Appreciating Our Chayalim

Excerpted from R' Moshe Grylack in Mishpacha magazine. I thank my beloved friend N.M. for sending.


The mass rally several weeks ago in Jerusalem continues to be subject to distortion and misinterpretation.....

Let’s clarify the intent of our gedolim: The atzeres was not called as a protest against the army. Our criticism of the army is a separate issue.

Nor was it called as a demonstration of opposition to the new law passed in the Knesset, although we would be happier if it were more favorable toward yeshivah students.


The atzeres was called because of the malicious addendum to the law, which legislates that any Torah study not in conformance to the regulations laid down by the secular government will be considered a criminal act in the eyes of the law. Symbolically, the law is an official declaration by the State of Israel that from now on, Torah study in the homeland of the Jewish People will be subject to control by the secular authorities. In other words, HaKadosh Baruch Hu and His Torah are now to be regulated by a handful of nonobservant Knesset members, and anyone who contravenes their decisions in the matter will be subject to criminal sanctions.


This unacceptable clause was a chillul Hashem before the entire world, and it could not pass without an outcry. No one who holds Torah and the honor of Heaven dear could stand by silently in the face of such audacity. And so, 800,000 Jews felt the affront to the Torah and came out to stand up for her honor. They weren’t all Torah scholars: many were working people, many had served in the army and still serve in the reserves. But they all showed up, because of that impudent addendum to the law.
Statements by marginal elements did not represent the purpose of the atzeres, and in fact, these groups wrought spiritual damage to many good but undiscerning Jews by using the rally toward their own ends.

First, a disclaimer: the army in its present form is no place for a ben Torah. But this doesn’t warrant total condemnation of the army, like that expressed by the placard-bearers. As Torah Jews, we must guard ourselves against such shameful blunting of our feelings, lest we end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.


Despite our criticism of the army, there is one attitude that we absolutely must preserve, and no one described that feeling better than Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz ztz”l, the rosh yeshivah of Mir. The following passage is from a sefer published in his memory:


“Regarding Chazal’s statement in Bava Basra 10 that no one could come close to the level of the Eser Harugei Malchus [the Ten Martyrs put to death al kiddush Hashem by the Roman rulers] because they died for the Jewish People: I say the same of the soldiers who give their lives to save us. No one else can come close to their spiritual reward. Our obligation to thank them is boundless.”


That is to say, we must differentiate between our attitude toward the entity known as the IDF and our attitude toward the soldiers who risk their lives for the security of the Jewish People in Eretz Yisrael. As Jews, we should be full of gratitude and recognize the supreme value of their mesirus nefesh, without bringing any consideration of their general conduct into the calculation. This is a complex subject that has been much discussed, but this is what I heard from my own rebbis. I heard it from Rav Yitzchak Ze’ev Soloveitchik, and from Rav Elazar Menachem Shach — who would weep upon hearing of soldiers killed in action. And I’ve heard these thoughts from the gedolei Torah who are still with us today, despite the background voices of the zealots who don’t comprehend the nuances. But we must comprehend; we must protect this sensitivity and not allow it to erode.


Permit me to share a letter from a friend. This is what he wrote to me after the rally:


“I must tell you about a talk I heard from the mashgiach of a large Sephardic yeshivah in Jerusalem, just before the talmidim went out to take part in the rally. This mashgiach is a person of extraordinary refinement. He began by speaking of the constant, dreadful angst felt by the parents of soldiers in combat units. Then the mashgiach burst into tears as he described the feelings of a mother whose son is returned home in a coffin — how the pain of bereavement will be lodged in her heart forever.

“‘There’s no doubt,’ the mashgiach cried, ‘that this rally, important as it is, will cause further pain to the crushed hearts of bereaved parents, especially if there will be placards with anti-army slogans [which there were]. Still, we are faithful to the order of our rabbis to take part in the rally. This, however, I ask of you, my dear talmidim. On your way to the rally, pass through the military cemetery on Har Herzl. See the thousands of gravestones. Look at the gravestones, and then look at yourselves, and ask yourselves if you really feel you are learning Torah at such a level that you could look those parents in the eyes and say to them with a clear conscience, “Yes, I learn Torah. I, too, sacrifice myself day and night for the holy Torah, just as your son sacrificed himself.” Then go to the rally, and shout with a clear conscience that the Torah is what upholds the Jewish nation, and bnei Torah engaged in its study must not be drafted. But if you feel yourselves lax in Torah learning — then, if you are men of integrity, go back to the yeshivah, for you have no right to cause pain to those bereaved parents.’”


I was studying in Ponevezh during the Sinai Campaign in 1956. I remember how the whole yeshivah, shtenders and all, moved down to the bomb shelter when war broke out. I’ll never forget the words of the Ponevezher Rav, Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, who — after describing Chazal’s picture of a truly Jewish army, divided into fighters and lomdei Torah — cried out, “Dear ones! The whole nation is now enlisting for battle. We must also enlist; we must devote all our strength to Torah learning as our task at this time. Anyone who can’t be more of a masmid than usual should know that he is endangering my yeshivah, and I ask any such person to leave the yeshivah immediately.”


Unfortunately, the distinction between justified criticism of the army and the obligation to be sensitive and recognize our debt to the soldiers in that army has been blurred. And as a result, the message of that mighty rally has not been conveyed, and the whole nation has lost out. —