Is It Time To Start Seriously Start Questioning The Purity of These Haredims Jewish Lineage? They are not Baishonim nor Rachmonim bnei Rachmonim - There are Torah Jews today — even leaders — who dismiss the suffering of others as irrelevant, without the slightest busha, who show no compassion for fellow Jews outside their circle...

"The army has stated that it is facing a manpower shortage and currently needs some 12,000 new soldiers, 7,000 of whom would be combat troops. Approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are currently eligible for service and have not enlisted, generating significant resentment among secular and national-religious Israelis who have been doing repeated rounds of reserve service amid the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and elsewhere." TIMES OF ISRAEL

 

The headline in the Times of Israel, and the ensuing article below with the link to the TOI,  sent me to the seforim and racked my memory of the days of mussar in the yeshiva, much of it from the Friday afternoon shmuessin from my beloved Rebbe, Moreinu Harav Avrohom Pam ZTL, of which I kept impeccable notes.

*"As IDF plans crackdown on draft dodgers, Haredim roar defiance and prepare for evasion

After army issues over 50,000 new conscription orders, UTJ spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando promises to ‘make the world tremble’ if evaders arrested"*

The Gemara in Yevamos 79a offers a remarkable definition of Jewish identity:

"שלשה סימנים יש באומה זו: הרחמנים, והביישנים, וגומלי חסדים."

“There are three distinguishing signs of this nation: they are merciful, they are modest, and they perform acts of kindness.”

And then comes a startling comment from Rav:

"כל מי שאין בו רחמים — אין בו זרעו של אברהם אבינו."

“Anyone who lacks mercy — it is certain that he is not of the seed of Avraham Avinu.”

This is not an isolated line; it is an axiom repeated across Shas, Midrashim, and codified in the words of the Rishonim. The implication is radical: if a Jew ceases to reflect the defining traits of the Jewish people — rachmanus, busha, and chesed — it is not merely a behavioral failure, but a question of identity.

This trio of traits is not an ethical ideal; it is a halachic marker. Rashi (Yevamos 79a) comments:

“כיון דאכזרי הוא — בידוע שאינו מזרעו של אברהם.”

Cruelty is not a personality quirk; it is an indictment of spiritual yichus. Rashi understands the Gemara literally: the lack of mercy is a sign of alienness from Avraham's legacy.

Similarly, the Midrash Tanchuma (Noach 5) says:

"שלשה סימנים יש לישראל... וכל מי שאין בו — יש לחשוש לייחוסו."

“If one lacks these traits, one must suspect his lineage.”

The Rambam, in Hilchos Issurei Biah 19:17, while discussing issues of forbidden marriages and family purity, references the concept that improper character may reflect a deeper corruption of yichus. This is not about legal status per se, but about spiritual continuity. The Jewish people are not merely a halachic construct — we are a spiritual family, defined by our middos.

The Maharal (in Netiv HaBusha and Netiv HaRachamim) explains that busha and rachamim are not accidental traits — they are expressions of the Tzelem Elokim. Shame is the awareness of standing in front of G-d. Mercy is the application of G-dliness to the world. To be a Jew is to live these truths reflexively.

If someone consistently lacks these traits, the Maharal argues, they are living in spiritual exile — cut off from their root in Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.

Thus, when a Torah Jew shows no shame in sin, no mercy toward the suffering, and no drive to help others — the question is no longer “what did he do?”The question becomes: who is he?

In our generation, the Jewish heart is under attack.

In some communities, shame is dismissed as weakness — replaced by arrogance. Mercy is replaced by ideological coldness — “we must protect ourselves,” becomes an excuse for silence in the face of injustice. And kindness is replaced by bureaucracy, tribalism, and power.

There are Torah Jews today — leaders — who dismiss the suffering of others as irrelevant, without the slightest busha, who show no compassion for fellow Jews outside their circle.

If these three markers disappear, the Gemara says we must raise the alarm. Not to declare people “not Jewish,” chas v’shalom — but to declare that something is deeply off. This is not about halachah — it’s about neshama.

The Navi Yeshayahu (1:3) laments:

"ידע שור קונהו... ישראל לא ידע, עמי לא התבונן."

The ox knows its master. But My nation — no longer recognizes who they are.

A Jew who no longer shows rachamim, no longer knows shame, and no longer practices kindness, is not only sinning — he is forgetting who he is. And worse — forgetting whose child he is.

We are the children of Avraham — father of mercy. We are the students of Moshe — the humblest man.

We are the people of Torah — a Torah whose ways are darchei noam.

If we cannot see mercy, shame, and kindness in ourselves — what Torah are we studying? May we merit to feel again. To care again. And may Hashem, Who is merciful, modest, and kind — look upon His people and say: Yes. These are My children. PM

 *

TIMES OF ISRAEL: 

As IDF plans crackdown on draft dodgers, Haredim roar defiance and prepare for evasion

After army issues over 50,000 new conscription orders, UTJ spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando promises to ‘make the world tremble’ if evaders arrested*

Rabbis Dov Lando (left) and Moshe Hillel Hirsch (center) attend an anti-enlistment conference organized by the Vaad HaYeshivot (Yeshiva Committee), July 31, 2025.

 

If Israeli authorities begin to arrest yeshiva students for draft evasion, the Haredi community will “make the world tremble, with all our strength and heart,” Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of the United Torah Judaism party, warned on Thursday evening.

Addressing a rabbinical conference in the central city of Bnei Brak, Lando told the leaders of Israel’s largest yeshivas that unless the government halts its enlistment efforts, it will find itself facing “a united, global Haredi Jewry that is fighting for its very soul.”

Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that military service is incompatible with their way of life and fear that those who enlist will be secularized.

Organized by the so-called Yeshiva Committee, on whose board Lando sits, the meeting was part of a wave of conferences and initiatives aimed at stymying increased enforcement measures against Haredi draft dodgers implemented by the IDF, which in recent days have led to the arrests of several yeshiva students.

Only a day earlier, the top rabbinic leadership of the ultra-Orthodox community announced at another conference in the central kibbutz of Ma’ale Hahamisha that it was absolutely forbidden to enlist in “any military framework.”

Like at that earlier meeting, on Thursday evening, the Yeshiva Committee issued orders prohibiting yeshiva students from making separate accommodations with the IDF, insisting that all members of the community, “without exception,” were required to act solely according to its instructions, which would be conveyed by a dedicated staff member at every yeshiva.

