Mi Ke’amcha Yisrael!

LESSONS FROM THE CLASSIFIEDS

By Rabbi Emanuel Feldman | SEPTEMBER 18, 2019
In a Jerusalem chareidi newspaper, I found the strangest classified section I have ever seen

Someone recently dented my car while it was parked in a public parking lot. There was no note, no apology, no offer to pay for the damage — which is the proper thing to do in such instances. But sadly, such notes are rare in today’s society. Such is life, I mused, that’s human nature. Self-centeredness, looking out for number one — these are the norms for today’s society.

Well, maybe not. Because not long after that incident I came across a very unusual classified ads section in a Jerusalem chareidi newspaper, the strangest classified section I have ever seen.

It is a combination Help Wanted and Help Available column all in one. But the help that is wanted or available has nothing to do with jobs or work. Instead, they are offers of help or requests for assistance. Called “Reshus HaRabbim” (“The Public Domain”), the feature carries an odd assortment of notices.

In one such notice, the writer declares that at a certain time on a certain day on a certain bus route, as he was exiting the bus with his stroller, he inadvertently scratched and possibly dented the stroller of one of the other passengers. If said passenger will contact him (here he gives his phone number), he would like to pay for the damages.

I was stunned. Here was someone going out of his way to make amends, when many people would have simply ignored it.

One of the most affecting was this: “On Tishah B’Av a man died after much suffering. He was all alone: no family, no relatives. It would be a true chesed if someone [and here I expected an appeal for money] could recite a chapter of Tehillim or study a Mishnah in his memory until the shloshim.” The notice goes on to give the man’s Hebrew name.

Another notice reads: “As we approach the Yamim Noraim, it is important to make shalom among us. If you are a teenage girl who wishes to make peace after an argument or a misunderstanding, but doesn’t know how to go about it, contact this number for assistance from an experienced counselor who has dealt with such issues all her life. Confidentiality assured. No fees. You don’t have to give your name at all.”

Many notices deal with health issues, or with the need for certain hard-to-find medications, or with the names of certain physicians or alternative medical practitioners who were of great help. Some request, or offer, genuine mother’s milk for infants.

If you seek a study partner for Torah study, there is a special organization that — without any fees — will connect you with the suitable people. You name the subject — Mishnah, Gemara, Navi, Chumash, Ramban, Talmud Yerushalmi — and they will supply the partner.

With the beginning of the new school year, a chesed organization asks for bookbags, pen-and-pencil cases, student briefcases, because these can run into hundreds of shekalim each.

At a time when the news is filled with stories of people with assault rifles who murder indiscriminately, or who kill with their hatred-filled rhetoric; when Israel is surrounded by ruthless murderers who take pride in destroying entire families and who are celebrated as heroes, it is comforting to know that in some corners of the universe there still exist people who are overflowing with kindness and goodness, who are concerned about others and who are filled with love and chesed.

Perhaps it is only the daily media that gives the impression that the world is overflowing with human depravity. That is, after all, their business: venality, brutality, and evil is exciting. That, and not stories of kindness and goodness, is what sells papers.  But perhaps the reality is different. Perhaps people are essentially good, and the thugs and evildoers are in the minority. The levels of chesed of these Help Wanted columns restore one’s faith in the essential decency of people. The headlines might recount tales of brutality, but on the inside pages one finds offers of loving-kindness in the classifieds. Which is a fine springboard for the Yamim Noraim.

As for the person who damaged my car, if he would come forward, I have a special gift for him: A permanent subscription to the paper with the Reshus HaRabbim classifieds.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 778)

From Mishpacha, here.

Pouring Cold Water on the Stigma of Religious Girls in the Army

Chareidiyos & IDF: Breakthrough or Breakdown?

 BS”D

Chareidi Women Working at an Israeli Air Force Base: Breakthrough or Breakdown?
— And the Imperative to Fight End the Military Draft for ALL Girls, Including Secular
Iyyar 16, 5781 / Tiferes She’Be’Hod, Parshas “Emor el HaCohanim” / Apr. 27, ’21
By Binyomin Feinberg

It was recently widely reported in Israeli media (e.g. TV News12, Ynet April 8, ’21) that the Israeli Air Force has, over the course of several years, developed a group of Chareidi women who perform very sensitive high-tech military work as paid employees of the military, at a military base. Secular Israeli media understandably hailed this as refreshingly positive development, enabling Chareidi women to secure careers that (a) purportedly accommodate their religious lifestyle while also (b) providing financial independence and (c) reportedly making a significant contribution to the physical security of the State of Israel. This unusual initiative was spearheaded by an ostensibly Chareidi woman, Ester Solomon, who received a Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) award from the Israeli military for her “trailblazing” work in recruiting over a dozen ostensibly Chareidi women to work in this group. Solomon is officially involved with organizational work aimed at providing Chareidi women the “benefits” they’re missing out on by not serving either in the Army or Sheirut Leumi (National Service), both of which Chareidi girls generally avoid – in compliance with the Chareidi Rabbinic leaders who have declared both as prohibited.*

On closer observation, however, not everything is as rosy as it may appear to many casual observers, as we explain in brief below.

(* P.S.: Recent events have revealed the foresight of the Rabbinic pronouncements against the Israeli drafting of girls. Every step towards breaking the taboos of the Israeli government drafting girls into the Army leads the government to advance more of the same, inexorably leading towards mainstreaming the notion of religious, even ostensibly Chareidi women serving in the morally corrosive Army environment.)

