Without Fear

The argument that upset the country, following his support of Rabbi Eliezer Melamed of soldiers who were demonstrating against displacement, ended unexpectedly: the rather small yeshiva in Arad, led by Rabbi Yinon, is out of Hesder * The reason why: Rabbi Ilani will not give up, and decided not agree to the to the decisions signed at the meeting of Hesder Rabbis, including Rabbi Melamed * We present his letter here



Rabbi Yinon Ilani, Rosh Yeshivas Hesder in Arad, explains, in a letter to the Igud Yeshivos Hesder, why he decided to leave the Hesder, and what is the significance of the backing down that we saw recently.



A. The root of the dispute, as brought justly in the media, is the question of authority: whether our soldiers should be loyal to the Torah laws or military laws. This topic was quoted Rabbi David Stav Shlita, a spokesman for the Igud and a school friend who I greatly appreciate for his the greatness and persistence in Torah, who said: "the Igud is committed to the provisions of law and the laws of the Torah, and has not yet decided how to integrate them." If the conference leaders can not decide on the proper combination, what can you expect from a simple soldier? Why not say clearly, "We are loyal to the state and its laws, as long as they do not contradict the words of our holy Torah, and any law contrary to Torah law is illegal"?



B. There is no way that the Israeli government can impose political positions conflicting to Halacha upon soldiers, and the soldiers are to remain indifferent. So, it is the government who caused an outbreak of demonstrations in the army, and this must be protested against. In my humble opinion, the rabbis had better do it and not the common soldiers, but because we, the rabbis, didn't relay our opinion clearly enough, the students burst boldly and had to do our work. Therefore, we should at least give these brave soldiers backing and reinforcement, and the call to prevent demonstrations in the army is out of place at this time, especially when we are at the start of a struggle for the very existence of settlements in Judea and Samaria as published in recent days, and the settlers are referred to as true enemies is, until I sadly can be sure that they will not be given orders to shoot opponents to demolition orders.



C. It is dishonor of the Torah that the defense minister should act boldly toward the head of a respected yeshiva and Rosh Yeshivos and Torah leaders subdue themselves so that the minister would be kind enough and good enough to forgive him for his "crime". Instead, it should be demanded in no uncertain terms the situation be returned to normal, and the defense minister should not intervene in what the Rosh Yeshivas have to say. ' Daas Torah' should be heard without any external compulsion, and the Torah greats fought for this right in each generation.



D. We are talking about mending the rifts between the military, yeshivas and the Zionist Torah world, but I think the defense minister was doing everything he can to deepen and broaden the chasm. Maybe we should learn from the ways of the Yoseph HaTzaddik, who revealed himself to his brothers only after they had repented and remained on to protect Benyamin, and wait with the task of defragmentation to be done in real, after the Knesset's utter remorse for the crime committed in Gush Katif.



In conclusion, we find ourselves at a crucial point in the building of Israel, so, in my humble opinion, we must give over the words of the Torah in a sharp and clear fashion, from the established law, and not little vague sentences that little I can not understand. Since apparently I do not understand the decision adopted by the distinguished forum of heads of yeshivas shlita, then unfortunately, despite the heavy price that it will cost our yeshiva in Arad, I cannot be a partner in things I do not understand and I wish to cancel the Hesder agreement of the Yeshiva of Arad.