To: Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu
Office of the Prime Minister, Jerusalem, Israel
Dear Mr. Prime Minister:
Firstly, I pray that Hashem grant you strength of body and strength of soul as you continue to lead the Jewish Nation. This is a difficult time of transition as we advance to another stage in Israel’s Redemption and to the healing of a confused and morally impoverished world.
Israel’s Minister of Defense Gallant announced that Israel is in urgent need of 10,000 additional soldiers in order to reach certain victory in the wars we are fighting in the north and in the south. Now that the new draft law obligates haredi yeshiva students to enlist in the IDF, and 3000 combat soldiers are to be immediately drafted from their ranks, I would like to propose that a new law be forwarded which would require all current, army-age Israelis who have received wavers, exempting them from army service for whatever reason, be re-examined to determine their status in line with the emergency situation which the country faces.
While exact figures have not been published, it is known that a large number of secular youth manage to escape enlistment every year, a number in the thousands or even tens of thousands (unconfirmed reports in the media put the number at 40,000), and this phenomena must be checked, similar to the inspections which are undertaken to evaluate the status of yeshiva students.
In addition, all Israeli youth living outside the Land of Israel, also many thousands, must be required to return to Israel and report to enlistment offices to determine their present status. Army-age youth who refuse to comply must be issued penalties when they return to Israel.
Diaspora Jews of army age must enlist in the IDF as well. Wherever Jews live throughout the world, we are one united nation and everyone has the responsibility (and privilege) to share the burden and great merit of military service in defense of our cherished Homeland. Are not all of the Jewish People brothers? Do we not share the same blood? Indeed we are one united Nation and this brotherhood supersedes all geographical borders and foreign citizenships. If the expression "All for one and one for all" is true for the Three Musketeers certainly it is true for a Divinely-created Nation as great and holy as ours.
At this time we are called upon to remember how the Torah teaches us of the national unity of our People. When the tribes of Reuven, Gad and the half-tribe of Menashe request to remain with their cattle outside of Israel proper, Moshe Rabenu rebukes them, saying: “Shall your brethren go to war and you shall sit here? Why will you turn away the heart of the Children of Israel from going over into the Land which the Lord has given them?” (Bamidbar, 32: 6-7). When Israel must fight for the Land which Hashem gave us for an everlasting possession everyone must enlist in the fight.
Therefore, the Israelite Nation looks to you, in the name of unity and equality, to forward a bill in the Knesset which would obligate all Jewish males the world over above the age of 18 to serve in the IDF, in whatever capacity needed. Those who refuse this national duty should not be allowed to enter passport control in Israel, just as the Jewish citizens of Israel who lack valid exemptions are jailed or otherwise punished for their refusal to serve in our armed forces, the army of Hashem, the army of all the Jewish People.
Sincerely,
Tzvi Fishman, Jerusalem.
