Knesset Summer Session Opens with Draft Law on Center Stage

The Knesset began its summer session this week, and the secular media used the occasion to continue railing against the draft law (or “draft evasion law,” as they put it). They feared that Netanyahu would somehow manage to pass the law this summer. In fact, the national-religious right was opposed to the law, and there were a number of members of the Likud party who vowed to vote against it as well, even if it meant that they would be disciplined by Netanyahu. However, something has changed. As the anti-Netanyahu bloc drew closer to 60 mandates in the polls, the Likud and Religious Zionism began to fear a new threat—that the chareidim would join forces with Bennett, Eizenkot, and Lieberman to form a centrist-chareidi government. (Personally, I don’t believe there is the slightest chance that the left-wing bloc will manage to accumulate 60 mandates, since there is a definite right-wing majority in the country, but that is a story for a different time.) After all, the chareidi parties would certainly get everything they want in such a government—not only government funding but a new draft law as well, and one that satisfies every one of their demands. Despite their repeated insistence that the draft exemption for yeshiva students must not be allowed to stand, Netanyahu’s political rivals are likely to give up anything in exchange for power, even if it means giving in to the chareidim. Remember, the Bennett-Lapid-Lieberman government was willing to fork over billions of shekels to the Arabs and to refrain from attacking Gaza in order to receive and retain the Arabs’ support in the government. Surely, then, some funding for chareidim and a new draft law would not even make them blink. Perhaps they will even grant lomdei Torah a full exemption from the draft.

But what about the judges, you ask? Won’t they strike down a law that exempts yeshiva students from military service, as they have always done? In the scenario we are discussing, there is no cause for concern. As soon as there is a government that suits the judges—i.e., a government that will cancel the judicial reform and leave them comfortably in power—they will play along. After all, they are the ultimate politicians.

This is the reason that the right-wing politicians have begun to reconsider their stances on the draft law, wondering if perhaps it would be best for them to have the law passed before the next election. Which would mean that it must be passed during the Knesset’s summer session.

However, after writing these words there was a dramatic change. Following an announcement by Netanyahu that there is no majority for the draft law and another request to delay its implementation until after the elections, Rav Dov Landau called for new elections and told Degel HaTorah lawmakers to withdraw support from the coalition.

“We no longer have trust in Netanyahu,” Rav Landau said. “From here on, we will do only what is good for chareidim and the yeshiva world. We must act to dissolve the Knesset as soon as possible. The concept of a ‘bloc’ no longer exists as far as we are concerned.”

Opposition parties Yesh Atid and The Democrats moved quickly to introduce a bill dissolving the Knesset.

In March, chareidi parties backed the budget on the understanding that the draft law would return to the agenda two weeks after Pesach.

Does Netanyahu Have a Chance of Passing the Law?

This past Shabbos, 17 yeshiva and kollel students were being held in military prison. All of them were arrested over the past two months and sentenced to time behind bars. There were also attempts made last week to arrest three more yeshiva bochurim, but those attempts failed. And as if that wasn’t enough to make the atmosphere tense and foreboding, yeshiva bochurim all around the country feel threatened. There is also the economic stranglehold tightening around the chareidi community. All of that can change in an instant if a draft law is passed: No one will be classified as a draft evader anymore, and government funding will return. There will certainly be petitions and court sessions that are likely to continue for an entire year, but even one year of quiet can be beneficial. However, if the legal advisors of the Knesset are opposed to the law, then the Supreme Court will strike it down in an instant. That is the problem.

Within the coalition, some believe that even if Netanyahu would want to pass the draft law, he would not be successful. Boaz Bismut, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee who has been overseeing the discussions, says that his committee has no problem with approving any bill that receives the chareidim’s approval, with or without the legal advisors’ support. And when the law is brought to a vote in the Knesset, many are confident that if Netanyahu wants to pass it, it will pass. However, Netanyahu will face a challenge in dealing with the members of the Knesset on the back benches, who know that they will no longer be present in the Knesset’s next term since they will likely not make the cut in the Likud primaries. Ostensibly, these politicians will have no problem flexing their muscles and bucking the prime minister’s orders—although, on the other hand, this would be the death knell for their political careers. As far as the chareidim are concerned, though, this isn’t their problem. Mustering a majority in the Knesset will be Netanyahu’s headache.