At the very least, a few warnings are in order:

1) ANY initiative aimed at drawing Jews (either the recruits or others) away from Torah – in this case,  towards accepting the Israeli government drafting girls – involves a prohibition of the highest magnitude.*

(* For a sample of Torah sources addressing prohibitions of that which leads one astray from Judaism, see Shabbos 116a: Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Yishmoel; GR”A Orach Chaim 334: 26-28; Teshuvas HaRosh 19:17; Tosofos Pesachim 25a, Avoda Zorah 27b, Tosofos Shayni; Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Daiyoh 155:1; Teshuvas Maharam Shik O.C. 304; Sefer “MiYemini Michael” on Pesachim 58:12,13; cf. “S’dei Eliyahu” on Shabbos 116. To illustrate the severity of the prohibition against that which potentially could lead to apostasy, the world renowned  “Chassam Sofer,” in his responsa on Yoreh Daiyah, 76 (quoted by the Pischei Teshuva on Y.D., siman 155) prohibited healing remedies employed with intent to draw the recipient away from Torah, even for those facing life-threatening conditions.)
A review of the publicly available information on some of the operative organizations, ATIDA and Atid Yisroel, as well as a letter on “Shalhevet” stationary, apparently signed by Mrs. Solomon, indicate that there is a concrete effort to integrate Chareidi women into the Israeli military, incrementally. Any accomplishment in that regard, however seemingly harmless, and even seemingly beneficial, leads to the next, more ominous steps.

How specifically would this celebrated Air Force development lead to the latter?

2) This ostensibly Chareidi Air Force program will most likely be cited by the Israeli Supreme Court as evidence of their bizarre pronouncement in early 2019 that serving in the military does not conflict with the lifestyle of religious girls. The fact that these women are ostensibly being paid may be easily dismissed.*

[* as in the expression attributed to a famous WWII era British statesman, “Madam, what you ARE has already been established, we’re now just quibbling about the price.” (The full context of his remarks is not appropriate for  publication for this readership.)]
This legal landmine could explode in the Supreme Court in the course of any legal case involving a religious girl being drafted that makes its way up to the Bagatz (Israeli Supreme Court). We ought to expect the unexpected. Advocacy organizations be warned: your planned forays into the notoriously leftist Israeli Supreme Court may harm tens of thousands of religious girls.

3) Additionally, the “wonderful” and truly historic precedent set here – over which Ms. Solomon waxed eloquent at her timely Yom HaAztma’ut award – will be leveraged not only to offer an OPTION to Chareidi women, but also to eventually establish a MANDATORY alternative to Army and Sheirut Leumi. Once there’s a “religiously acceptable” manner of making a contribution to the military, it will become required of all religious girls. Of course, politically connected families may initially evade the obligation. But everyone else will suffer – just because these ladies opted to secure hefty salaries “to support their husbands in Kollel”.*

(* as if the continuity of Torah requires the financing of this camouflaged concoction of the Army Draft Office.)
4) Consider the emotional and psychological impact that this female Chareidi taboo-breaker has on all of the courageous refusenik girls – often isolated and abandoned by the Chareidi estsblishment – enduring harassment, persecution, terrorism, incarceration in military prison, abuse by the military police, prison and justice systems. These courageous souls, often with no family or community support, are putting everything on the line to stand on principle. Now, enter some comfortable, well-paid Chareidi women – whose community connection to political parties provided them the leisure of avoiding both Army and Sheirut Leumi easily, sans mesiras nefesh – and THEY volunteer to work for the Army proper – on an Army base. Thereby they are pouring cold water on the stigma of religious girls in the Army. How do those two pictures combine?
And Where is Mrs. Solomon and other involved ostensibly Chareidi busybodies when it comes to helping those most needy and deserving of it, i.e. the aforementioned refusenik girls (e.g.: “IDF: Stop Persecuting Olga”: http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2021/03/idf-stop-persecuting-olga.html ( Wed, Mar 3, 2021 ),  https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/11/online-updates-in-culture-wars-parshas.html,  http://firstamendmentactivist.blogspot.com/2019/11/culture-wars-updates-online-vayaira.html?m=1) – risking so much to stand against the often brutal abuse of the Israeli Army and its Sodomesque justice system?
If they would feel the pain of all of the girls and women being persecuted by the human-trafficking professionals operating out of the Army Draft Office, would they indeed wax so eloquent about the wonders of working for the Army? Would they pontificate about their contribution to a cause “greater than themselves” while being paid hefty salaries (shochad or es’nan) to serve as useful idiots to advance the forcible draft of untold numbers of other girls – and to advance the doomed Army attempt to decimate the remnant of authentically devout girls risking all to avoid compromising with Army dictates to appear for a Rayon Dat [religiosity interrogation (see http://firstamendmentactivist.blogspot.com/2020/02/creep-state.html )]?
°  In addition, on careful observation, Solomon’s public statements, organizational work and associations strike one as infused with self-focused ambition, and unbecoming of a genuinely Chareidi woman. In fact, it’s hard to imagine many non-Chareidi women taking such revolutionary [or subsversive] steps, as described above, in part. Are we being played?
°  Now that we see how extensive the inroads made by the female military draft crusade into the Chareidi community are, we have the wherewithal to challenge those who until now have remained blind to the spiritual devastation being perpetrated under their noses. The question is: what is the most effective response. One central element of that response is described below: pushing for an end to the female military draft altogether, for non-religious girls as well, and, as per the Brisker Rov OB”M, even more so for them.