Contrary to the lyrics of the popular Israeli song “I was born here, my children were born here,” I wasn’t born here. However, “I built my home here” as the song goes on to say, and my grandchildren were born here. Since we made aliyah by choice decades ago, I’ve enjoyed being surrounded by Jews from all the exiles, I still catch my breath at the sight of Jaffa Gate and the Western Wall, I’m aware of the privilege of constantly fulfilling the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel, and I deal with the bureaucracy—and the famously tactless Israeli demeanor—with humor (most of the time...).
We lived through the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon Wars, the Gaza wars, and now this one—a full-blown existential war, a war of 'no choice', one with a heavy cost in IDF soldiers and civilians, one where we see our soldiers united and fighting like lions. And to paraphrase the song’s end, I wouldn’t want to live "anywhere else in the world."
The indomitable strength of the Jewish people is astonishing, and maybe that’s the source of the disappointment I feel toward two segments of our society. Not anger, not despair—disappointment. And if what follows seems naïve, it’s proof that we’ve strayed far from basic values that once seemed axiomatic.
Let’s start with the group known as the "elites,” which includes the moneyed class, the “has been” IDF brass and government officials, and the judiciary. In a time of war, we would naturally expect this "elite" to earn their title for the right reasons—not for their wealth, lineage, or high-ranking positions, but for their noble, fair, and patriotic behavior, certainly not because they see themselves as some kind of aristocracy.
This isn’t a demand I invented. John Adams, one of the American constitution’s framers, wrote over 200 years ago: “A republic is a government of laws, not of men. A government of laws is held by public servants for the benefit of the people. A government of men is exploited by an elite (aristocracy) to advance its own interests.”
And what is happening here?
Supreme Court judges ordered the Prime Minister to appear before them twice weekly during wartime for an ongoing, endless investigation that without a doubt bears postponement. A grim-faced investigator grilled him over a Bugs Bunny doll given to his son decades ago. Meanwhile, Gaza explodes, soldiers fall, decisions are made on Iran, Trump helps us, Trump pressures us (and by the way, he thinks our judges are crazy), hostage deals are on and off the table—and recently, the PM had to ask the court to postpone the hearings for a week so he could go to Washington.
The judicial system is made up of very intelligent people. They know, just as I do, that the PM’s distraction and fatigue can cost our children their lives. (Full disclosure: I personally know a Supreme Court justice—not Solberg—and I messaged him the first time the courts refused a postponement, asking him to bravely demand a delay until after the war. No response.)
And a disturbing thought creeps into my mind—are they insisting he show up because they hope the PM will slip up in managing the war, and be forced to resign? At what cost? What other explanation is there for such madness?
Then there’s the soon-to-be-dismissed Attorney General, who blocked the appointment of a new Shin Bet head with flimsy excuses—leaving a critical agency without a leader in a time when that agency is direly needed to rescue hostages and stop attacks. Is it just because she opposes everything this government tries to do? She’s an intelligent woman. She knows how important it is to fill this role. Maybe, as a close associate of the previous Shin Bet head, she wants to prevent an outsider from uncovering internal goings-on in the Shin Bet after there were recent damaging revelations? What other explanation is there?
And the “Kaplanists”—those protestors in Tel Aviv who hijacked the parents of the poor hostages, while anyone with basic intelligence knows their demonstrations raised the hostages’ price and made Hamas insist on impossible demands. I’m burdened by the suspicion that the “Kaplanists” don’t really care that much about the hostages. What matters more to them is harassing the PM. There are very intelligent people among them and you can’t explain this otherwise. Hamas probably didn’t anticipate our level of insanity—but it certainly knew how to exploit it.
Once, the elite were those who stood strong against the psychological warfare of their country's enemies. In WWII, Britain called for a “stiff upper lip” even when 43,000 civilians were killed by the German Blitz. The U.S. never negotiated for the release of hostages on principle and out of self-respect. We, however, are deep in negotiations with terrorists, and the “Kaplanists” want us to surrender to their demands. When IDF soldiers recovered hostage bodies, some of them said “we don’t want soldiers to risk their lives to bring back corpses”—what is the alternative, signing a surrender deal that would mean that more thaan 890 fallen IDF soldiers died for nothing?
The demonstrators know the fighting doesn’t endanger the hostages—quite the opposite. The hostages are endangered by abandoning the fight and leaving it in the hands of people exploiting them to topple the government. They want the PM to fail—and they don’t care if we fail with him.
And the “has-beens” (former government officials and IDF top brass)? Simply traitorous village clowns. Could it be that the “has-been” who slandered our soldiers in order to gain interviews and a place on talk shows used to lead the country? Now he tells vile lies in broken English to hostile foreign media and some of his friends do the same. I watch foreign news—the “has-beens’” quotes are used against us constantly, attacking our army and state mid-war.
Don’t all of them realize how they will appear in the annals of Jewish history? Not as defenders of democracy—but as vulgar, threatening demonstrators endangering the state, while controlling non-elected centers of power. Is this what we call an "elite"?
And who else is disappointing? The haredi sector.
Religious Zionists hoped that the haredi community would realize, after October 7, that it was time for unifying action. After all, the daily life of the Religious Zionists who are strictly mitzva observant and honor Torah scholars and Torah study is almost identical to that of the haredi sector. True, their dress codes differ and there is the philosophic difference in the Religious Zionist ethos that puts the issues of "Knesset Yisrael" on a level above that of the individual and sees in the establishment of the Jewish State a harbinger of Redemption.
