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by Rachel Ginsberg photos Flash 90

Yair Lapid wants to yank 5,200 bochurim out of the beis medrash. Aside from the fact that a nonnegotiable principle of Torah learning is at stake, what will the army do with thousands of black-hatted conscripts?

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uce the number of chareidim in Israeli society

The question we should be asking is not how to draft chareidim

has a bottom red line: even if a bochur is no longer learning, he still needs a spiritually safe environment. Over the years, communal activists with the tacit agreement of some roshei yeshivah have created several networks for boys and young men who wish to enlist within a safeguarded framework, including such programs as Nachal Haredi (officially called Netzach Yehuda) and Shachar, a framework for married men who have left kollel and want to join the workforce. The men who have been behind such initiatives say the army is willing to develop more of these programs in an effort to find encompassing solutions for boys who dont fall into a neat yeshivah package, but Lapid and his hasty measures have torpedoed the very process that was moving in

the direction the freshman finance minister claims to favor. Yet the defense minister himself was aghast at parts of the proposed legislation. I refuse to live in a Jewish state that sends yeshivah bochurim to prison, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon stated, threatening to vote against the criminal sanctions part of the bill before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu forced party discipline on him. If we keep making these drastic policy mistakes, were going to lose everything thats been gained in the enlistment process of the last few years. Why are we going to battle against the chareidim and sparking hatred? If this happens, all goodwill so carefully built will crumble. Nachal Haredi will fall apart. But herein lies the paradox of Lapids

This is a historic opportunity, he gloated, not to fight with the chareidim, but to bring them into our worldview to change the culture of the country

and redirect the ship

Walk into a room and say chareidim and the army and everyone will start to yell.
Today, nothing riles up a crowd more than discussing whether or not yeshivah bochurim should join the IDF. But the discussion is much more complex than Yesh Atid Knesset faction leader and finance minister Yair Lapid would have us think, and pulling 5,200 yeshivah students out of the beis medrash every year under the threat of jail time is a questionable solution to the IDFs manpower needs at best unless there is a separate social agenda in the wings. Within the Torah world both in the chareidi and even in some circles of the right-wing dati-leumi camps there is a sacred principle that a boy committed to Torah study cant be yanked away from his Gemara against his will in order to fill a quota that the military never established. So when the Peri Committees new sharing the burden draft guidelines (which the Knesset must ratify into law by August 1) called for forcing all chareidim with the exception of 1,800 to-be-determined illuyim to be conscripted into military or national service or face prison, the entire yeshivah world dug in its heels. And while thousands of yeshivah and kollel young men are holding their breath in anticipation of what awaits them come Rosh Chodesh Elul, the larger debate about if, and how, chareidim who are no longer in yeshivah full-time can be mainstreamed in the IDF has become the hot-button issue of rabbis, communal askanim, and army brass. This complicated web of ideological and practical factors

signature legislation, railroaded through after forcing the chareidim out of the government and creating a coalition crisis if the measures werent approved: Even if the IDF, for whatever headache theyll have with it, is willing to create more chareidi-friendly environments for all these new conscripts, Lapid as finance minister has announced unequivocally that hes not willing to fund them. So then, does his 19-mandate constituency really want to chareidi-ize the army, or as many in the religious sector fear do they really want to empty the pool (the Yesh Atid people said they were going to lrokein et habreichah) of the yeshivos? Amid the screams of sharing the burden, a chareidi-looking military is still an Orwellian image for most citizens. A recent picture in one of the Israeli dailies showed a chareidi soldier crunched under a barbed-wire fence with a rifle over his shoulder and his peyos blowing in the wind. The caption read, Where is the Israeliness? Yesh Atids second-in-command, Education Minister Shai Piron, revealed his agenda to Ynet when he said that the batei medrash are full of parasites and that yeshivos are prisons (he later apologized, excusing himself for speaking so candidly through his raw pain), and that the real purpose of the measures is not only to force the yeshivah bochurim to serve, but to change the face of the chareidi world. This is a historic opportunity, he gloated, not to fight with the chareidim, but to bring them into our worldview to change the culture of the country and redirect the ship. Parenthetically, Piron condemner of the parasites was until recently treating himself to public-generated funds as director of Education for All the Movement to Promote Education in Israel, a left-wing, New Israel Fund-supported nonprofit that raised much of its budget from public contributions. According to the organizations 2011 financial statement, director Piron took home a hefty 524,440 shekels (over $138,000) every year, a quarter of the organizations total annual budget. As education minister, Piron is behind the bill to force curriculum modification in chareidi institutions.