And now, someone else spoke about against the draft law—Ophir Sofer, a member of Smotrich’s party who serves as minister of immigration and absorption. Sofer announced that he would vote against the bill if it is brought to the Knesset, provoking an angry reaction from Moshe Gafni. “He has no concept of the importance of learning Torah,” Gafni fumed. “It would be better for him to focus on his job as minister of immigrant absorption rather than meddling in the affairs of the yeshiva world.” Gafni went on to attack the members of the religious Zionist camp who have been opposing the Torah world, while Smotrich hurried to defend Sofer.

Aryeh Deri has announced several times, including this past week, that his Shas party will accept any decision made by the gedolim of Degel HaTorah.

We have to daven to Hashem to have mercy on us.

A Debate in the Knesset Will Not End Youth Violence

The chareidi press tends to avoid reporting on crime. Therefore, I assume that you are unaware of the maelstrom of outrage and controversy surrounding the subject of the mounting violence among youths in Israel. One recent egregious incident took place in Petach Tikvah, leaving residents of the city shaken. To make a long story short, a group of youths attacked another boy when he left the pizzeria where he worked as a waiter. The other boys were angered by the fact that the victim had asked them not to make a mess in the store, which led to a fierce quarrel that ultimately turned deadly. The young pizzeria employee was murdered for no reason other than that he had tried to quiet a group of rowdy youths. A similar incident took place in Beer Sheva as well. The secular media has been rehashing these stories for the past two weeks, bemoaning the depths to which Israeli society has sunk. And then, to make matters even worse, there is a group of youths, children of Eritrean infiltrators, who have been roaming the streets of Tel Aviv and beating other children, leaving much of the country wondering how the scourge of violence can be eliminated.

When the Knesset opened its summer session this week, several urgent motions for the agenda were filed on the subject of violence among young people. The minister of education will respond to the motions and committees will meet to discuss it … but then what? The leaders of Petach Tikvah, as well as Tel Aviv and Beer Sheva, need to understand that the solution to the problem lies in education; until they realize that, nothing will change. Even stiff penalties will not serve as deterrence.

In defense of Mayor Rami Greenberg of Petach Tikvah, whom I have never met, it must be noted that after the terrible murder outside the pizzeria, he decided to focus on outreach among the youths of his city. Prior to Lag Ba’omer, Greenberg announced that he would attend the bonfire held by Mishnas Shimshon for hundreds of students from their midrashot, with the goal of bolstering their activities. Mishnas Shimshon is a network of organizations that includes the Ohel Yiskah kollel in the neighborhood of Amishav, the Nefesh Shimshon kiruv project, and Lev L’Gibborei Yisroel, whose participants visit wounded soldiers undergoing rehabilitation in Tel Hashomer Hospital. The organization was founded by Rav Moshe Pincus in memory of his illustrious grandfather, Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus. The yungeleit in the kollel spend time learning with the soldiers as well as with other irreligious residents, adults and youths. Rav Pincus has enjoyed incredible siyata d’shmaya, and his programs have attracted hundreds of youths from the city. Mayor Greenberg deserves to be applauded for promoting the work of these institutions.

