Resisting Orders will save the Country
Meir Dana-Pikar
Civil War
Civil War occurred in the summer of 5765. Although, thank G-d, it was not accompanied by the use of firearms or casualties, nevertheless it was a civil war. In this war many thousands of Jews were expelled from their homes while their rights were trampled, disregarding their feelings and besmirching them in every possible way.
The task was performed primarily by the IDF (acronym: Israel Defense Forces, in case you forgot), but not as help or security guards, but as pioneers prepared well for the task by brainwashing and neutering of feelings of the soldiers who participated in this criminal mission.
Leading Rabbis led by Rabbi Avraham Shapira, zt" l, called upon the soldiers not to carry out the order, and many followed this decision. Unfortunately, others argued that for the sake of the integrity of the army and the nation they have to perform the command, and thus we "merited" to see lots of Jewish soldiers with their Tzitzis flying in the wind taking part in the expulsion, while between the deportation of one family and the next, they sat down to learn something from a holy book.
Politics in the army?
One of the arguments and most hackneyed clichés is that the army must be separated from politics. It's almost funny to hear that, when Ehud Barak is the defense minister, trying hard to make the IDF the mercenary army of his dying party.
But if we would really investigate - who put politics into the army? Who appointed a failed chief of staff who was appointed only to perform the disengagement? Who established the orders to open fire according to his political opinion despite opposition of military leaders that binds the hands of soldiers in their war on terror? Who uses the army daily to enforce one - sided military laws against Jews? Whoever lets politics into the army when it suits him - should not be surprised that it works against him later. For us it is not politics, it is Torah, and you cannot force a soldier to violate his religion and follow an order contrary to what his Rabbis ruled.
The Torah Opinion
The reality that the defense minister allows himself to interfere in freedom of expression of a Rosh Yeshiva in Israel should disturb us all. Rabbi Eliezer Melamed was correct in refusing to appear for a hearing before the defense minister. The Torah does not buckle under those or other such threats and the threat of closure of the Hesder yeshiva should not make anyone excited, maximum they could defer their draft.
Every Jew is committed above all to the Creator, and it should not prevent him from being a good soldier. All the rabbis must give full backing to Rabbi Melamed, even if they do not agree with him on the issue in question or other issues. The principle should be that a Rosh Yeshiva has full freedom of expression pertaining halachic issues and he does not need to give an accounting to anyone.
Saving the Army
Earlier this week a command of the IDF operation to enforce the freeze was revealed. It is hard to believe that a country's military activities will be engaged against its citizens, but this is the reality. If we don't pull ourselves together and display power, it will not stop.
The truth is the real fear of the left is not the destruction of the army, but the abolition of their military control. They are used to the fact that in the army everything goes according to their wishes, and if it does not work – they turn to the Supreme Court to impose their views on the military. That's why they get under pressure when the issue of refusal of command is accelerating and crossing sectors (not only yeshiva students or religious soldiers), and they are trying to silence this phenomenon by force.
If they truly want to prevent the destruction of the army, the army should be removed from the various circles of expulsion. It does not weaken the army - on the contrary, it will strengthen the position of the IDF as an army of people that everyone can serve in without fear.
*The author resides in Beit Chaggai, and is an expellee from Kfar Darom |
