Letter to Israel’s Leaders Regarding the Draft of Yeshiva Students

Rosh Chodesh Adar, 5786

To the leaders of government in the Land of Israel—Justices of the Supreme Court, legal advisers, cabinet ministers and members of Knesset, and all who act and work to promote the drafting of yeshiva students and “equal sharing of the military burden”:

In this letter, I wish to speak to you on your own terms.

According to your approach, for the sake of equality and security needs, the simple and correct thing is that all Charedim and yeshiva students must enlist in the army. If so, how do you explain the reality that hundreds of thousands of Charedi Jews in Israel and around the world—men and women, young and old—do not see it as you do? In your view, were all these Torah-observant Jews born with bad character traits? Were they educated to think only of themselves and their comfort, and not to care that others carry the burden? Do you believe these people do not care about the security of the country and the safety of those who dwell in Zion—are not happy at their successes and do not grieve at their suffering?

Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps there is another view here? The view of an entire community; the view of thoughtful people; the view of Jews who think deeply; the view of people of refined character; the view of human beings who are not looking to make life easier for themselves—a view whose source is the Torah of Israel and the tradition of generations?

Therefore, listen now to the truthful words I speak in your ears: A day will come when you will be required to give an accounting before your Creator for desecrating Shabbat, for all the sins you commit, and for all the mitzvot you do not observe. Perhaps you will have an argument to say: “We were born to secular parents; we were not educated to keep Torah; we did not know the importance of mitzvot.” May it help to ease your judgment.

But on this matter, you will have no such argument: How did you not take others’ views into account? How did you force your opinions upon an entire community? How did you demean your Jewish brothers by slandering them as criminals? How did you dare to deepen the injustice—arresting precious young men and imprisoning family men—only because they refuse to nullify their position before you? Even by your own standards, and in the way you were raised, you should have understood the wrongness of something that contradicts a basic human value.

Do not deceive yourselves by hiding behind the law and saying, “This is not in our hands; the law obligates us.” For who knows better than you the truth—that these laws are the work of human beings; they possess no inherent sanctity or holiness. Everything is a product of the will of the heart: with the will of the legislator it is enacted, and with the will of others it is flattered and enforced. Look and see: every injustice done in the name of the law—whether to an individual or to the public—came from your own hands.

We are approaching the days of Purim. Remember what Queen Esther sent to Mordechai the Jew—that the laws of the kingdom prevented her from entering King Achashverosh to plead and beg for her people. What did Mordechai answer her? “If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will be lost.”

The Creator placed you in positions of authority. He put the keys in your hands and set before you a test and a choice: to walk straight or crooked paths, to harm or to do good. Who knows if it was for a time such as this that you reached power? This is your opportunity—and who knows whether you will have another.

Do not force your opinion on others, even if you are the majority. Respect the view of the sages of Torah and the thousands and tens of thousands who cling to the tradition of their fathers, and do not harass them to abandon their way. Understand the gravity of this hour, and seize the opportunity to do good for your own souls. Then you will have hope.

From one who seeks the good of his people,
One of the smallest among the thousands of Israel