Herzog Recommends a Plea Bargain

Do you still remember Netanyahu’s request for a pardon and President Trump’s involvement in the matter? Well, after weeks without a development, something has finally happened. Netanyahu hasn’t received the pardon he requested, but the president’s office has begun putting pressure on both sides in the case (Netanyahu’s defense team and the prosecution) to reach some sort of agreement that will terminate the trial. President Herzog did not accept Netanyahu’s request for a pardon, nor did he reject it; he simply made an effort to promote dialogue between the two sides, with the goal of fostering an agreement. A letter from Michal Tzuk, the legal advisor to the president, invited the attorney general, the state prosecutor, and Netanyahu’s attorneys to meet in the president’s residence to discuss the possibility of arriving at some sort of mutual understanding. The president’s staff explained that this is a preliminary stage before Hertzog begins his deliberations over the request for a pardon. The president would prefer to see the two sides reach an agreement that will put an end to the trial, and will consider a pardon only if that option fails. The letter stresses that accepting the presidents’ invitation should not be construed as an agreement with the other side or a withdrawal of their claims in court.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Prosecutor Amit Aisman accepted the president’s invitation, which means only that they are ready to talk; this doesn’t necessarily signal their willingness to accept a deal. They also made two significant qualifications: There are to be no preconditions to the discussions, and the talks must not interfere with the progress of the trial. They refused to answer whether the talks will be held in the president’s residence. The prime minister, for his part, hasn’t yet given an official answer to Herzog’s request. It is not a simple matter for him; if he agrees to the talks, it might signal that he is open to the possibility of a plea bargain, which would lead to the question of whether he is prepared to admit to having committed a crime, to accept responsibility, to step down from his position, or to agree to moral turpitude. A refusal, on the other hand, might also tarnish his public image, indicating that he is unwilling to try to end his criminal trial even when the president gives him an opportunity to do so.

Herzog explained that he chose what he believes to be the best path forward. Netanyahu’s trial, he asserted, is one of the most divisive and polarizing topics in Israeli society, and he felt that it would be best to try to reach an agreement to end the trial without having to deal with the dramatic question of whether a sitting prime minister should be given a pardon even without having been convicted of a crime. In other words, Herzog is trying to find a middle ground, neither accepting nor rejecting the notion of pardoning the prime minister. The main question is whether he is calling for an actual plea bargain, which generally requires the defendant to admit at least to part of the allegations against him and to accept a penalty of some kind, or for criminal arbitration, which does not require anything of the defendant.

Musings in the Wake of Lag Ba’omer

The smoke of the Lag Ba’omer bonfires dissipated days ago, but I still find myself preoccupied by the events that led up to this year’s hillula. I read stories about the people who longed to visit Meron on Lag Ba’omer and managed to get there in spite of the many obstacles and the authorities’ opposition, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were truly correct in their actions. Did they have the gift of nevuah to inform them that no missiles would fall while they were there, and that the police would show restraint and would refrain from beating them or causing harm? Then again, masses of people visited the mountain on the day after Lag Ba’omer, all with official permission, and this, in my mind, gave rise to the opposite question: What made the Home Front Command so certain that there would be no missiles on the 34th day of the Omer? Were they blessed with prophecy of some kind? What made it safer to be in Meron on that day than on the day before?

I found myself confused, left with the distinctly unpleasant feeling that the decisions had nothing to do with the actual degree of danger and instead were based on the type of people who were affected. Was it really too risky to open Meron to the public on Lag Ba’omer, or was it contempt for the religious populace that drove that decision? Yes, we must give thanks to Hashem for the fact that there was no tragedy; at the same time, there is no avoiding the suspicion that the decision makers were not free of bias or personal agendas. That would also explain why there was a sweeping ban on visiting the Kosel, which the secular government considers nothing more than a tourist site, during the war with Iran. Perhaps they view Meron as a place of recreation, rather than holiness, as well.

As it turns out, this isn’t without precedent. The Israeli newspaper Hamevasser dedicated its weekly supplement to Meron last week and featured copious information about the history of Lag Ba’omer in Meron. One of the articles reported on the events of Lag Ba’omer in the year 5716, when severe restrictions were placed on the hillula out of concern for public safety. There was a fierce debate in the media at the time as to whether the Ministry of Religious Affairs had agreed to the restrictions or possibly even participated in imposing them, or the ministry worked behind the scenes to limit the damage and at least to make it possible for the regular participants in the hillula to receive permits to attend. The ministry claimed that the decision had come from the police, and the police did not respond. According to a report in the newspaper Shearim, dated on the 29th of Iyar 5716, “The public wants to know and must receive an explanation as to whether the restrictions imposed by the police on the traditional pilgrimage to Meron were necessary, and if it was possible to make any corrections or repairs in advance to avoid an affront to the sensitivities of tens of thousands of celebrants who gather in Meron every year on Lag Ba’omer.”