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Out of Service

In the Army Now While chareidim

are labeled as the draft dodgers of the country, in fact at least 25% of potential Jewish male conscripts have stopped taking part in military service, and only about half of them are yeshivah exemptions. And within those exemptions are included yeshivah students from the nationalist Mercaz Harav Yeshivah, other dati-leumi yeshivos that dont mix military service, and even some Hesder yeshivos that have a tract for metzuyanim who get a regular yeshivah deferment. The rest are mainstream Israelis, many of them secular, who find increasingly creative ways to avoid service. But the IDF doesnt seem to be too perturbed about this statistic, and has kept its manpower in a tight range of 168,000 to 176,000 armed forces personnel for the last two decades. Furthermore, military strategists and political scientists are reassessing future manpower needs, in light of exponential advances in the production of smart weapons and new computerized systems of command, communications, and intelligence. Some are even calling for abolishing the draft (as has been the case in most Western democracies) and making the shift to a more professional force composed primarily of career personnel. But the new bill doesnt seem to take any of this into consideration. According to the new ruling, any 17-year-old who doesnt show up at a recruitment center will face criminal sanctions; full-time learners between ages 18 and 21 can defer their service; and after age 21, all bochurim except for 1,800 masmidim who commit to learn full-time until age 26 will be inducted into either military or national service. Based on an estimated 7,000 new yeshivah enrollees every year, the law is targeting 5,200 chareidi recruits annually for three years of service by 2016. In line with sharing the burden, yeshivah students are asking why they must serve an additional three years, when the Hesder yeshivos combine three years of beis medrash

years, Deitsch and his staff along with other organizations, such

The questions hurled at us from the Israel arena are powerful and cogent: the intervening

with 16 months of army service. So to make sure the burden is shared equally, legislators busy hammering out the fine points of the bill will not cut down chareidi service to 16 months, but are considering increasing the Hesder military requirement. Notwithstanding the fact that many yeshivaleit would go to prison rather than be hauled out of the beis medrash, where will all those recruits be placed? Does the army have the wherewithal to provide chareidi-friendly, female-free environments for them? What will they do with thousands of physically low-profile inductees whove spent years behind their books instead of in the gym? What about shidduchim and weddings? What about chassidic boys who marry by 20? What about all the married soldiers, who are paid many times over what single soldiers receive but provide much less actual service? And, as the

to reduce the number of chareidim in Israeli society

The question we should be asking is not how to draft chareidim or how to draw them into the

If they dont keep their promises, they can forget about enlisting chareidim in the future. Its worse than you can possibly imagine. Rav Yoel Schwartz gives support to one of his Nachal recruits

army will probably decide that most of these inductees will do civilian instead of military service, how will the economy withstand the flood of thousands of volunteers expected to be placed in hospitals, MDA, fire stations, and social services at the expense of thousands of professional workers who will suddenly find themselves out of work? Can such work some of which will surely be artificially created and pointless be a legitimate substitute for learning Torah, or even career training?

Close to Home Still, the larger, looming question is: Can a yeshivah bochur today go into the army and still come out a yeshivah bochur? Except for some very limited frameworks, the answer even from those affiliated with recruiting chareidi boys is a resounding no. For years the chareidi establishment stated the reason for not going to the army is because of limud Torah. But the real reason is that they want the boys to remain frum, Rabbi Betzalel Cohen, founder of Shachar, told Mishpacha. Were not talking about an ideology of Torah as much as an ideology of Yiddishkeit. Of course, for an 18-yearold were talking about Torah how can you take an 18-year-old out of yeshivah? Its unconscionable, even for those who arent the biggest
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The question we should be asking is not how to draft chareidi

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But this is the truth: For a sheltered yeshivah boy who wants to stay on his spiritual level, theres no

place for him today in the army. Nachal isnt the solution either Nachal head Rav Yoel Schwartz
Nachal Hareidi, says Rabbi Cohen, is no place for a sheltered, innocent chareidi boy, even though today the politicians hold it up as the paradigm of integration of chareidi youth in the army.

the army isnt going after me

Moshe* is a young man in his 20s who left yeshivah to try his hand at earning a living in various fields.

