A Perversion of Judaism…Yet Again

A Perversion of Judaism…Yet Again By Sherwin Pomerantz Early Monday morning, en route to Tel Aviv I noticed that the street leading up from Shmuel Hanavi Street to Mea Shearim, the ultra-orthodox enclave in Jerusalem, was closed off. I asked our intern whom I picked up at that corner if he knew why? Perhaps a famous rabbi had died and they expected a huge turnout for the funeral, or similar? He had no idea, nor did I. As it turned out, it was not that at all. Rather, beginning at 4:45 AM Monday morning, some 5,000 members of Jerusalem’s ultra-orthodox community gathered in the neighborhood’s centrally located Shabbat Square for a protest meeting to object to any change in the laws here that would force religious students to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces. For those not in the know, the existing Tal Law, which provided exemptions from military service to the thousands of otherwise eligible young people studying in religious school (i.e. Yeshivah), has been determined to be unconstitutional by Israel’s Supreme Court. Work is now underway by the Plesner Committee appointed for this purpose, to draft a different law relating to this population. The new law will, presumably, result in a large percentage of this population having their exemptions cancelled and then be drafted, just like every other Israeli citizen. While the overwhelming majority of Israel’s populace is in favor of eliminating these carte blanche exemptions except for those relatively few students who really do have the potential to become significant rabbinic leaders, the religious community sees this as a direct threat to their values and, of course, like everything else in Israel, their power as well. So what happened there on Monday morning? The participants donned sackcloth, put ashes on their foreheads and sat on the ground reading psalms and lamentations, much as one would do on the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av when we remember the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Really? Is the potential drafting of Yeshiva students equivalent in importance to the destruction of the Temple? I suppose some people think so although logic would dictate otherwise. But Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, one of the spiritual leaders of Degel HaTorah said during the protest that, "We must give our lives against the drafting of yeshiva students [to the army]. In an issue that belongs to the heart of Israel, there are no compromises." And Rabbi Auerbach is generally thought to be from the “central stream” of that community, whatever that means. Earlier today an orthodox rabbi for whom I have a great deal of respect, when he heard about this incident termed it a “perversion of religion,” as indeed it is. Judaism has great respect for the rule of law and minutiae associated with the adherence to law. The halacha, the body of law that governs our actions is clear about so many issues and, for the most part, its observance actually celebrated the strength of our faith. For example, I attended two weddings this week that were called for 6:45 PM and where the rabbis in both cases insisted that the weddings begin before 7:20 PM (i.e. on that “day”) else we would need to wait until 8:45 PM when it was fully dark so that the wedding could take place on the “next” day, in order for there to be no question on which “day” the wedding was actually held. To me, that kind of detail glorifies religion and its observance. But 5,000 people sitting on the ground in Shabbat Square protesting the possibility that otherwise qualified people should be exempt from the military, the very same military whose members put their lives at risk defending the safety and security of those who protested so that they can observe their religion as they see fit is, without a doubt, a perversion of our faith. And frankly, those who pervert the faith in the name of guarding that faith cannot be considered by logically thinking people as guardians of the faith but rather as destroyers of that faith.