The same question could easily be asked about the hillula that was restricted this year, many decades after that incident: Were the limitations imposed by the police and the Home Front Command truly necessary?

In any event, this Lag Ba’omer also taught us that Rabi Shimon is not limited by geography, and every Jew can connect to Rabi Shimon bar Yochai anywhere, not only in Meron—whether it is in Beit Shemesh, at Rav Shefa in Yerushalayim, in Givat Shaul, or in Yeshivas Ateres Shlomo, where the festivities were arranged by the bochurim while the neighborhood rabbonim closed their eyes. Shloimy Breuer, an extremely serious yeshiva bochur, managed to organize and produce a remarkable event, recruiting the musical services of Yehuda Appel on the keyboard, Yaakov Raphael with a guitar, and Mottele Rokach as a singer. Together, the group swept hundreds of bochurim to the heights of inspiration—of course, only after the conclusion of the night seder. The enthusiasm and passion that typify Meron on Lag Ba’omer echoed through the streets of Rishon Letzion, sweeping even the non-chareidi residents along with them.

Terror in Israel and Deaths in Lebanon

I haven’t written much about security-related matters, but the country is still suffering from the schemes of bloodthirsty terrorists. Last weekend, Border Guard officers arrested three terrorists who were planning to carry out attacks, including a Palestinian Authority policeman and an ISIS activist from Yehuda and Shomron. In the villages of Dura and Deir al-Asad, security forces arrested two terrorists who were planning to carry out attacks “in the immediate future.” In another operation in Shechem, another terrorist was arrested for past involvement in terror. And on a somewhat unrelated note, an Israeli soldier was taken into custody this week on suspicion of having stolen weapons, while another soldier was arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran. And I haven’t even mentioned what is happening within Iran, which has led to nail-biting tension in Israel. No one here has the slightest interest in spending more time running to bomb shelters or panicking at the sound of an air raid siren; on the other hand, we all agree that the Iranian nuclear threat must be completely eliminated.

As I mentioned last week, Israel is also facing the threat of drones operated by Hezbollah in Lebanon. This new variety of drones has proven difficult for the IDF to evade, and the weapons are continuing to cause Israeli injuries and fatalities. The army is currently working on ways to defeat the primitive drones, and IDF soldiers have been armed with weapons that might be able to overcome them. Meanwhile, we are still burying fallen soldiers; may Hashem protect us.

Ruminations of the Bereaved

This week, I received a copy of Otzma, the magazine published by an organization dedicated to assisting widows and orphans of IDF soldiers and security personnel. Leafing through this periodical gave me a small sense of the pain and grief experienced by tens of thousands of widows and orphans. The stories, many of which took place over the past couple of years, since Simchas Torah of 2023, are deeply saddening. For instance, there is the story of Motti Wieder: For many years, Motti habitually traveled to Har Hazeisim on Yom Hazikaron to visit the kever of his father, Chaim Tzvi Wieder, who was killed in the Yom Kippur War. Fifty-one years after the loss of his father, he received a visit from IDF officials, this time to inform him that his son Elyashiv Eitan, a combat soldier in the Golani brigade, had been killed in Lebanon. This left him with a terrible decision to make every year: Should he visit his father’s kever on Har Hazeisim or his son’s resting place on Mount Herzl? Elyashiv was born during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, and his bris was held on erev Sukkos when the family returned from the kever on Har Hazeisim.