Rabbi Dov Lando addresses an anti-enlistment conference in Bnei Brak,

 

And while it did not specifically detail what those instructions entailed, the implications were clear.

‘Don’t show up, don’t answer, don’t respond’

While it previously served as the Haredi community’s primary vehicle for coordination between ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and the Defense Ministry in matters of service deferments, the Yeshiva Committee recently began transitioning from coordinating legal deferments to endorsing draft dodging via its telephone hotline, a Times of Israel investigation found earlier this year.

“I asked them what to do and they said that according to the instructions of the [rabbis] I shouldn’t do anything,” one yeshiva student who received a call-up order recalled in March. “Don’t show up, don’t answer, don’t respond.”

This was also the message in a document circulated among yeshiva students by the group last week, in which it advised them not to travel abroad or even to go out in public without good reason.

Noting that the Haredi community’s rabbinic leadership had ordered yeshiva students to ignore call-up orders, the document instructed readers to call the hotline in response to any inquiries or problems.

Similar instructions have previously been issued by former Sephardic chief rabbi and Shas spiritual leader Yitzhak Yosef, who has said young men should tear up and flush conscription orders down the toilet. In one case, a building in the Haredi settlement of Modi’in Illit reportedly experienced plumbing problems after his instructions were followed.

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis attend an anti-enlistment gathering in Bnei Brak organized by the Yeshiva Committee

 

Under Israeli law, a person inciting others to evade service during wartime is liable to a prison term of 15 years.

Mass conscription orders

Wednesday and Thursday’s meetings came on the heels of an announcement by the IDF that it had completed sending out an additional 54,000 draft orders to ultra-Orthodox men who are eligible for military service and have not yet enlisted.

The orders constitute the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army conducts for recruits a year ahead of their enlistment in the military.

The army has stated that it is facing a manpower shortage and currently needs some 12,000 new soldiers, 7,000 of whom would be combat troops. Approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are currently eligible for service and have not enlisted, generating significant resentment among secular and national-religious Israelis who have been doing repeated rounds of reserve service amid the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and elsewhere.

Both the Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism and Sephardic Shas parties have been pushing hard for the passage of legislation enabling most ultra-Orthodox males to continue to avoid military conscription or other national service, in the wake of last year’s High Court of Justice ruling that such exemptions were currently illegal on equality grounds.

Ultra-Orthodox students study Talmud at the Ateret Shlomo Yeshiva in Rishon Lezion

 

GAZA HOSTAGE DAVID FORCED TO DIG HIS OWN GRAVE

 VIDEO: https://nypost.com/2025/08/02/world-news/hamas-releases-chilling-video-of-living-skeleton-hostage-evyatar-david/

The government’s failure to advance such legislation led to UTJ quitting the coalition last month. It was quickly followed by Shas, which, while quitting the government, has remained part of the coalition.

In the absence of an exemption law, the IDF and the Attorney General’s Office recently announced a new plan for increased enforcement against draft evaders, under which the timeline for declaring a candidate for military service an evader would be shortened and checkpoints to capture dodgers would be set up throughout the country.

Effectively implementing the plan without a law containing strong financial sanctions will be difficult.

Due to a lack of jail space to hold those arrested for draft dodging, new solutions are currently being examined, the Attorney General’s Office admitted in early July, noting that the “tools available to the army under existing law are not enough to carry out effective enforcement.”

Since then, a number of Haredi draft dodgers have been arrested, sparking protests throughout the country in which demonstrators blocked traffic and caused property damage.

During protests last Wednesday, Haredi demonstrators blocked the entrance to Jerusalem and caused disruptions on Route 4 near Bnei Brak, at the Shilat Junction near Modi’in and in Beit Shemesh and Petah Tikva.

Haredi protesters demonstrate against efforts to draft yeshiva students into the IDF at the entrance to Jerusalem on July 23, 2025

 

 

 

 

Under Jerusalem’s Chords Bridge, the protesters, the vast majority of them Haredi males, chanted the popular slogan “We will die rather than enlist” and held up signs against military conscription.

Several days later, Haredim belonging to the extreme Jerusalem Faction demonstrated outside a Petah Tikva police station after being summoned to the scene by a dedicated hotline established by the Jerusalem Faction to mobilize protesters in the wake of arrests.

An extremist ultra-Orthodox group numbering some 60,000 members, the Jerusalem Faction is considered among the most conservative of Haredi factions and regularly demonstrates raucously against the enlistment of yeshiva students.

Flyers distributed by the group’s anti-enlistment “Am Kadosh” (Holy Nation) hotline have urged members of the public to sign up to receive updates when yeshiva students are arrested for draft evasion.

Am Kadosh is just one of a growing ecosystem of hotlines set up by the Haredi community in response to the so-called “enlistment crisis,” including one linked to former Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush.

New initiatives aimed at encouraging Haredim to remain in yeshiva are springing up all the time, including an English-language hotline run by a group calling itself “Notnim Gav” (Got Your Back), a spokesman for which said that “service in the Israeli army is strictly prohibited for any Torah and mitzvah-observant man.”

Another, called “Ezram U’maginam” (Their Salvation and Protector), has put up posters in Haredi neighborhoods appealing to those who have received orders to call for advice, while one Jerusalem-based group has been handing out flyers to yeshiva students instructing them not to answer the door if the police show up.

Aside from protesting and holding conferences, members of the ultra-Orthodox public have supported yeshiva students seeking to avoid military service financially as well, from fundraising abroad to subsidize yeshiva budgets and offer discounts to draft dodgers.

According to the Walla news site, stores in Modi’in Illit have begun offering price reductions to yeshiva students who have received draft orders and have not enlisted.

Overcoming this level of opposition without a conscription law containing strong financial sanctions will be difficult.

Due to a lack of jail space to hold those arrested for draft dodging, new solutions are currently being examined, the Attorney General’s Office admitted in early July, noting that the “tools available to the army under existing law are not enough to carry out effective enforcement.”

 

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/they-are-not-baishonim-nor-rachmonim-bnei-rachmonim/
 

* 

PHOTOS COURTESTY COURTESY THE TIMES OF ISRAEL:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-idf-plans-to-crack-down-on-draft-dodgers-haredim-roar-defiance-and-prepare-for-evasion/?

