I am Against Refusing the Orders of our Holy Torah
Rabbi Dovid Meir Druckman, Rov of Kiryat Motzkin
The following quote is from the media: "I reject any refusal from any side! Most of the Hesder yeshiva heads share my view, as was also reflected in the words of the Hesder spokesman, Rabbi David Stav, on Tuesday this week on Channel 2, and as I responded when asked in several places. Refusing an order is an attack on the army, just as the draft refusers strike the army. IDF is the protector of the people, we must maintain its cohesion at all costs, as a strategic asset, and if it crumbles, G-d forbid, it could endanger lives! If it does happen, our bitter enemies who wish to wipe us off the map will be the first to enjoy the results." So spoke Rabbi′s Sheinwald, one of the Hesder yeshivos′ prominent leaders who cites as the words of Rabbi David Stav, a spokesman for the Hesder yeshivos.
In the early stages the Rabbis of that group explained to us, to the best of their ability, that the State of Israel, has the law of a king in Israel, which we are obliged to obey anything that comes out of his mouth. However, by the grace of Hashem, the Hesder yeshiva students increasingly become more like "Bnei Torah", and increasingly internalize the Rambam′s ruling that a king who gives orders opposing a law in the Torah – is not to be obeyed.
Then the new ′excuse′ was born in Rabbi Stav and Rabbi Sheinwald′s fashion (As noted above, in the name of "Most leaders of the Hesder yeshivos," woe to the ears that hear such talk, and we will be happy to learn otherwise) that the ′coherence′ is a ′strategic asset′. In the word laundering process of the Hesder leaders, they must have a few more flowery expressions, their bottom line being that the Shulchan Oruch may be uprooted in the name of the Shulchan Oruch. Meaning that is halachically legitimate and permissible for the state to make decisions against the halacha (no, it was not said at the coronation of a Purim Rav in Adar, but in the midst of Teves), and the following conjecture is added, one that wasn′t heard since the days of Rabbi Chaim (Brisker): a topsy turvy ruling that one must obey even orders that are contrary to the halacha, otherwise, it may be a matter of life and death. As is known, when dealing in life endangering situations, the entire Torah is put aside. The conclusion is-that according to the Torah law, one may act against the Torah law.
It is a pity that all those innocent and G-d fearing Jews of the previous generation who refused to obey orders in Soviet Russia, never merited to learn the halachic twist of these Hesder rabbis. These dear Jews never worried about the cohesion of the Russian government and the consequences to the regime if they disobey commands; they refused to send their children to the Russian "shkoles" - Soviet state schools, refused to work on Shabbos, and didn′t care a bit if they were causing the unity of the government to crumble. They weren′t concerned about causing a situation of life and death to all residents of Russia, including its Jewish citizens.
Carry on dear Rabbis, with your Purim-like thumb-turning. Just don′t be surprised at the destructive results in your pupils′ and alumni′s spirituality, who, as a result of this reeducation, will draw conclusions and decide that they have a strong base to argue against complying with Torah commands in daily life.
And we conclude with good wishes and fervent hopes that there are still some sparks of pure faith flickering, and there are those who believe that the covenant with Hashem and the Torah precedes the (new) covenant between "religious" Zionism and the state, and the covenant between the people of Israel and Hashem is still in full force. Yes, we fanatical followers of the old covenant, and oppose disobeying the orders of the Holy Torah.
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