This issue of Otzma contained a supplement titled Gaaguim (“Yearnings”), which consisted of poems written by bereaved parents, widows, and orphans. Sadly, I felt that there was a vital element that had been left out of the publication: the concept of emunah. The true source of consolation for these bereaved families should be the fact that their loved ones died al kiddush Hashem and thus attained some of the loftiest levels of holiness. With all due respect to the activities arranged by the organization—hikes at sunrise, surfing lessons, and a trip to the Secret Forest in Cyprus—I wonder why there is no mention of special tefillos, trips to holy sites, or other Jewish-oriented initiatives to benefit the souls of the deceased.

The opening pages of Gaaguim contain letters from President Herzog, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, and Police Commissioner Levi. The chief of staff quoted Yossi Gamzu, Netanyahu quoted a poet, and Herzog quoted himself. No one bothered to cite a single posuk about the soul or the Jewish spirit. However, the opening letter in Otzma written by the chairwoman of the organization, Zahava Gross-Meidan, stirred my emotions. As a widow whose husband was killed in IDF service, she knows how to express the pain and grief that haunt bereaved families. “Over the past two years,” she wrote, “too many names have been added to the weight we carry on our hearts…. On this day, along with remembering the deceased, we choose life once again and pray for the strength to accompany us forward. Those who pin their hopes on Hashem will have renewed strength…. Even when it seems as if the world has stopped and our hearts are completely broken, we still have a force within us that renews itself every day—the power of faith, community, and choosing life.”

It’s a pity that the politicians didn’t take a page out of her book and include some mention of Hashem and Jewish faith in their own letters as well.

The Day of Liberation and Salvation

While Netanyahu’s letter in the magazine may not have had much in the way of Jewish content, he sometimes knows how to write like a Jew. This week, there will be a fascinating event that I find more meaningful with every passing year: the celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The rest of the world commemorates the event on May 9, but I am referring to its Hebrew anniversary, the 26th of Iyar. In Moscow and in many other capital cities in Europe, this historic event is commemorated on its Hebrew anniversary and with Jewish rituals such as Kaddish, Kel Malei Rachamim, and other tefillos. The idea to mark the date specifically according to the Hebrew calendar originated with a man named Gavriel (German) Zakharyaev, whom I have mentioned in numerous articles in the past. Thanks to his advocacy, a law was passed in Israel calling for the occasion to be marked on its Hebrew date, and the annual event at the Kosel organized by Zakharyaev has therefore become an official occasion. The event is attended by a large crowd of cheder children from Yerushalayim representing the hundreds of boys who learned six million mishnayos in memory of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

I met Gavriel Zakharyaev several years ago, when his assistant, Dovid Mordechaiev, asked for permission to organize a hachnossas sefer Torah in the Knesset. The idea sounded bizarre and unrealistic at first, but it ultimately came to fruition. On the same day, Zakharyaev donated three sifrei Torah to three different places: One small sefer was delivered to the home of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, a second was placed at the Kosel, and the third was gifted to the Knesset. A few months later, the Knesset administration asked for the sefer Torah to be transferred to a different shul, since the Knesset is prohibited by law from accepting gifts. But I digress.

The annual event at the Kosel will be held this Wednesday. The guest of honor at the event is usually either Rav Yisroel Meir Lau or his son, Rav Moshe Chaim Lau, and the minister of religious affairs (a post held by Michoel Malchieli in recent years) is typically in attendance as well. At the same time, Mr. Zakharyaev appears as the guest of honor at a parallel event in Moscow, while concurrent events are held in capital cities all around Europe and attended by the rabbonim of various countries, including Tunisia.