Hadas Hershkovitz: On Loss: A Husband, Father, Soldier

Tisha B’Av is the day we mourn what we lost. But it is also the day we face what we are

 The Torah was not given to a yeshiva—it was given to a nation. To Klal Yisrael. At Sinai, we stood “ke’ish echad b’lev echad.” Torah without that unity is not complete. When segments of the Haredi world—my brothers, my sisters—reject the state outright, refuse to participate in its defense, refuse to carry the burden of Am Yisrael—that is not righteousness. That is pirud levavot. 

 

COURTESY WIKIPEDIA

We sit on the floor, broken. Broken by our history. Broken by our present. And if we’re honest—perhaps a little broken by ourselves.

Tisha B’Av is the day we mourn what we lost. But it is also the day we face what we are. We remember not only the Romans and Babylonians—but the divisions that made us vulnerable to them. Not only the Churban—but the machloket, sinat chinam, and spiritual blindness that allowed it to happen.

And as we read Eicha, as we recall flames consuming the Beit Mikdash, I want to ask a painful question:

Are we repeating the same mistake? Today, thank God, we have a Jewish state. A sovereign government. An army of our own. Millions of Jews in the Land of Israel. Torah being learned in every city. And still, we are not at peace.

Enemies surround us—Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran. They seek our destruction with rockets and terror tunnels. But I want to speak of another siege. A quieter one. A siege from within. There is a war being waged inside the Jewish people. It is a war of words, of ideologies, of alienation. It is a war that divides one Jew from another—not along lines of Torah versus secularism, but within the Torah world itself.

It is the battle between those who embrace the miracle of Medinat Yisrael—however flawed—and those who reject it entirely, not just politically, but theologically. Between those who send their children to defend Am Yisrael in uniform, and those who burn draft notices in the streets. Between those who say Tefillah l’Shlom Hamedinah with tears, and those who won’t utter it at all.

Chazal say: “Whoever did not see the Beit HaMikdash rebuilt in his days, it is as if he saw it destroyed.” Why? Because redemption is not a lightning bolt—it’s a process. A messy, slow, unfolding process. And if you only see imperfection, you miss the miracle.

When Rav Kook saw the early pioneers—secular, distant from mitzvot—he did not see rebellion. He saw a spark of redemption. A geulah b’hester panim. How much more so today—when Torah fills the land, when Jews risk their lives to defend one another, when a Jewish flag flies over Yerushalayim.

How can we sit on Tisha B’Av and cry for the Churban, yet refuse to acknowledge the flickers of Binyan?

The Torah was not given to a yeshiva—it was given to a nation. To Klal Yisrael. At Sinai, we stood “ke’ish echad b’lev echad.” Torah without that unity is not complete. When segments of the Haredi world—my brothers, my sisters—reject the state outright, refuse to participate in its defense, refuse to carry the burden of Am Yisrael—that is not righteousness. That is pirud levavot.

Sinat chinam begins when we tell ourselves the other Jew isn’t “real” enough. Not frum enough. Not spiritual enough. Not Torah enough. But what is Torah without achrayut? Without nosei b’ol im chaveiro?

Can we say we are living Torah while others are dying to protect us?

Can we mourn the Churban while sitting out the rebuilding?

Let’s be clear. The Torah world has legitimate fears: spiritual corruption, cultural decline, a desire to protect the sanctity of yeshivot. These fears are real. They must be addressed with wisdom and nuance. But fear is not an excuse for abdication.

Tisha B’Av teaches us that the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed not by external threats alone—but by internal disunity. By leaders who couldn’t hear each other. By communities that couldn’t speak to each other. By Jews who couldn’t see the image of God in one another. Are we repeating their error?

When we say: “They’re not part of us,” “Their soldiers aren’t our heroes,” “Their sacrifices don’t matter”—are we not back in the narrow alleyways of Yerushalayim, watching as the Romans breach the gates while we fight each other inside?

Rav Shimon Schwab once said: “The greatest threat to Torah is when Torah refuses to engage with the world.”

On this Tisha B’Av, let us have the courage to say: Torah must be with the people. Torah must share the burden. Torah must walk alongside every Jewish soldier, every bereaved parent, every soul who says: “Am Yisrael Chai.”

Let us cry not only for the past, but for the distance between us. And let us bridge that distance—not by abandoning Torah, but by embodying it. By teaching our children that loving Hashem means loving every Jew. That building a Beit Midrash requires building a nation, too.

The Beit HaMikdash was lost because we could not live together. Perhaps it will only be rebuilt when we finally do.

May this Tisha B’Av be the last on the floor. May we rise—not in anger, but in unity. Not in fear, but in faith. Not in tears of exile, but in tears of return. Es achai anochi mevakesh—I seek my brothers.

Let us seek them together.

 

REPUBLISHED

 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tisha-bav-is-the-day-we-mourn-what-we-lost-and-the-day-we-face-what-we-are/

These So-Called Leaders --- Not One Dollar For The 895 Fallen IDF Soldiers' Families - Not One Prutah For The 3795 IDF Soldiers Who Are In Hospitals With PTSD - Not One Shekel For the some 5000 Soldiers Who Were Maimed Or Permanently Disabled - Not One Penny For The Thousands Of Children Whose Fathers Will Never Say Shema At Bedtime With Them Or Attend Their Bar-Mitzvas or Weddings!

At least 50% of eligible yeshiva students should engage in some form of national service—be it military, civilian, medical, educational, or social service—by the end of the 2025-2026 academic year.

 Originally written May 29, 2025

Dear Esteemed Supporters of Torah Learning from The London Kehilla

I write to you as concerned members of the broader Jewish community—grateful for your commitment to supporting Torah study, but deeply troubled by a growing imbalance that undermines both our moral fabric and national unity.

For decades, you have extended extraordinary generosity to yeshivas in Israel, empowering thousands of young men to immerse themselves in sacred learning. This is a noble and time-honored cause. However, it is now imperative to recognize that unwavering support without accountability has fostered a system that exempts an entire population from the shared responsibility of national service.

The burden of defending the State of Israel—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—falls disproportionately on those who serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and other national service roles. This includes not only secular Israelis but also many religious Zionists, women, and immigrants, all of whom contribute to the collective good while risking their lives.

Meanwhile, a substantial segment of the Haredi community remains exempt from this burden. This is not sustainable, nor is it just.

