a radio station belonging to the army. Others argue that Galei Tzahal hasn’t been an actual army channel for a long time and that its function now is to report on everything, and it is important for its voice to exist. The first camp, however, argues that the station is completely liberal and has no business being funded by the IDF. I didn’t write about this public debate until now, since I didn’t consider it a topic of much importance. What is noteworthy, however, is Yair Golan’s reaction.
After the minister of defense announced his decision, Golan declared, “Netanyahu is trying to silence media outlets that speak about a state commission of inquiry and money from Qatar. That is why he wants to shut down Galei Tzahal. We will support a free press that investigates scandals and that guards the gates. If they close the station, we will open it again in our first week in the government.”
Five years ago, however, there was a different discussion about closing down Galei Tzahal. At that time, Golan said, “The problem with Galei Tzahal isn’t its political leanings. It is that the IDF is supposed to be involved in preserving Israel’s security, not making radio broadcasts to the broader public. Perhaps there was once a justification for a military station for the soldiers, but since that is no longer the situation, it is possible and proper to close Galei Tzahal. The money can be invested in improving public broadcasting, and we can remove the IDF from political debates.”
As you can see, Golan has made a complete about-face.
Another politician who is projected to be successful in the next election is former chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot, who broke his alliance with Benny Gantz. (The latter, incidentally, is not expected to cross the electoral threshold.) Eizenkot has likewise been caught in a reversal on that very same topic. When he was the chief of staff, and there was talk of closing down Galei Tzahal, he said, “It isn’t correct for the army to maintain a radio station dealing with civilian controversies.” But Eizenkot recently proclaimed vehemently that it is unthinkable to shut down the army’s radio station.
At the end of the day, this boils down to political posturing rather than firmly held beliefs of any kind.
Flu Deaths and Other Tragedies
The following brief news items appeared on a single day on the back page of one of Israel’s newspapers: A six-year-old vaccinated child died from the flu. A 12-year-old child in Kiryat Herzog in Bnei Brak died in his sleep. Paramedics provided urgent care to a four-year-old child who fell from a height at a Talmud Torah on Rechov Rav Landau in Bnei Brak. A 61-year-old worker was fatally electrocuted while performing renovation work in Shomron. A child about one and a half years of age was treated by an ambulance after suffering burns from boiling water at his home in Elad. And in a tragic incident in Yerushalayim, an elderly pedestrian was struck by a car and killed in the neighborhood of Ramot. All of these tragic incidents occurred on a single day and were reported last Thursday. Since that time, we have gone on to be informed about even more tragedies and have heard pleas from families to daven for their loved ones (such as Moshe ben Shlomit Chaya, a yungerman in the ICU in Shaare Zedek, or Shira bas Adi Sara, a baby in Assuta Hospital in Ashdod). Tragically, several young men and women have passed away over the past week as well.
The newspaper’s laconic reports do not come close to capturing the magnitude of each of these tragedies, with their life-shattering impact on the victims’ families and communities. For instance, the elderly pedestrian who was struck in Ramot was named Rav Moshe Tzadok. He was an 80-year-old beloved member of his community, the patriarch of an outstanding family, and the gabbai of the Neve Avrohom shul in Ramot. He was struck by a passing car while crossing the street after leaving the shul. This incident was also a tragedy for the driver, who will forever bear the pain and trauma of the fatal accident, even if it was almost unavoidable. And trauma runs even deeper, of course, when an accident stems from negligence.
This is just one example of many; every other tragedy has a massive impact on others as well. The employer of the electrocuted worker has been left with deep feelings of guilt, and the staff of the Talmud Torah where the child fell is certainly plagued by remorse as well. Yes, we have emunah that every event in the world is determined in Shomayim, but this can also be a discouraging thought for those whose negligence contributed to the tragedies, since they know that they were found to be deserving of being the vehicles for misfortune. Do these incidents show that the Divine middah of judgment is in force at this time? That is certainly a possibility. Whatever the case, these seemingly insignificant notices in the newspaper should fill everyone with dread, shock, and incomparable pain. After all, we are all part of a single body and soul.
I have mentioned the rampant cases of influenza in Israel in previous weeks’ columns. The virus has been spreading, and a third child passed away this week after contracting the flu. The vaccination rate among children for the flu stands at only 15 percent, while only 45 percent of adults have been vaccinated, despite the repeated calls from medical experts and poskei halacha for everyone to receive the vaccine. At this time, the hospitals are bursting with flu patients, some of whom have even been placed in the intensive care units.
Prophetic Words from the Past
It has been a quarter of a century since the passing of Rav Avigdor Miller, one of the last great products of the Slabodka yeshiva in Europe. Rav Miller passed away on the 27th of Nissan 5761/2001. I had the privilege of davening in Rav Miller’s shul in Flatbush, observing his avodah, and hearing him speak. The following is an excerpt from a speech he delivered many years ago, which seems prophetic in light of current events.