But let me return to my main point: In honor of the upcoming events, Prime Minister Netanyahu wrote a letter in which he mentioned the tribulations that the Jewish people have endured in recent years. “Let us remember,” Netanyahu wrote, “that our duty to subdue evil regimes isn’t a one-time task…. Just look at the historic revolution we have created in this War of Revival. The small country of Israel and its great friend, the United States, are carrying the entirety of Western civilization on their backs. Our soldiers, filled with a sense of mission, are standing strong on all fronts to guarantee the eternity of Israel, with Hashem’s help, and we all stand with them.” Netanyahu went on to acknowledge the IDF veterans and to thank the organizers of the events being held in Yerushalayim, Moscow, and other cities, and concluded, “I must give my warmest thanks to German Zakharyaev, one of the leaders of the Russian-Jewish Congress, who was the driving force behind commemorating this important date on the Hebrew calendar.”

In the House of Hashem

Last weekend, I attended an American wedding. No, I wasn’t in Boro Park or Lakewood; I was in Yerushalayim, but it was an American wedding nonetheless. The father of the chosson was Rav Yitzchok Meir Green of Boro Park; I can still remember attending his engagement celebration many years ago. His father-in-law was the late Rav Avrohom Noach Klein, a prodigious baal tzedokah in Boro Park. To this day, the family still manages the tzedokah fund that he established, distributing funds to various institutions and needy individuals to honor his memory. On that note, I remember that Rav Chaim Kanievsky came to visit us during the shiva for my father; it was quite unusual for him to make the trip from Bnei Brak to Beer Yaakov, but he arrived and said to us, “Every act of tzedokah, every Kaddish, every mishnah, and every mitzvah that you perform in his memory will benefit your father in the World of Truth. Just imagine that he has no pillow, and then you perform an act that provides him with a pillow.” To borrow Rav Chaim’s analogy, I tend to believe that Rav Avrohom Noach has plenty of “pillows” in Shomayim thanks to his family’s ongoing good deeds.

The kallah’s father was Rav Naftoli Etzioni (Holtz), who is a descendant of the Chiddushei HoRim and the Tiferes Shlomo. The kallah’s grandmother, Rebbetzin Chaya Pietrkowski, lives in Lakewood. In short, it was an American simcha despite being held at the Nof simcha hall in Yerushalayim.

At the wedding, I met many members of the family of Rav Yisroel Green of Boro Park. Many years ago, when I learned in America as a yeshiva bochur, first in Lakewood and then in South Fallsburg, Rav Yisroel Green and his rebbetzin opened their home to me. The Midrash states that when Hashem instructed Moshe to travel to Mitzrayim to demand the release of Bnei Yisroel, Moshe said, “Master of the Universe, I cannot do it, for Yisro received me and opened his home to me, and I am like a son to him, and when someone opens his door to his friend, he owes his life to him.” That line neatly encapsulates the depth of my own feelings of gratitude to the Green family. And I was the second generation to benefit from their largesse; their home and Reb Yisroel’s office in Manhattan (where he later worked together with his partner, the illustrious baal tzedokah Reb Yossel Neuman) were open to my father during his time in America as well. In addition, Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro was hosted in their home when he visited America. I could easily write an entire article about Rav Yisroel Green; however, he would not want me to do that.

Rav Yitzchok Meir, the father of the chosson, is an outstanding talmid chochom. During the wedding, he shared an incredible vort with us on the statement of Chazal, “Rabi Shimon says: All of Yisroel are royalty.” This statement is quoted with regard to the halachic issues of going outdoors on Shabbos while wearing jewelry or using rose oil for medical purposes on Shabbos. Rabbi Green proposed an outstanding chiddush, which I will not quote here. However, I will quote the following thought, which he shared with my table: “On Shabbos Shuvah in the year 5755, I joined you for the morning seudah. You may not remember it, but I remember that I told you a vort that I had heard from the Pnei Menachem at a tish on the previous Shabbos. He quoted the posuk, ‘I ask for one thing from Hashem, which I shall request—that I dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my life.’ The Pnei Menachem asked: How is it possible for a person to be in the ‘house of Hashem’ at all times? After all, a person must eat, sleep, and perhaps engage in business as well. The Pnei Menachem answered his question with a roar: ‘When a person thinks about Hashem in everything he does, then he is in Hashem’s House even when he is involved in gashmiyus!’”