We respectfully urge you: Do not host or support rabbinic delegations visiting London - September 2025 unless their institutions commit to a new standard. Specifically:

At least 50% of eligible yeshiva students should engage in some form of national service—be it military, civilian, medical, educational, or social service—by the end of the 2025-2026 academic year.

This is not a call to weaken Torah. On the contrary—it is a call to strengthen it by reestablishing a Judaism that balances study with sacrifice, rights with responsibilities. A Torah that inspires collective duty will be stronger and more respected by the next generation.

Philanthropy is a powerful force. Your influence can encourage a model of Jewish life that honors both spiritual devotion and civic duty. Let us move together toward a future where Torah scholars are also national contributors, where the yeshiva world is not isolated from the fate of the country, but an integral and respected part of it.

In love for Torah, people, and land,

Paul Mendlowitz

אייר תשפ"ה / מאי 2025

לכבוד תומכי התורה היקרים,

אנו פונים אליכם מתוך הערכה עמוקה למחויבותכם ללימוד תורה ולחיזוק עולם הישיבות בישראל, אך גם מתוך דאגה כנה לחוסר איזון הולך וגובר המאיים על אחדות עמנו ועל ערכיו הבסיסיים.

במשך עשורים רבים, נדבתם בנדיבות רבה למוסדות תורה בארץ, ואפשרתם לאלפי תלמידים להקדיש את חייהם ללימוד. זהו מעשה נשגב וראוי לשבח. אולם כיום עלינו להכיר באמת כואבת: תמיכה ללא תנאים יצרה מערכת שלמה המאפשרת לחלק גדול מן הציבור להשתמט מהחובה הלאומית המוטלת על כולנו — שירות למען הכלל.

הנטל של הגנה על מדינת ישראל — בנפש, בגוף וברוח — מונח כמעט כולו על כתפיהם של המשרתים בצה"ל ובשירות לאומי, מכל המגזרים: חילוניים, דתיים-לאומיים, עולים חדשים, נשים. הם נושאים בעול — תרתי משמע — תוך סכנת חיים. לעומתם, חלקים רחבים בציבור החרדי ממשיכים להשתמט.

ומה אומר הרמב"ם?

במשנה תורה, הלכות מלכים ומלחמות (פרק ז, הלכה ד), כותב הרמב"ם:

"במלחמת מצוה... הכל יוצאין, אפילו חתן מחדרו וכלה מחופתה."

הרמב"ם אינו משאיר מקום לספק — במצב של סכנה לקיום האומה, אין פטור. לא לתלמידי חכמים, לא לעוסקים בתורה, לא לאיש ולא לאישה. מדינת ישראל, המוקפת אויבים ונלחמת על קיומה, נמצאת במצב של מלחמת מצוה מתמדת.

אמנם במקום אחר (הלכות שמיטה ויובל, פרק יג, הלכה יג), הרמב"ם משבח את מי שמקדיש עצמו לעבודת ה' בלבד, אך הוא אינו קובע שזו סיבה להשתמט מהגנה על העם בשעת סכנה. קדושה אמיתית כוללת גם אחריות ציבורית.

קריאה למעשׂה

מתוך אהבה לתורה ומתוך דאגה לעתיד העם והארץ, אנו פונים אליכם בקריאה ברורה:

אל תתמכו באירוח של משלחות רבנים מחו"ל ביוני 2025 אלא אם כן ישיבותיהם מתחייבות כי לפחות 50% מהתלמידים ייטלו חלק כלשהו בשירות לאומי או אזרחי — עד סוף שנת הלימודים תשפ"ו.

אין זו קריאה להחלשת התורה — אלא לחיזוקה. אנו מאמינים בתורה המחברת בין לימוד למסירות נפש, בין זכויות לחובות, בין קדושה לערבות הדדית. תורה כזו תעמוד איתן בפני אתגרי הדור ותהיה למגדלור מוסרי לעם כולו.

לתמיכתכם יש השפעה עצומה. בידיכם הכוח להוביל שינוי — לעצב דור של תלמידי חכמים שאינם רק לומדים, אלא גם משרתים, מגינים ותורמים. הגיע הזמן לשוב לאיזון הראוי בין רוח לחומר, בין קודש לחול, בין תורה לאחריות לאומית.

בברכה ובאהבה לתורה, לעם ולארץ

שרגא פייוועל מענדלאוויטץ

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 VISITING RABBIS 

• HaGaon Rav Dov Landau shlit”a, Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka

• HaGaon Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch shlit”a, Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka

• HaGaon Rav Yaakov Hillel shlit”a, Rosh Yeshivas Ahavas Shalom

• The Sanzer Rebbe shlit”a

• HaGaon Rav Avraham Nissim Salim shlit”a, Rosh Yeshivas Me’or HaTalmud

• The Rachmastrivker Rebbe shlit”a

• HaGaon Rav Dovid Cohen shlit”a, Rosh Yeshivas Chevron

• HaGaon Rav Shimon Galai shlit”a

 

 PUBLISHED IN THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: 

Attention London Kehilla – Condition Your Giving!

 https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/attention-london-kehilla-condition-your-giving/

 

 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/to-all-philanthropists-supporting-yeshiva-students-who-do-not-serve-in-the-idf/

https://trinitymedia.ai/player/share/ddff51ce84054100a0246a78e2fb16f9bb77

 

The War Against Israel From the Haredi Rabbis

 

HAREDI RABBIS - COURTESY WIKIPEDIA

The Jewish people are at war. But not just with Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, or the ever-hostile international media. A quieter, more insidious front runs through the streets of Bnei Brak and Meah Shearim—an ideological and theological war waged not by outsiders, but from within, by segments of the Haredi rabbinic leadership. And while the IDF faces rockets and tunnels, the State of Israel must also contend with an entrenched rabbinic opposition that undermines its legitimacy, rejects its sovereignty, and sows confusion among the very people it claims to protect.

At the heart of this rabbinic opposition lies a fundamental belief: that the modern State of Israel is not the atchalta d’geulah (beginning of the redemption), but a dangerous, secular rebellion against God’s plan. Many Haredi rabbis, influenced by the teachings of the Chazon Ish, the Brisker Rav, and others, argue that only the coming of Mashiach can herald true Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. Until then, they claim, any Jewish state established through human effort—especially by secular Zionists—is spiritually illegitimate.