“How did Resh Lakish dare to dispute the nosi?” Rav Miller asked, referring to an account in the Gemara in which Resh Lakish asserted that talmidei chachomim do not need to contribute to building fortifications to defend their cities (Bava Basra 7b). “He explained that talmidei chachomim do not require protection. That is all there is to say. People who learn Torah do not need to be defended; on the contrary, they are the ones who provide protection for the entire community, and their studies must not be disturbed. They must continue learning, because their learning is what protects all of us. Reish Lakish certainly understood that he had a duty to build a protective wall for the city, but we must realize that all the walls in the world are useless without scholars who sit in the bais medrash and learn Torah. The posuk says that Hashem gives strength to His nation; this refers to the study of Torah. And through the Torah, He will bless His nation with peace.”
This idea is no less important to grasp in our times, when the religious community is being challenged to explain how the country will be defended if bnei Torah do not join the army. The Torah’s hashkofah must be repeated and carefully studied; we must always remember that our true protection comes from those who learn Torah.
Rav Miller continued, “Does that mean that a place inhabited by talmidei chachomim does not need a fortified wall, or that it doesn’t need police and an army? That is obviously not the case. All those things are necessary. But the walls, the police, and the army will offer no benefit unless there are also talmidei chachomim who learn Torah, for Hashem is the One Who decrees that they will be effective, and He has told us that the people who learn Torah, who spend their days and nights immersed in studying the Word of Hashem, are the Ones Who protect our nation.
“All the brachos that the Jewish people receive — protection, health, parnossah, and so forth — result from the zechus of Torah learning. What good will it do to have physical defenses, weapons, and military might if we lack this basic understanding? That is akin to what is happening in Eretz Yisroel today [i.e., even in his times]. What good will the army do for us if Hashem sees that the nation does not value people who learn Torah? The apikorsim in Eretz Yisroel, including the religious apikorsim, think that the army, their little toy, will protect them. I know that it is difficult to hear this, but I hope that they will never have to discover their error in a tragic way.”
The Gemara’s Prediction
On a similar note, I recently encountered a kollel yungerman in a highly emotional state. This young man, who is so heavily immersed in Torah learning that he is barely aware of what is happening in the world, exclaimed to me, “Why do you journalists have to search for news in the world to write about? Everything is already written in Chazal!”
I always find the comments of such yungeleit to be meaningful and edifying, and I asked him to explain himself.
“I just finished learning Maseches Kesuvos,” he explained, “and I am still astounded by the end of the masechta, where the Gemara states that when Moshiach is about to arrive, talmidei chachomim will be despised and accused of wrongdoing. The Gemara adds that they will be subject to ‘purging after purging,’ which Rashi explains to mean that they will face one decree after another. The Maharsha explains that just as silver is repeatedly purified to remove all imperfections, the talmidei chachomim will be subjected to one edict after another for the purpose of cleansing them. The Gemara also states, according to Rashi, that they will face multiple looters or, as other meforshim interpret it, they will be framed for wrongdoing and will have to pay bribes to be saved, and then they will be accused of criminal acts for those bribes and will need to pay additional bribes to spare themselves once again.” (I must thank Rabbi Yehuda Cohen of the staff of MK Yaakov Asher for enlightening me about this.)
Rav Uri Zohar would quote the novi, the Gemara, and the Zohar as stating that the chevlei Moshiach are comparable to actual labor pains, which grow more frequent as the birth becomes imminent. Likewise, he said, the troubles suffered by Klal Yisroel will grow more frequent as the Geulah approaches. He would then quote Rashi’s statement in Sefer Doniel that Moshiach will come when the Jewish people are completely drained of strength and when they have nowhere left to turn for relief. “Isn’t that the situation today?” Rav Uri would then exclaim. “We have nothing and no one!” And then he would remark that Rav Chaim Kanievsky often told questioners from abroad that they should hasten to move to Eretz Yisroel, since Moshiach is on his way.
Kislev: The Heart and the Pocket
My good friend Shlomo Gilkarov, a talmid muvhak of Rav Yehuda Tzadkah and Rav Benzion Abba Shaul, is a person who can instantly answer any question on any part of the Torah, especially when it pertains to the teachings of his own illustrious rabbeim. He is also an electrician, and I often comment that he is the quintessential yungerman among electricians and the top electrician among all yungeleit. This week, I paid him a visit to have a bulb changed in my car, and I remarked, “You know, it is said that the name of this month, Kislev, represents everything that a person needs. Kis, which means pocket, refers to money, and lev, which sounds like the word for a heart, refers to health, or perhaps a good heart.”
Reb Shlomo smiled brightly and said, “That isn’t just a joke. The Gemara draws an explicit link between the heart and the pocket!” When I pressed him for an explanation, he said, “It’s in the Yerushalmi. The Gemara says that Rabi Yochonon was robbed, and when he arrived at the meeting place of the chachomim, he did not respond to the questions of Resh Lakish, who had once been a bandit. When Resh Lakish questioned him about his behavior, Rabi Yochonon explained that he had been robbed, and Resh Lakish asked in which direction the robbers had fled. Rabi Yochonon indicated the direction, and Resh Lakish took off after them and captured them. The startled robbers declared, ‘If he belongs to Rabi Yochonon, let him take half,’ but they ultimately returned their entire haul. And the Gemara concludes by relating that Rabi Yochonon said to Resh Lakish, ‘All the organs depend on the heart, and the heart depends on the pocket!’” In other words, the financial loss he had suffered when he was robbed was the reason for his silence and sour mood.
