Boker Tov, Vietnam! This is probably the LAST place a nice Jewish boy would have imagined visiting, yet here I am, serenely sailing the Saigon River on my way into Ho Chi Minh City. As our ship heads into the Mekong Delta - the scene of so much history and horror just one generation ago - my mind drifts back to an earlier time.
In 1971, I am 18 years of age and living in Chicago. The War in Vietnam is raging, and the body count grows daily. The anti-war movement is now a well-oiled machine, cranking out protests and rallies on a regular basis that tap into the soul of America's young people.
Filled with idealism and the natural rebelliousness of youth, American students have united en masse to rail against the war and demand the withdrawal of US troops.
No city is more activist than Chicago. Just three years earlier, in 1968, the protest movement experienced its defining moment when it galvanized the masses into huge demonstrations at the Democratic Presidential Convention.
Scenes of Chicago police brutally beating young protestors are broadcast worldwide and contribute in no small way to the defeat of the Democrats and the election of Republican Richard Nixon.
In between studies at the Skokie Yeshiva, the boys discuss the war and its moral and social implications. My Rebbe, Rav Herzl Kaplan, and our Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Ahron Soloveichik, have both spoken out forcefully against the war and the insanity of the tragic American adventure in Southeast Asia.
While the war brings suffering to so many, it has proven to be a singular blessing for the Yeshiva and, in general, for Torah in America. The population of our Yeshiva, like many others, has doubled, maybe tripled, as anxious mothers seek to shelter their sons by enrolling them in religious studies, the prize for which is a coveted 4-D (Divinity) deferment.
Although I have been an ongoing student in the Yeshiva for the last five years, the school administration misfiles my deferment papers, and I am told to report for my Army physical.
Anxiety is an understatement, especially considering that my lottery number (which determines who will be called up to the war) is a low, low 39, guaranteeing that I will be one of the first draftees shipped out to De Nang. My father - a decorated hero in World War II - is ambivalent about Vietnam; but my mother threatens bodily harm to the Dean unless he does something fast.
I pass the physical, am declared 1-A, and receive my orders to report for active service. And then my deferment finally comes through and my poor mother can sleep at night again. Some 50,000 American boys - and more than two million Vietnamese - will die in the war, but, mercifully, I will not be among them.
Now, 30 years on, I am overwhelmed by the immense irony at work here: My son - may G-d watch over him and all our brave soldiers - is serving in an elite combat unit in the IDF. Rather than discourage him or seek avenues to get him out of soldiering, we take immense pride in what he is doing. Our trepidation at his being in harm's way is exceeded only by the nachas we feel each time we see him in uniform, defending the lives and honor of the Jewish State and the Jewish People.
Herein lies the all-important difference between that other war and our ongoing struggle: Vietnam was a waste of human life, a pointless decade of bloodletting that accomplished virtually nothing. $400 billion spent, thousands of bombs dropped and untold suffering by millions were essentially for naught; the treaty engineered n 1973 by Kissinger and Nixon to end the war will last all of two years before collapsing. By 1975, South Vietnam will fall to the Viet Cong and Indochina will be back to Square One.
But the battle to defend israel is the purest, most noble and most just of any liberation movement in history. While others' armies carry out aggression and invasion under the transparent guise of high-minded purpose, Israel's army really DOES fight for freedom and justice, defending the elemental right of the Jewish Nation to live in peace and security in our own land.
Our soldiers are rigteous in their cause, exemplary in their behavior. They may look like Anyman's military, but these boys are something special. It is no disgrace here in Israel to carry weapons and serve; it is rather a sacred privilege.
The worst peace, they say, is preferable to the best war. I have no doubt that that is true. But until the doves fly over the Holy land, and the elusive peace finds a resting place, the price of safety remains eternal vigilance.
Rabbi Stewart Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach center, and the rabbinic Director of Orient Lines' Kosher Cruise Program.
In 1971, I am 18 years of age and living in Chicago. The War in Vietnam is raging, and the body count grows daily. The anti-war movement is now a well-oiled machine, cranking out protests and rallies on a regular basis that tap into the soul of America's young people.
Filled with idealism and the natural rebelliousness of youth, American students have united en masse to rail against the war and demand the withdrawal of US troops.
No city is more activist than Chicago. Just three years earlier, in 1968, the protest movement experienced its defining moment when it galvanized the masses into huge demonstrations at the Democratic Presidential Convention.
Scenes of Chicago police brutally beating young protestors are broadcast worldwide and contribute in no small way to the defeat of the Democrats and the election of Republican Richard Nixon.
In between studies at the Skokie Yeshiva, the boys discuss the war and its moral and social implications. My Rebbe, Rav Herzl Kaplan, and our Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Ahron Soloveichik, have both spoken out forcefully against the war and the insanity of the tragic American adventure in Southeast Asia.
While the war brings suffering to so many, it has proven to be a singular blessing for the Yeshiva and, in general, for Torah in America. The population of our Yeshiva, like many others, has doubled, maybe tripled, as anxious mothers seek to shelter their sons by enrolling them in religious studies, the prize for which is a coveted 4-D (Divinity) deferment.
Although I have been an ongoing student in the Yeshiva for the last five years, the school administration misfiles my deferment papers, and I am told to report for my Army physical.
Anxiety is an understatement, especially considering that my lottery number (which determines who will be called up to the war) is a low, low 39, guaranteeing that I will be one of the first draftees shipped out to De Nang. My father - a decorated hero in World War II - is ambivalent about Vietnam; but my mother threatens bodily harm to the Dean unless he does something fast.
I pass the physical, am declared 1-A, and receive my orders to report for active service. And then my deferment finally comes through and my poor mother can sleep at night again. Some 50,000 American boys - and more than two million Vietnamese - will die in the war, but, mercifully, I will not be among them.
Now, 30 years on, I am overwhelmed by the immense irony at work here: My son - may G-d watch over him and all our brave soldiers - is serving in an elite combat unit in the IDF. Rather than discourage him or seek avenues to get him out of soldiering, we take immense pride in what he is doing. Our trepidation at his being in harm's way is exceeded only by the nachas we feel each time we see him in uniform, defending the lives and honor of the Jewish State and the Jewish People.
Herein lies the all-important difference between that other war and our ongoing struggle: Vietnam was a waste of human life, a pointless decade of bloodletting that accomplished virtually nothing. $400 billion spent, thousands of bombs dropped and untold suffering by millions were essentially for naught; the treaty engineered n 1973 by Kissinger and Nixon to end the war will last all of two years before collapsing. By 1975, South Vietnam will fall to the Viet Cong and Indochina will be back to Square One.
But the battle to defend israel is the purest, most noble and most just of any liberation movement in history. While others' armies carry out aggression and invasion under the transparent guise of high-minded purpose, Israel's army really DOES fight for freedom and justice, defending the elemental right of the Jewish Nation to live in peace and security in our own land.
Our soldiers are rigteous in their cause, exemplary in their behavior. They may look like Anyman's military, but these boys are something special. It is no disgrace here in Israel to carry weapons and serve; it is rather a sacred privilege.
The worst peace, they say, is preferable to the best war. I have no doubt that that is true. But until the doves fly over the Holy land, and the elusive peace finds a resting place, the price of safety remains eternal vigilance.
Rabbi Stewart Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach center, and the rabbinic Director of Orient Lines' Kosher Cruise Program.