To this day, prominent Haredi leaders refuse to recognize Yom HaAtzmaut, omit prayers for the state or the soldiers defending it, and openly deride Zionist ideology in yeshiva classrooms. When the IDF calls upon them for shared sacrifice, they respond with protests, pashkevilim, and mass draft dodging under the banner of Torah protection.

The problem isn’t simply that the Haredi rabbis disagree with the secular founders of the state. Disagreement is the Jewish tradition. The danger lies in how that theology has been weaponized against the Jewish people. While Israeli soldiers fight and die in Gaza to prevent pogroms in Sderot and Tel Aviv, these rabbis portray the army as a spiritual danger to their youth. 

While the state funds their yeshivot, subsidizes their communities, and protects their cities, their spokesmen describe the state as an existential threat to Judaism itself.

This is not theological purity—it’s theological sabotage. And in wartime, it’s treachery.

Imagine a secular Israeli citizen refusing to pay taxes because he doesn’t believe in the Torah. He would be condemned—by the same Haredi leaders—for endangering national unity. And yet, these same leaders claim a right to opt out of national defense, national mourning, and national celebration because of their religious views.

This is not just hypocrisy—it is a dangerous double standard. The state exists to serve all its citizens, but it cannot survive if whole sectors reject its legitimacy, its laws, and its burdens while demanding its funding and protections.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that the war waged by these rabbis is done in the name of Torah. They claim that their separation from the state is holy, that their refusal to serve is for the sake of Torah study, that their protests are righteous defiance. But true Torah, as Rav Kook taught, cannot be separated from the fate of the Jewish people. True Torah demands that we defend our brethren, that we share responsibility, and that we sanctify God’s name not by retreat, but by engagement with the world.

There is nothing pure about a Torah that watches Jews die and calls it divine punishment. There is nothing holy about studying Daf Yomi while the soldier next door buries his son. Torah that ignores the suffering of klal Yisrael is not Torah—it’s self-preservation dressed in black and white.

The war against Israel waged by some Haredi rabbis is not just a matter of policy—it is a spiritual distortion that must be confronted. Those who love Torah and love Israel must say so clearly: Torah is not an excuse to avoid sacrifice. Torah does not belong to those who flee the fight. And Torah cannot be the voice of silence when Jewish blood is spilled in defense of our homeland.

This is a time for courage—not only on the battlefield, but in our batei midrash as well. The future of Israel depends not only on tanks and drones, but on reclaiming the soul of Torah from those who use it to undermine the Jewish state. This is a war Israel must win, too.

 

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-war-against-israel-from-the-haredi-rabbis/

“This Is Not Emunah—It Is a Chillul Hashem”

COURTESY WIKIPEDIA

We were raised on Emunah. We were raised on the words of the Chazon Ish, the Brisker Rov, the Steipler Gaon. We were raised to believe that Torah protects, that Hashem is our Shield, and that nothing moves in the world without His will. And all of that is true.

But somewhere along the way, we began confusing Emunah with irresponsibility. We began calling passivity “bitachon” and turning our backs on danger while saying “Hashem will help.” This is not Emunah. This is negligence. Worse—it is a chillul Hashem, because the world sees religious Jews unwilling to defend their brethren, and wonders: What kind of Torah is this?

The Torah tells us “הבא להורגך, השכם להורגו”—if someone comes to kill you, you must rise early to kill him first. The Rambam writes in Hilchos Melachim that war is sometimes a mitzvah chiyuvis. The Netziv, in Ha’amek Davar, explains that “Torah learning alone” cannot replace the mitzvah of physically defending the people.

Where did we get the idea that Torah requires us to avoid military service, no matter the circumstances? Yes, a yeshiva bochur is doing holy work. But is the blood of a secular soldier less red than ours? Do we dare say, “You go die for us while we say Tehillim”?

What would Rav Shach zt”l say if he saw that nearly all the korbanos of Tzahal come from chilonim or dati leumi boys—while we carry on as if this is the natural order of things?

The entire Torah is about achrayus—responsibility. Avraham Avinu goes to war to save Lot. Moshe Rabbeinu kills an Egyptian to defend a fellow Jew. The Hasmoneans, whose mesirus nefesh we celebrate every Chanukah, picked up swords when Torah was under threat. They didn’t say “miracles will come.” They fought—and then miracles came.

Where are we?

If a fire broke out in our yeshiva, we wouldn’t say “Hashem will protect us”—we’d grab water buckets. But when Jewish blood is flowing in the streets of Sderot, we shrug and say, “Not our role”?

The Torah of Sinai is not a license to ignore the pain of Acheinu Bnei Yisrael. We are one body. When soldiers die while protecting Torah neighborhoods, and we treat them like strangers, it is not just a failure of gratitude—it is a desecration of the Name.

Let us not pretend this is about mesirus nefesh. True mesirus nefesh would be raising boys who are both bnei Torah and anshei ma'aseh. Who learn all day—and know that one day, if the hour requires it, they’ll carry a stretcher in Gaza or stand guard on the border.

We do not need to become Zionists to know the difference between kefirah and achrayus. This is not about political ideology. It is about human decency, Torah values, and not making a mockery of the Torah haKedosha by hiding behind it.

If we do not wake up, we risk losing the soul of our community. Torah will not survive on falsehood. Torah thrives when it is built on truth, on yashrus, on emes. And the emes is this:

We cannot claim to be Shomrei Torah if we will not lift a finger to protect Shomrei Torah. We cannot claim to love Eretz Yisrael and sit idly while others die to protect it. We cannot cry “Hashem Yilachem Lachem” while refusing to show up for His people.

Rabbosai, let us not confuse a lifestyle with a legacy. Our grandparents in Europe cried tears of blood to reach Eretz Yisrael. They would have walked barefoot to defend it. Will we be the generation that learns Torah while ignoring the blood that waters its soil?

Hashem should bless us with true Emunah—not the kind that avoids responsibility, but the kind that embraces it. That fights for Am Yisrael. That learns Torah and stands up for Torah Jews everywhere—even if it means picking up a rifle with a Gemara in our backpack.

Because if we don’t—others will. And we will have no right to call ourselves their brothers.