here is nothing stopping a chareidi person from going into any field he wants. I have friends who work in all kinds of fields law, accounting, and other professions, as well as jobs that are much less academic. Im currently taking a course in appliance repair, and Im at the top of my class, despite having had virtually no secular education. And that is something that doesnt stand in the way of many of my friends, either. If youre smart, every career path is open. The army doesnt pose much of a problem, either. The government isnt interested in going after chareidim like me, who are working. Their goal is just to drag the bnei Torah out of the yeshivos and kollelim. They dont care about those of us who arent there anyway. I think some chareidim have a hard time finding employment because employers dont always want to hire them. They dont want all their balaganim; the men have to go out to Minchah every day, and they have all kinds of religious needs. Employers dont want to bother with that. But still, if youre willing to work and to catch up on what you missed, there are opportunities everywhere.

learners. But for 21-year-olds who arent so into the full-time learning anymore? Then were talking about basic Yiddishkeit. There is a real fear not unjustified that all the screaming of shivyon banetel [sharing the burden] is really stop being chareidi. People are looking at the army through Israels history and Ben-Gurions melting pot agenda. Statistically, going into the army chareidi means you might not come out that way. Rabbi Cohen, who these days is busy setting up a technical yeshivah high school slated to open at the beginning of Elul, was working for the Joint in developing employment opportunities when he was called by the IDF to create a training program for street kids and dropouts who could learn a trade in the army and then enter the workforce. Originally we targeted it to kids from chareidi families who werent in any kind of framework, but this wasnt an easy group to work with. In the end, we restructured it specifically for married men over 22 who

wanted to leave kollel and go out to work. These men were married, stable, serious, and eager to apply themselves. In 2007, Shachar Kachol cosponsored by the JDC and the Air Force got off the ground with 40 recruits. Today Shachars various programs, with their men-only environments (officially), mehadrin food (usually), times for learning during the day (mandatory), and sleeping at home (safe), have over 2,000 participants and a long waiting list for more spaces to open up. But Rabbi Cohen says he fears that the new legislation, which he calls Chelm, will be Shachars demise. When the new legislation is enacted, anyone already 22 will get an automatic discharge. These men will no longer be required to serve, so I dont believe the army will continue to fund the program, successful as it is. Anyway, with this forced, ridiculous legislation, the politicians are turning back the clock two decades. Instead of talking out solutions in a real way, theyre creating catastrophe, and turning a win-win opportunity into a lose-lose. Still, programs like Shachar could be a solution to the thousands of expected over21 recruits it could offer job training for

young men who want to enter the workforce and be a source of brainpower for a military whose needs in technology development are ever increasing. Is the army considering such programs, and will they stick to their promises? Shachar succeeded because the men are married and go home at night. And even if the bases arent female-free, the rooms where they work are, and the atmosphere is business-like. For years askanim have been discussing such programs with the military, but in the past theyve never stuck to their agreements in a real way. Today I believe its different. There is a lot more willingness to integrate chareidim. Its a practical question of demographics and brainpower needs. But the army cant solve all our problems. Some of these solutions have to come from us. How willing is the yeshivah world to validate boys who want to go to work yet stay connected? In Shachar, men go home at night. Will rabbanim make a place for bochurim who work for the army to go back to at night? Not back to Ponevezh, but to some other stable, Torahdig environment? Rabbi Cohen knows the dilemma up close. His own 18-year-old son is not a learning boy but there is no program in the army today where he could be confident that his son would stay religious. Even the much-touted

Unacceptable Rav Yoel Schwartz a renowned Torah scholar, author of over 200 seforim, lecturer in Yeshivas Dvar Yerushalayim, and the spiritual father of Nachal HarediNetzach Yehuda since its inception in 1999 doesnt have any delusions about the program hes nurtured for 15 years. With close to half the recruits kippot srugot who want a stronger, female-free, Torah-based framework and the other half boys from chareidi families who dropped out of yeshivah, its a place where boys can go either way. Nachal is like it always was. Some come in weak and get strengthened, some come in stronger and go out weaker. Its like a hospital. Some people die and some people get better. When theres a doctors strike, less people die also. But this is the truth: For a sheltered yeshivah boy who wants to stay on his spiritual level, theres no place for him today in the army. Nachal isnt the solution either. The Nachal boys may have come from chareidi homes but we picked most of them up off the

