I’d like to respond to several questions asked to me.
Haimy said:
�We don�t have an acceptable army framework to join in this Milchoma!�
�If we could organize an independent Chareidi battalion��
As long as the State of Israel is run by Atheists, I don’t believe the Mesorah following Chareidim will organize to a battalion. Like Rav Hirsh did in Germany, & the Chasam Sofer in Hungary, the Chareidi leadership want the Torah abiding community to live separately from the Chilonim. If we all fought in the same army, this havdallah would cease.
“A modern working Talmid Chacham � Boruch Epstein, Torah Temimah (and �my uncle the Netziv�, son of Aruch Hashulchan, learnt in Volozhin) � he was working in a bank in Pinsk in Poland.?
True, you can become great in learning even if you work part time. However, the Torah Temima was not considered a Gadol Hador in his time. He was a huge talmid Chochom. The Gedolei Torah of Klal Yisroel Sit & learn all day & some are madrich the Dor as well. (some sold their seforim very part time like the Steipler while thinking in learning)
“Why shouldn�t a military unit be under the jurisdiction of military experts and generals just because they aren�t frum?
This goes back to the first answer above. If we need to create a cultural divide between us & the Chilonim, we cannot be under their command.
In addition, they cannot be trusted with questions of pikuach nefesh. Experience has shown that even Chareidi units face many halachic compromises.
“Not all Rabbanim in Europe did not agree with Zionism, though clearly the majority did not do so. In the Sefardic world, there was much less opposition � but it also was much less prevalent. But all of that is besides the point � the Zionism of that time is significantly different from the Zionism of today, and it is unknown how many of the Gedolim of yesteryear would relate to the currently-existing State of Israel?
Rav Meir Stern explained the problem with Zionism. Zionism is an ideology that takes one mitzva of Yishuv Ha’aretz & elevates it over the rest of the Mitzvos of the Torah. That’s why the Mizrachi looked aside from the problem of joining with apikorsim (& many other compromises) because this mitzva is so great, it overides all other considerations. This ideology continues to be held by the Mizrochi today & many of their youth have left Yiddishkeit because of their exposure to the culture of the Apikorsim.
The Gedolei Torah vehemently disagreed with this ideology. The Torah & Mitzvos are all equally important! & want to keep a havdalah between the Torah abiding Tzibbur & the Atheists group in the land. The Gedolei Torah of this generation are the students of the gedolei olom of the last generation & so on. We can safely assume that if the Chofetz Chaim, Rav Chaim Ozer, Rav Elchonon, Rav Chaim Brisker, and the prewar Chassidic Rebbes were here, they would all discourage the Chareidim from Joining the army. That’s how their talmidim decided & that’s the mesorah they were handed.
The Mizrachi chose the Daas Yochidim at the time because nationalism was very popular at that time in history & Zionism was the Jewish version of nationalism. Not out of a sense of looking for Amitah Shel Torah.
Only the Chareidim remained on the well trodden path of our Mesorah as per the opinion of the Gedolei Torah of each generation.
Even so, We still have strong Hakoras Hatov for every person fighting for the safety of the Klal. Even though we can’t join them, we mourn the death of every precious Jewish soul. We appreciate the selflessness of many of them putting their lives in danger for the sake of others.