* 

P.S. - To paraphrase R' Shmuel Kamenetzky on the Polio vaccine (May he have a refuah shleima)...charedi -ism, another ISM that's a hoax and big business! The major yeshivas are privately owned family enterprises. All the income and real estate from EY to America are worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars! Who wants their inventory of income to be destroyed by what's right and true? These "giants" are merely protecting their family enterprises. 

 

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/this-is-not-emunah-it-is-a-chillul-hashem/

Israel has to go in and possibly lose the remaining hostages, so as to win the war decisively. Israel cannot allow itself to be blackmailed again. I believe if it was any other country that had its citizens kidnapped, they would have gone in swiftly and hugely and Gaza would have been turned into rubble in days from the air and Hamas utterly destroyed.

Time to make a decision in Gaza, hard as it is

 

Someone has to call an end to this situation where Israel is being blackmailed with the hostages. Israel has to go in and possibly lose the remaining hostages, so as to win the war decisively. 

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"The IDF Spokesperson in Arabic, Avichay Adraee, issued a statement this morning (Sunday), for the first time, demanding that Gazan residents in the southwestern area of Deir al-Balah evacuate the region in preparation for a potential ground maneuver.”

The IDF has so far avoided operating in the southwestern area of Deir al-Balah out for fear of the safety of hostages being held in the area.

Obviously not to harm civilians, the IDF has no option other than to alert Hamas. Israel’s decency is quite extraordinary and I doubt any other country would do the same at a huge cost to its soldiers and itself.

I have thought for a long time someone has to make a hard decision and take responsibility. King David wasn’t allowed to build the Temple, but he was not prohibited from planning for it and assembling materials needed for when his son Solomon would build it. In other words, he made the decision, aided, but couldn’t fulfill it. The decision wasn’t left for Solomon.

Similarly, someone has to call an end to this situation where Israel is being blackmailed with the hostages. Israel cannot allow itself to be blackmailed again. I believe if it was any other country that had its citizens kidnapped, they would have gone in swiftly and hugely and Gaza would have been turned into rubble in days from the air and Hamas utterly destroyed. The hostages may or may not have survived, but Hamas certainly would not have. Ideally that is what Israel could and possibly should have done, but it is a far too decent and humane society.

No one wants to harm the hostages, but the arithmetic and logic is against continuing as we are. In excess of 888 soldiers have died in this war plus thousands injured and maimed. There are apparently twenty hostages still alive. The hostages are innocents caught up in this war.

The current negotiations are an attempt to get at least ten hostages out, but as usual at a great cost. I hope and pray we can get them all out, but if ten come out, I think Hamas will not budge on the remaining ten and if the IDF get close, will murder them out of pure viciousness. They already murdered others in cold blood.

Israel has to finish this war and destroy Hamas. There isn’t a single righteous Arab/Islamist in Gaza who has come forth with information in spite of a $5 million reward. They are all Hamas.

Israel therefore has to go in and possibly lose the remaining hostages. There but for the grace of G-d go all of us, both hostages, families and decision makers.

King David couldn’t build the Temple, but Solomon could and look what came as a result and the glory of finally building and having a Temple. It will be a very sad and painful day if we lose the hostages and the left wing and its media will take full advantage of it, but the war will end, Hamas will be no more, Gaza emptied and the beginning of a new era and a new Middle East.

Israel has a unique opportunity as a result of this war to substantially rid itself and the Middle East of the uncivilized Islamic terrorist savages. All of them including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Houthis, all internal terrorists, dismantle the Palestinian Authority and also rid Iran of the medieval and evil Ayatollah regime.

In doing so Israel will not only set a great example to a feckless Europe, but the whole world and will do the whole world a great favour. By the whole world I include China and especially Russia whose future actually lies with Europe and will move in that direction as soon as Putin is gone.

The world, especially Europe right now, cannot go on with the threat of Islam in its midst. Islam has taken advantage of the West’s democracy, liberalism, laws et al and these now have to be changed as not doing so endangers Europe and Britain where the useless and weak governments are pandering to the Islamists for votes and the Islamists are using these countries’ ruling parties to take over their countries.

Hard decisions have to be made in Europe and Britain as well.

History has proven over and over again that some incident somewhere, neither big nor small, can and often does lead to far bigger consequences and revolutionary changes. The assassination of the Grand Duke Ferdinand lead to WWI. One man’s death lead to the deaths of millions.

Weak, bad and stupid decisions lead to awful consequences. History is full of examples including the most recent history. Take the stupidity of Jimmy Carter throwing his ally, the Shah under the bus in his misguided self-righteousness and stupidly, in the name of spreading democracy, supporting Ayatollah Khomeini and look what happened to Iran and the threats it has presented as a result over the last forty six years. Jimmy Carter owned what happened to Iran, but I can presume it didn’t bother him or play on his conscience. (What an inappropriate man to elect as President. And the American repeated the stupidity again in electing Obama and Biden. )

Israel is fortunate it is currently blessed with the best Prime Minister for dealing with the situation. I doubt any other of the candidates and wannabes could have achieved what Netanyahu has achieved, navigated the international threats, survived and managed Obama and Biden, these Presidents’ deliberate attempts at undermining and unseating him, spurious political arrest warrants from the ICC, horrendous internal politics not only from the opposition, but the ever present stress and danger of the parties in his coalition. Add to that military decisions, the madness of the court cases against him, an Attorney General appointed by the opposition when they briefly held power who undermines him, an unelected Judiciary that has staged a judicial coup and doesn’t know its place in a balanced democracy and much much more….. and all of this whilst at war on seven fronts.

It is Netanyahu with his cabinet who have to be decisive, brave and wise and have to make the difficult decision to destroy Hamas and unfortunately decide the fate of the remaining hostages. Not easy with the pressures of the hostage families. May Hashem guide Netanyahu and his cabinet, aid our military and save our hostages. A very hard decision has to be made.

There is no other choice.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/412111

“Better To Die Than Enlist!” Nu!

“Better To Die Than Enlist!”  Nu!

 

Sections along Highway 4 have also been shut down due to the protests, and police have been working to maintain order as haredi rioters yelled insults including "Nazis," "terrorists," and "butchers."

Haredi demonstrators against the haredi draft law threw bottles at police and assaulted them, forcing Jerusalem traffic to grind to a halt on Wednesday.

Hundreds of protestors blocked the roads near Chords Bridge with signs saying "Enlistment = Genocide," "Death before conscription," and "War on the draft law."