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I would never take someone who was still in kollel. Air Force Rabbi Ram Moshe Raavad introduces IAF officers to the Ponevezh beis medrash; (bottom) Rabbi Yisrael Meir Zingerevich admitted that I never fooled myself that I could guard the spiritual wellbeing of any soldier

street. So what to do about these many frum boys who arent learning and just wasting their time? I believe the army could prepare some sort of realistic, insulated framework for these boys, something more appropriate together with others like them, but no one is talking about real solutions. Still, to the armys credit, they did stick to their agreements with us. Today, they need us our soldiers are tops and what we stipulated, they agreed to: no women, time to daven properly, mehadrin food, rabbanim who have ongoing contact with every base. Thats why I believe we can sit down and come to some real solutions: our needs and their needs, leaving the politicians, ideology, and sharing the burden outside the door. According to Rav Schwartz, the Nachal battalion which now numbers close to a thousand is in the crosshairs of politicians and activists on both sides. Those calling for a blanket chareidi draft wave it as a solution for all yeshivah bochurim, while the yeshivos point to it as a slippery slope into the abyss of army decadence and use it as proof that the IDF doesnt stick to its commitments regarding religious soldiers. One Nachal group was ordered to participate in a lecture on safety precautions together with IDF servicewomen, and afterwards they were ordered to clean the ladies room, despite regulations that they be strictly segregated. Still, following soldiers complaints and the publication of the incident, regulations were strictly enforced for the future. And earlier this year, Rav Schwartz himself issued a warning to the IDF that if they dont keep their promises to chareidi soldiers, they can forget about enlisting chareidim in the future, saying the situation is worse than you can possibly imagine. He noted that We had a group in the navy, a torpedo unit that worked with the submarines, but under pressure of the womens equality lobby, they brought in girls. We closed the unit immediately. Of course, the thousands of religious Hesder soldiers also face conflicts over religious principles and segregation issues, especially after separate insular units were abolished several years ago, the groups broken up and

to reduce mber of chareidim in Israeli society

about 20% of the religious community abandons Jewish tradition during, or as a result of, military service, he opined. Even those who remain
it looked like Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, chief rabbi of the Shomron and rosh yeshivah of the Elon Moreh Hesder yeshivah, seemed to be following in the footsteps of the Har Brachah affair when he threatened to resign from his yeshivah over the women singing ruling. At the time, he said in a radio interview that IDF rabbis are bringing us close to a situation in which well have to tell soldiers, Leave such events even if a firing squad is set up outside to kill you. He added, I hope the army rabbinate will bring in some wise figure who will stop this terrible state of affairs. But if there are no such rabbis, we wont have any choice and Ill have to recommend to anyone who asks me about the IDF that he shouldnt enlist. Rabbi Melamed has been a champion of segregating the army, calling on the cancellation of compulsory conscription of women, advocating just one year of compulsory service to break the melting pot agenda, and demanding new legislation that would prevent a commander from issuing an order obligating a soldier to violate halachah. In order to explain just how necessary it is for the IDF to accommodate religious soldiers, it should be noted that about 20% of the religious community abandons Jewish tradition during, or as a result of, military service, he opined. Even those who remain religious are often significantly weakened in the army, and that is one reason so many are crossing over to the chareidi side... Regarding modesty issues in the army, he said that what is considered tolerable among secular society is absolutely unacceptable according to Jewish

The question we should be asking is not how to draft chareidim or how to draw them into the

religious are often significantly weakened in the army Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
mainstreamed into regular divisions, leaving soldiers to fend for themselves. Rabbi Yisrael Meir Zingerevich, retired former assistant to the IDF chief rabbi in halachic matters, concurs, remembering with dread how manpower division head Elazar Stern separated the Hesder units and dispersed them among the nonreligious soldiers. There were roshei yeshivah of Hesder yeshivos that supported this move, hoping their boys would have a positive influence on the other soldiers. There were others who fought it with all their might, fearing for the spiritual wellbeing of their boys in an environment surrounded by foul language and lax morality, Rabbi Zingerevich told Mishpacha. One thing I never fooled myself about: I never thought I could guard the spiritual wellbeing of any soldier. And if they carry through with a mass draft where frum boys will be thrown onto army bases with chilonim, theyll never survive it spiritually. Take a chassidishe boy out of his esrog box and put him on an army base theres no way hell end up the way he started. Before they broke the Hesder units apart, the boys had strength in numbers and could keep each other strong, but how strong can you be without friends, without a minyan, with exposure and temptation all around? And promiscuity, the armys most insidious scourge, has become exacerbated as feminist groups crying out against exclusion of women have pushed female soldiers into all areas, including lonely outposts that had once been all-male terrain. The issue came to a head last year when a group of Hesder soldiers were expelled from an officers course after they walked out of a cultural evening on religious grounds as women began to sing. After that, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Ganz actually ruled that no soldier may absent himself from military ceremonies which include women singing, even if it conflicts with his religious observance.

