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| Israeli Charedim in College - photo credit: David Bachar/Ha'aretz |
Rabbi Yitzchok
Adlerstein and I often agree. That’s because he is a moderate Charedi thinker
and not an extremist as is so often the case with prominent Charedi leaders. And it also helps that he is an American and sees the world through American
Charedi eyes. Not Israeli ones.
Rabbi Adlerstein has written a thoughtful analysis in Cross-Currents
about the current coalition plan for Charedim in Israel.
The
new coalition government there does not have any Charedi parties in it. And all
the coalition members – no matter how disparate their views are along the
right-left political spectrum – agree that Charedim have to ‘share the burden’.
Meaning that no longer will all of them automatically be exempt from a draft.
Much the same way I do - Rabbi Adlerstein cautiously sees
this situation as a net gain for Charedim. And he goes into a bit of detail about why he
thinks so.
I think his assessment is basically correct. I have written
similar thoughts about how this actually bodes well for the future of Charedim
in Israel. But I am not as optimistic about it as he is because of the
stridency of the opposition to it by rabbinic leaders in Israel.
Comparing the draft of Charedim to a Shas HaShmad (an era of
forced conversions) seems to be the clarion call by those rabbinic leaders.
These are the leaders that the Charedi world looks up to as their “Daas Torah”.
These leaders are not known for reversing their opinions on these matters. I do
not see any one of them agreeing with his assessment.
In fact there was one moderate Charedi Rav in Israel who is
a Musmach (ordained rabbi) from Ner Israel (R. Tzuriel If I recall correctly)
who has ‘Paskined’ in his own Kol Korei that the government plan for drafting
Charedim should be opposed and also considered it a Shas HaShmad (or something akin
to that – I don’t recall his exact words - but I do recall their flavor). I
have even seen article claiming that even Chardal Rabbanim have joined in
common cause with Charedim opposing it.
If I had to guess, I would say that if any of these rabbinic
leaders saw R’Adlerstein’s post – or mine – on the subject, we might both be
cursed right along with Naftali Bennett for even suggesting there is anything
good about it.
And even though R’ Adlerstein mentioned that privately a lot
of Charedi Rabbonim agreed with him - my guess is that they remain quiet
precisely because they do not want to oppose their rabbinic leaders and become
ostracized.
Rabbi Adlerstein points out that Charedim are ‘voting with
their feet’. The ranks of Charedim serving in the army are growing. Classes
offering training to Charedim for good jobs in the work force are swelling. Some are even taking courses in college.
But as I said I am not optimistic that the official policy
of “Daas Torah” in Israel will change. So we’re in sort of “an irresistible
force meets and immovable object” phase right now.How this will eventually play
out, therefore – remains to be seen. But
I am happy to see that thoughtful Charedi rabbis like Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein
are basically on the same page with me – and on the right side of the issue.
