Posted on 08/24/2025 1:45:47 PM PDT by Cronos
Hundreds of men in black suits and black hats of the Edah Haredit sect grew agitated as a top rabbi, shouting in Yiddish from a balcony, denounced the Israeli government for drafting the ultra-Orthodox. They had been exempt from military service to focus on religious study since the founding of Israel, but now they were needed for the war in Gaza.
...Outside the nearby Mir Yeshiva, one of the largest and most prestigious religious schools in the country, Haim Bamberger, 23, said he was studying the Torah, as, he said, God wanted. It was Mr. Bamberger’s way of defending Israel, rather than through military service. “When we do what he wants, he protects us,” he said.
The Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed nearly 1,200 people and led to the taking of roughly 250 hostages, Mr. Bamberger said, “was partly because many people in this country are not doing what God wants.”
Mr. Bamberger said he had been drafted but was ignoring his notice and risking jail. He grew more animated as he spoke. “In this country I’m considered a criminal,” he said, “because I want to study Torah.”
Days later, the Israeli military police began arresting ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers. Only a few have been detained so far, according to multiple Israeli news reports, but on Aug. 14, hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protested and clashed with the police outside a prison where the Ynet Hebrew news site reported that seven were held.
...The exemption for the ultra-Orthodox, known in Hebrew as Haredim, has long been resented by the rest of the Jewish population.
..The number of ultra-Orthodox in Israel has exploded to about one million today — roughly 13 percent of the population — from 40,000 in 1948.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ultra Orthodox don’t want to serve in the IDF
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They much prefer to live on the dole and generally just be parasites on the country.
They think themselves of deserving their life style because they are obedient to the Torah. At least they think they are obedient to the Torah.
They can take non-violent roles in military service, then.
The ultra orthodox refuse that the politically formed state of Israel is the one that would be formed by Yeshua.
Sort of “an Israeli sovereign citizen thing”.
You don’t have a clue. They don’t want to serve in the IDF because, like most armies, the IDF is not a place for chaste, sheltered young men and women. Its like what American colleges do to nice sweet innocent young people: they go in beautiful, normal, patriotic. They come out with green hair, totally screwed up sexually and hating their country. In the IDF its more the twin forces of sexual promiscuity and hard-core secularist indoctrination.
Another matter of ignorance: the Jewish people always had a segment of the society exclusively dedicated solely to Torah study and teaching because our belief system is that the Torah study brings Hashem’s protection and success to the military. So, they also want to choose Torah studies for that reason.
You may not care for the reasons, but they aren’t the malingering crap you’re selling. Are there individuals who use it as an excuse? They’re humans, aren’t they?
No doubt Hamas prefers their passivity.
Here’s a response from an Israeli Haredi I know whose family, like many Hareidi families, is from the ‘Old Yishuv’ long before Herzl Zionism:
“The Zionists made a deal back when they first founded their State that Agudah would not publicly deny the Zionists’ outrageously false claim of representing Jews, in return for the Zionists not interfering with the chareidim there, allowing them to educate their children according to the Torah and exempting those Jews from the Zionists’ shmad army.
Their whole State would never have come into being if not for that deal, which the wicked Zionists have now totally torpedoed.”
They aren’t obedient to the Torah completely, because the Torah commands everybody to work, even the indigent.
Those not will to fight and maybe die to defend their freedom and country will soon be slaves.
Educational comments. Thanks to posters. One million in that good collective is no match for over 2 billion singleness of purpose muslims in the evil collective.
Submit,fight or die.
27 Then Mattathi′as cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: “Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me!” 28 And he and his sons fled to the hills and left all that they had in the city.
29 Then many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to dwell there, 30 they, their sons, their wives, and their cattle, because evils pressed heavily upon them. 31 And it was reported to the king’s officers, and to the troops in Jerusalem the city of David, that men who had rejected the king’s command had gone down to the hiding places in the wilderness. 32 Many pursued them, and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the sabbath day. 33 And they said to them, “Enough of this! Come out and do what the king commands, and you will live.” 34 But they said, “We will not come out, nor will we do what the king commands and so profane the sabbath day.” 35 Then the enemy hastened to attack them. 36 But they did not answer them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places, 37 for they said, “Let us all die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly.” 38 So they attacked them on the sabbath, and they died, with their wives and children and cattle, to the number of a thousand persons.
39 When Mattathi′as and his friends learned of it, they mourned for them deeply. 40 And each said to his neighbor: “If we all do as our brethren have done and refuse to fight with the Gentiles for our lives and for our ordinances, they will quickly destroy us from the earth.” 41 So they made this decision that day: “Let us fight against every man who comes to attack us on the sabbath day; let us not all die as our brethren died in their hiding places.”
42 Then there united with them a company of Haside′ans, mighty warriors of Israel, every one who offered himself willingly for the law. 43 And all who became fugitives to escape their troubles joined them and reinforced them. 44 They organized an army, and struck down sinners in their anger and lawless men in their wrath; the survivors fled to the Gentiles for safety. 45 And Mattathi′as and his friends went about and tore down the altars; 46 they forcibly circumcised all the uncircumcised boys that they found within the borders of Israel. 47 They hunted down the arrogant men, and the work prospered in their hands. 48 They rescued the law out of the hands of the Gentiles and kings, and they never let the sinner gain the upper hand.
(1 Maccabees 2:27-48)
How are Ultra Orthodox being exempt from the IDF any different from our Amish being exempt from U.S. service - both are exempt on religious grounds?
They should live on the border. They can be the buffer.
Give them a choices.
1. Fight for Israel in Gaza.
2. Live in Gaza.
3. Jail.
4. Get the hell out of Israel. I hear Canada is willing.
> How are Ultra Orthodox being exempt from the IDF any different from our Amish being exempt from U.S. service… <
Perhaps the difference is that the United States is not fighting for its very existence. Even in WW2 that was not the case.
But Israel is fighting for its very existence. Should the Israeli army falter, the Muslims will gleefully slaughter every last Jew in the country.
“Amish men could fulfill military service requirements by working in non-combat roles such as farming, forestry, and hospital work, or in the Civilian Public Service (CPS) program during the World Wars. As conscientious objectors, they were often sent to these alternative service placements, which aimed to provide meaningful contributions to the nation’s health, safety, and interests in ways consistent with their pacifist beliefs.”
If these ultra orthodox refuse even non-combat roles, then they are parasites.
Give them a choices.
1. Fight for Israel in Gaza.
2. Live in Gaza.
3. Jail.
4. Get the hell out of Israel. I hear Canada is willing.
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