Rav Schwartz claims these challenges occurred because many of the Hesder rabbis were never forceful enough in their position, never made meaningful threats, and acquiesced to the sometimes compromised position of the IDF rabbis. Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, rosh yeshivah of Har Brachah in the Shomron and one of the most outspoken rabbis in the nationalist camp, agrees. He wrote at the time that despite the new ruling, and despite the fact that there are military rabbis who say the armys orders precede everything, a soldier ordered to listen to a female singer during a ceremony must defy orders and leave. The chief rabbinate has never hit such a low, and the chief military rabbi is personally responsible, he wrote. It will be tough, it will entail sitting in jail, being dismissed from courses and humiliated, but eventually they will manage to restore Jewish dignity. Rabbi Melameds yeshivah was removed from the Hesder arrangement in 2009 because he refused to condemn soldiers who defied orders that went against their religious principles. Following the chief of staffs decision,

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law, and any soldier who so desires should be allowed to serve in a guaranteed separate gender framework.

Women Against the Wall But giv-

en the current politically correct climate and the sweeping hadarat nashim (exclusion of women) campaign that has made its way from mehadrin buses to the Women of the Wall, even activists like Betzalel Cohen are pessimistic that such encompassing changes will occur. I believe the army has the capability to make itself chareidi-friendly, but I dont believe theyll get past the women issue, said Rabbi Cohen. Its very complicated because its all about ideology. It has nothing to do with budgets or money, but about perceived gender discrimination and womens rights. Already, womens rights activists are expressing their fears of how the army will look with thousands of chareidim on men-only bases. MK Limor Livnat, a member of the Peri Committee, stressed that chareidi enlistment quotas might hurt the current fabric of the IDF. It is important to keep up the ongoing

integration of women in the army and preserve the impressive achievements they have registered over the years. There is bipartisan fear from female MKs that chareidi enlistment will harm the status of women in the IDF, she told the committee. The strength of the womens lobby is so pervasive that Rabbi Ram Moshe Raavad, chief rabbi of the Air Force and rabbinic leader of the Shachar framework he helped create, resigned from Shachar last year after a draft of new rules indicated that women instructors could be integrated into the program. Rabbi Raavads resignation came one day after Chief of Staff Ganzs order on kol ishah. In a wide-ranging interview with Mishpachas Rabbi Moshe Grylak, Rabbi Raavad reflected on the challenges he faced setting up the program, the opposition both from within and from those who wanted to see the yungeleit doing dirtier work, and why he left. I was responsible for drafting the rules for Shachar, and from day one I had an ironclad policy: I would never take in someone who was still learning in kollel, Rabbi Raavad explains. This was made for men who were

already out, who were working as sofrim or helping caterers. I wanted to give them the chance for real training, to make more of themselves. They were anyway going to do the shortened shlav beit army service, making coffee for the officers. So why shouldnt they come out with something practical, a real profession, instead? At the beginning I made the rounds to the gedolei Yisrael it was a sensitive project and I wanted to make sure I had their haskamos. They all said it was a great course, but no one would give an official stamp. I begged, pleaded, Why cant you officially approve the course? And they said something that today I see how true it is. Now they need you and theyre willing to accommodate all your stringent conditions of segregation and other hiddurim. As soon as it grows, theyll thumb their noses at your rules. Once Shachar was off and running, Rabbi Raavad would get his share of back-slapping for finally getting those chareidim into the army, even though his motivation was purely practical. During last years Plesner committee hearings about creating a new draft law, I ran into Yochanan Plesner and