Concerns deepen over military’s mental health system after series of soldier suicides

 

As lawmakers demand transparency from the IDF, experts urge deeper understanding of war’s psychological toll on troops

 

 IDF soldiers hold a wreath at the funeral of soldier Ron Sherman at the Lehavim cemetery

 

A string of suicides among Israeli soldiers over less than two weeks this July has reignited concerns over the military’s mental health system, with experts warning that the war’s prolonged psychological toll is pushing troops past their limits.

The first case to draw national attention this month was that of Daniel Edri, a reservist who died by suicide on July 5 after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his combat service in Gaza and Lebanon.

His mother, Sigal Edri, told the Ynet news site that Daniel would describe vivid flashbacks — seeing flames, smelling bodies — and often awoke in the middle of the night in a panic, convinced he was back on the battlefield. In his final days, he spoke openly about ending his life, fearing that living with PTSD would be unbearable.

In the days that followed, two additional IDF soldiers were found dead in separate incidents of suspected suicide — one on July 9 at a base in southern Israel, and another on July 14 at a base in the north.

On July 15, Cpl. Dan Phillipson, a paratrooper in training, was seriously wounded in an apparent attempt to end his life at a training base in southern Israel. Phillipson, a lone soldier from Norway who had moved to Israel a year ago to enlist, was hospitalized but ultimately succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.

Dr. Leah Shelef, who served as a mental health officer in the IDF for 20 years and researches the field of suicide among soldiers and reservists, told The Times of Israel that this isn’t the first time the military has faced a sudden spike in suicides.

Family, friends, and fellow soldiers attend the funeral of Cpl. Dan Phillipson, a lone soldier from Norway, at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, July 20, 2025.

 

“Suicides have a contagious effect,” she said. “There have been months in the past in which three soldiers died by suicide in close succession.”

Suicide data sparks debate

The most recent wave of tragedies prompted nine members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to issue a formal letter, demanding an urgent discussion on the issue and warning that the IDF’s current approach risks eroding public trust and failing vulnerable soldiers in their time of need.

 

READ MORE: 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/concerns-deepen-over-militarys-mental-health-system-after-series-of-soldier-suicides/?

Haredi political parties are rooted in a worldview that views national tragedies such as October 7 as simply part of God's plan

 

The dangerous theology behind Israel’s coalition partners 

 

 

Chairman Aryeh Deri attends a meeting of the Shas party Council of Torah Sages in Jerusalem

 

 

 

 

 

 *(Slightly edited to conform with my personal views) Who dares to argue with God's plan? PM*

 

“The October 7 massacre saved the Jewish people,” declared Shas leader Rabbi Aryeh Deri in a recent interview, igniting widespread outrage. But to anyone familiar with Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) discourse, Deri’s words were no surprise. They reflect a deeply rooted theology, rarely exposed to the broader Israeli public, that views national tragedy as divine intervention. This worldview demands close attention, not just for what it says about Haredi society, but for what it means for the future of Israeli democracy.

At the core of this belief system is the conviction that Hamas acted as an agent of God. While Haredi politicians avoid saying this explicitly, it is a common theme in Haredi media and internal discourse. Public-facing messaging focuses on “open miracles” and emphasizes that all events, good or bad, occur solely by divine will.

Take, for example, Bnei Brak, the ‘City of Torah.’ In previous conflicts, rabbis, including Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, promised that missiles would never strike the city. Yet in the current war, not only was Bnei Brak hit, but a Haredi school was destroyed, leading to strained efforts by rabbinic figures to reconcile past reassurances with present reality.

A recently published book recalls a similar incident from the 1991 Gulf War, when a missile landed on the Ramat Gan-Bnei Brak border. The Haredi public rejoiced that it fell just outside Bnei Brak, but Rabbi Elazar Shach dismissed the rejoicing as foolishness and asked why most missiles were falling on Friday nights, concluding that it was divine punishment for how the community was observing Shabbat.

This theological outlook is anchored in a Talmudic principle (Hullin 7b): “A person only injures his finger if it is decreed from above.” According to this view, all suffering, however extreme, is intentional. 

"Leading"? Pathetic rabbis applied this belief immediately after the Simchat Torah massacre, insisting that every drop of blood spilled was foreseen and intended by God. This is not a fringe belief, it is the mainstream view of both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Haredi leadership, repeated regularly since October 7.

This is how they explain the Holocaust. It’s how they explained COVID-19. It’s how they understand every tragedy in Jewish history. According to Haredi media, such events are either meant to prompt repentance or serve some hidden spiritual benefit. Maimonides is frequently cited to support this view: in his ‘Laws of Fasts’, he warns that if people fail to recognize suffering as divine punishment, God will respond with greater severity.(Yet, in his Moreh Nevuchim, he disavows any way of knowing god or his intentions)PM

Shortly after the October 7 massacre, Rabbi Dov Lando, one of the rabbinic leaders of the Lithuanian (non-Hasidic) yeshiva world, called it a divine punishment intended to awaken the people to repent. He applied the same logic to the Holocaust: “The Holocaust was divine judgment. God brought the Holocaust.” Similarly, Rabbi Avraham Salim, a member of the Shas Council of Torah Sages, said that “the Holocaust also started this way. The terrorists were just messengers of the Almighty… Just like with Covid, although it was a global pandemic, it was also meant specifically for the Jewish People.”

A recent editorial in Yated Ne’eman, the daily newspaper of the Degel HaTorah faction, took this even further. It argued that God occasionally performs “open miracles” for Israel’s enemies to help them strike Jews. According to the editorial, the failure of the IDF and intelligence agencies wasn’t a failure at all; it was divine blinding, so as not to interfere with God’s plan.

While there is broad agreement in these circles that the massacre was orchestrated by God, there is debate over its purpose. Rabbi Deri believes it prevented a greater tragedy. Others see it as heralding the coming of the Messiah: God, they claim, stirred “the Ishmaelites” to attack as a call for repentance and spiritual preparation. Still others see it purely as punishment: “If such a decree came upon us on the happiest day of the year,” wrote Rabbi Shlomo Machpud, “our sins must have caused it.” Elya Brudny from the Agudah " All tragedies are with God's will" PM

A fundamentally foreign worldview

A newer theological thread has also emerged, invoking Satan. A Shas-affiliated newspaper recently suggested the war is not truly between Israel and Hamas, or Israel and Iran, but a cosmic battle between God and the forces of evil. According to the editorial, this is “not a war of missiles and tanks, but of Talmud pages, Psalms, and good deeds.” Everything else, they claim, is just stagecraft in a divine drama.