Nu. Shoin (so what), as the Yiddish expression says, one can live with those differences. As a Yiddish speaker many of whose family members are haredi, I am used to spending time in haredi neighborhoods where I feel at home and love the pervasive, palpable atmosphere of yiddishkeit.
Perhaps that is the source of the profound disappointment.
Because there was no action at all, and a unique opportunity to increase respect for Torah, for those who study it and those who teach it, was lost.
Religious Zionists hoped that a clear call from the haredi leadership would emerge at the start of the war, saying:
A. Students must remain in yeshiva all day with shortened lunch breaks, and there will be no “bein hazmanim” vacations (traditional breaks of several weeks after the 9th of Av and Pesach) while soldiers are fighting in Gaza and Lebanon.
B. Anyone not learning full-time and not truly immersed in Torah must immediately enlist, now that there are frameworks adapted to haredi needs.
(And if the army failed to accommodate the haredi soldier religiously—the way it broke its promises to Hesder soldiers— haredi recruits could protest and leave en masse, just as they know how block streets to protest draft laws. That would force the army to change. And haredi rabbis can help maintain spiritual standards and make sure conditions are suitable by visiting the soldiers frequently.)
That call for integrity in draft exemptions was not heard. The result? Deeper division and much resentment, especially in response to threats to bring down the government mid-war over the draft law.
Haredi Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Shlita, explained that the high religious and moral motivation of Religious Zionist soldiers comes from identifying with the army of Joshua entering and conquering the Land. Therefore, he said, since haredi yeshiva students don’t study Nach (the books of the Prophets), they lack that identification.
But Haredi yeshiva students hear the Torah portion every week—and in the Book of Exodus, Joshua fights Amalek when they attacked Israel. Like today’s hesder and other soldiers, Moses held his hands aloft in prayer, the secret of IDF victory.
And on Simchat Torah 2023, Amalek attacked again—the weak, elderly, women, and children were their first victims. The haredi yeshiva students definitely identify with the war to destroy Amalek, but they are not out there fighting.
In fact, several thousand haredim tried to enlist, those numbers touted by publications like JPress and Tablet, but what these reports ignored or did not know was that almost all were above combat age. Many were rejected due to physical issues or because the army simply does not need that many non-combat soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Israeli public found it difficult and upsetting to see how many army-age haredi young men were not really learning in yeshiva, but were out on the streets during the day, on the buses and in pizza bars, month after month, not inside the yeshiva walls—while their peers fought, risked - and many lost - their lives in Gaza.
The haredi sector knows that something fundamental has shifted. For years, we were told we need a small and smart army relying on technology—justifying blanket exemptions for Torah learners. After all, if the army doesn’t need more soldiers, why leave the yeshiva, even if one is not such a masmid (serious learner). But now, everyone understands the need for a large and smart army in this ground war, not only because we are short of combat soldiers but because we have to relieve older reservists, whose patriotism exceeds their physical strength after serving for over a year, while their families pay a high personal price.
The military experts are calling for the expansion of the number of combat soldiers, citing a pressing need. Remember how during the “land-for-peace” votes in the Oslo Accord period, the haredi parties said they must listen to the experts and voted accordingly? They must listen to them now, too. (And yes, we know that there are draft evaders who are not haredi - but two wrongs do not make a right.)
Still, sanctions are not the way to effect change. They come from hypocritical leftist parties who are still undecided whether to continue the failed experiment of allowing female soldiers into combat units for the sake of “equality,” a step which precludes the haredim they want to sanction. Demonstrations and advertisements by mothers of soldiers, including Religious Zionist ones, calling for universal conscription, while sincerely meant, also won’t help. We don’t want unwilling and unmotivated soldiers forced into service. We also don’t want to encourage boys to rebel against their rabbis—that would backfire across an entire generation, haredi and religious Zionist.
There is a solution.
Western democracies such as the USA allow exemptions, when there is a draft, for those studying religion. A Jewish state must go one step farther and support the existence of a category called Torah learners. A dedicated Torah student should be exempt from army duty—if he so chooses—and remain undisturbed in the yeshiva study hall. Even in Religious Zionist circles, where the vast majority of young men combine Torah and army service, there are some students who learn Torah day and night and choose to remain in the study hall, or join the army several years after regular recruits.
But a brave move is needed in haredi circles for this to be viable: they must distinguish between true Torah learners and those who take advantage of the automatic exemptions given to haredi young men. The haredi public must publicly support drafting those not learning—and then explain this distinction clearly to the Israeli public. It can be done, because most Israelis agree that Torah study should be a value in the Jewish homeland. Such a move will elevate Torah, its scholars, and its leaders in the eyes of the nation.
But quitting the coalition on a day when three soldiers fall as the haredi parties did last week? Jewish history may not forgive that. And who knows what spiritual harm may come from showing such indifference to the sacrifices of Israel’s soldiers?
The elite and the haredim are two diametrically opposed sectors—both part of our eternal people, both our brothers. The first has a chance to return to its Zionist roots and stop the ongoing damage it has caused. The other can make a sober correction that honors Torah and respects the entire nation of Israel.
Meanwhile, a generation of giants is fighting in Gaza. They fought not long ago in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. They are a unifying generation who “stood up and began to walk forward,” to quote another beloved Israeli song.
When they, God willing, achieve victory and return home—expecting much from all sectors—will the history of the Jewish State turn a new leaf?
Rochel Sylvetsky is Senior Consultant, Op-ed & Judaism Editor at Arutz Sheva.
This article first appeared on the Arutz Sheva Hebrew site and is translated here. An English version was posted by Phyllis Chesler on her substack.