he practically hugged me. I think its just great what youre doing! he told me, surely envisioning the end to chareidi life as we know it. And I answered him, There was once a Jew who saved Stalin from drowning. Afterward Stalin asked the Jew what he wanted as a reward, and he told him: My reward? Dont tell anyone I saved you. Rabbi Raavad says Shachar has been a big hit with the top brass. They admire the diligence and quick grasp of young men who have spent years honing their intellect over the pages of Talmud. I once toured a Shachar course with Eliezer Shkedi [former commander of the IAF] and he whispered to me, I see at least five fighter pilots here. But taking generals on tours of Shachar courses was nothing compared to the reaction hed get when he would schlep them to Bnei Brak. For years I would organize groups of officers to Ponevezh, and have them sit in on a Gemara shiur. It would blow their minds. Because as intellectual as they think they are, they have no idea what yeshivah life is all about, and why bochurim would rather stay there than go to the army and go to work. They think all we do is pray all day.

Whats the Choice? Whats a moth-

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After completing the evaluations and psychological assessments mandated by the Kemach program with their financial assistance Mendy Zilbershlag is now studying social work at the Hareidi College of Jerusalem. he course is taught by professors and instructors from Bar-Ilan University, with separate classes for men and women. Despite the adjustments made to suit the needs of the chareidi students, including alternative course materials, I dont believe I would have succeeded without the support of Kemach. Our course began with 40 students, and now just ten remain.

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If they simply handed out money without advice and professional guidance, the money would be worthless. In fact, many families are against academic study and exert immense pressure on students to return to kollel, and furthermore, the financial commitment involved in supporting a large family while studying, even part-time, is too great a strain for many students. Beginning study in a university setting for the first time is nerve-wracking for most new chareidi students, but for me, as the first such student in my family, there have been many other culture shocks as well: silent lecture theaters, in contrast to the voluble kol Torah of the beis medrash; validating foreign opinions in academic papers; and, in my particular line of study in social work, encountering professional ethical dilemmas that are in potential conflict with halachah and need rabbinic guidance.

er to do when she sees yeshivah is not for her child, and wants to keep him in a framework so he doesnt become a street kid? Devorah from Beitar chose Nachal Haredi, which she says was the decision we came to after consulting educators and rabbanim. Before that he was selling falafel, and now hes learning to service trucks and tractors. He wanted a misgeret, a structure where hed have to get up early, daven, go to shiurim. And despite some typical Nachal horror stories, hes happy. He has 18 boys in his group and theyre in a segregated barracks, but he wouldnt call the other boys chareidi. They all have iPhones [a requirement for communication], and lets face it an army base isnt a beis medrash. The first Shabbos he came home, he said, Ima, it would be a catastrophe for yeshivah bochurim to go to

Nachal. It would ruin them. Devorah said that at the swearing-in ceremony after basic training, she was standing next to a woman who looked like she was about to collapse from grief. I put my hand on her shoulder. Is this such an embarrassment for you? I asked her gently. This is who he is, and you can be proud of him. Lets not lose sight of our blessings. Afterwards, I spoke with one of the rabbis. I asked him, With all the craziness about the forced draft of bochurim, Im standing here feeling very proud of my son. Is this going against the rabbanim? He answered, The worst possible scenario is for yeshivah boys to be dragged out of the beis medrash, but for your son, this is the best thing for him and yes, you should be proud. These days, Devorah prays for the welfare of her son and his army buddies. She also hooked on to a special deal with her friend Chaya. Chaya has several boys of draft age, and when they got their deferments in order to learn in yeshivah, each one took on the name of an army recruit as his partner in service, to whom he dedicates his Torah learning one soldier is in the beis medrash and one is on the front. Meanwhile, Rav Schwartz continues to boost the morale of his Nachal recruits, while at the same time shouting to whoever will listen that if the forced draft goes through, that will be the end of the Nachal he so painstakingly helped create. Today Rav Schwartz finds himself attacked by all sides. In the last weeks hes publically threatened to boycott Nachal Haredi if there will be forced conscription under intimidation of arrest, yet he was nearly lynched by zealots whove created a smear campaign against any chareidi man caught in public wearing an army uniform, because of his affiliation with Nachal. But that hasnt deterred him from his main message in these volatile times: Lets sit down and talk. No politics. No sanctions. No forced conscription, which will ruin every yeshivah bochur. Were the demographic of the future, the responsibility of the next generation is on us, and the army knows it. Lets hammer out a solution together.

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