This is the religious worldview guiding Deri and his Haredi partners in Israeli politics. He didn’t misspeak. He voiced a belief deeply rooted in the religious worldview of the Haredi world and its spiritual leadership.

But it is a worldview fundamentally foreign to most Israeli and Diaspora Jews, and it is vital that Israelis – and especially the heads of the non-Haredi political parties – understand what kind of ideological ‘package deal’ they’re accepting when they rely on Haredi and messianic factions to form governing coalitions.

Understanding the theology behind October 7 is important in its own right. But it’s also essential for grasping the broader challenge Israel faces. Far from being ‘natural partners’ for a governing coalition, the Haredi political parties are rooted in a radically different worldview.

For too long, political parties across the spectrum have played a cynical game, ignoring the long-term interests of the State and its citizens.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-dangerous-theology-behind-israels-coalition-partners/

Top Blogger In Shock That Meshugoyim Are Still Yeshiva Deans!

 

Top haredi yeshiva in shock after students announce IDF enlistment

 

Wolfson Yeshiva held an emergency assembly after three students, including two Kol Torah alumni, declared plans to enlist in the IDF, sparking sharp rebuke from the dean.

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HaredimDraft LawHaredi Yeshiva

Wolfson Yeshiva, a highly esteemed haredi yeshiva in Jerusalem, was struck by turmoil over the past day.

According to Channel 13's Yoely Brim, three young students from the yeshiva announced their decision to enlist in the IDF, leading to an emergency assembly at the establishment on Tuesday.

Two of the students are expected to join the IDF's "Kokod" program for programming and development, and another student will probably enlist in a combat unit.

The announcement surprised many in the yeshiva, among the reasons being that two of the young men were alumni of Kol Torah, one of the oldest and most respected yeshivas in the haredi world.

During the emergency assembly, the Dean, Rabbi Daniel Wolfson, stood before the students and expressed opposition to the move.

The rabbi claimed that there are no programs in the IDF that could protect a haredi lifestyle and added that he feels great sorrow and pain for the students' decision to leave the yeshiva.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/412070

Time for Israel’s Haredim to Make the Real Aliyah—to Brooklyn or Lakewood - Where Hashem Provides For Real, Not The Goyim in the Knesset!

 

Where The Rosh Yeshivas Are The Knesset

 

Israel has become a difficult place for certain communities—especially those who seek the rare freedom not to serve in the army, not to study math, and not to work. It’s a national tragedy that this holy lifestyle of maximal holiness with minimal contribution is under threat. That is why, with a heavy but practical heart, I must propose a radical solution: The Haredim of Israel should make aliyah—to Brooklyn, New York, or Lakewood, New Jersey.

You see, these are places where a man can live his best life: state-funded yeshiva stipends, Section 8 housing, SNAP benefits, and zero pressure to serve in the IDF or learn how to multiply fractions.  

Let’s face it. The Haredim of Israel are misunderstood, mistreated, and worst of all… occasionally asked to get a job. How dare this Zionist enterprise, which was built on the ashes of pogroms and Holocaust survivors, have the chutzpah to ask a 22-year-old yeshiva bochur with a full beard and no diploma to… serve in the army?

Enough is enough. It’s time for Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community to pick up their shtreimels, pack their gemaras, and make the long-overdue pilgrimage to the real promised land: Brooklyn, New York—or for those who like cul-de-sacs, Lakewood, New Jersey.

In Israel, the state expects its citizens to contribute. Whether through military service, national service, or—brace yourself—employment. What next? A basic high school education? Personal hygiene standards on buses?

But in America, especially in select zip codes of Brooklyn and Lakewood, these kinds of expectations are considered aggressive microaggressions. Want to have 12 kids, no income, and opinions on geopolitics? Welcome to Borough Park, sir. We’ve been expecting you.

Lakewood has perfected the economy of divine dependence: tuition discounts, HUD housing, free school lunches, tax credits, and a divine promise that “Hashem will provide”—usually via the federal government.

In Israel, politicians whine about “budget deficits” when 13% of the population doesn’t work. In Lakewood, that’s called a Tuesday.

In Brooklyn, nobody cares if you’re learning Torah all day and have never seen the inside of a tax-paying office. You can open a yeshiva in a basement, register it as a nonprofit, and teach nothing but Gemara and how to avoid jury duty. No one will stop you—not the mayor, not the IRS, not even your neighbor who moonlights as a Medicare consultant.

In Israel, Haredim constantly battle over IDF exemptions. It’s exhausting. One day it’s “Toraso Omanuso,” the next day it’s “civil service for everyone.” Meanwhile, in Lakewood, the only draft is the gust of air from a badly installed air conditioner. No army, no pushback, no protests—unless someone tries to change the size of a Kollel check.

Why fight over an overpriced apartment in Beit Shemesh when you can overpay for a mold-infested duplex in Flatbush with four illegal kitchens and a bonus room for your shvigger?

Or better yet—move to Lakewood, where your house is a 4,000-square-foot mansion built on a swamp, with five bathrooms, zero bookshelves, and a one-hour commute to your chavrusa’s dining room.

If you're worried about giving up your influence on Israeli politics—don’t be! With today’s advanced technology and robust Israeli absentee ballot systems (funded by secular taxpayers), you can still vote for the party that believes the internet is Avoda Zara… online!

In Brooklyn or Lakewood, no one bats an eye when a 35-year-old with 11 kids doesn’t know what a W-2 form is. That’s not neglect—it’s culture. Try pulling that off in Petach Tikva, and some secular Israeli with a startup and a chip on his shoulder will start ranting about “sharing the burden.” Sharing! What chutzpah.

Brooklyn has cholent delivery on Uber Eats. Lakewood has more shtenders than Starbucks. And neither has mandatory army service, a math requirement, or a coalition crisis every three weeks.

So come, dear brethren. Escape the oppression of expectations. Say goodbye to the land of milk and honey, 

 

 and say hello to the land of  -"bribe your governors, senators and congressman via the Agudath Israel of America, where conventions are the only thing you have to worry about paying for!"

 

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/time-for-israels-haredim-to-make-the-real-aliyah-to-brooklyn-or-lakewood/