Will a Peace Movement Arise from the Yeshivas?

The crisis of conscription of yeshiva students into the IDF was born with the state, will accompany us for the foreseeable future and has no equitable and fair solution. The basic view of most Torah scholars of their generations can be summarized in the verse: “Not by army and not by power, for in My Spirit, said the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4). The path of the Torah is the path of peace and avoidance of the use of force. Military activity is not the path of Jews, certainly not of those who are studying Torah: war is “the work of Esau” and “Jacob is a mild man who sit in the tents.” This view rejected at the beginning of the last century the idea of ​​a Jewish state that would require the establishment of an army and the defense of its sovereignty.

An expression of the fundamental Haredi position against war and bloodshed can be found, for example, in the words of Rabbi Yitzhak Zeev Halevi Soloveitchik, the Rabbi of Brisk, in the midst of the War of Independence:

“And in general, isn’t the whole issue of the Jewish state a matter of a state of war, the outcome of which who knows… It is unheard of to abandon the lives of all the inhabitants for the sake of a great Jewish state, and not to agree to compromises… certainly for us, the children of Israel, for whom every soul is a whole world before us.” (Rabbi Yitzhak Zeev Soloveitchik to Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, Tevet 5758, 1948, from: Meller, Letters, Letter 132)

In a telegram to rabbis in the US, he calls for an end to the fighting:

“We are pressing here. But it is not enough. Influence from there as soon as possible… with strong pressure to achieve peace in the land and an end to the bloodshed as demanded by the Torah leaders.” (Ibid., Letter 134, 26 Adar 2^nd, 1948)

The Jewish state is destined to be in a permanent war. The use of force knows no bounds, and he accuses the leadership of responsibility for a war whose goals are not only to protect the residents but also to expand territory at the cost of human life.

This is a pacifist view, in a way that is incompatible with conscription into the army and bearing arms. The 400 students who studied in yeshivas at that time could have been the beginning of a great Jewish peace movement. Yeshiva students did not enlist even when the numbers rose to tens of thousands. But the moral message that “war is not our path”, that the role of the “Torah scholars is to increase peace in the world”, was not assimilated into the yeshivas and the broader Haredi public. The critical turning away from this fundamental concept was the agreement of the yeshiva heads to Ben-Gurion’s demand to cancel independent fundraising and receive their share directly from the United Jewish Appeal. The Rabbi of Brisk wrote about this:

“I heard and my stomach churned, because at the meeting of yeshivas’ heads held last week in Jerusalem, it was decided to agree to the proposal that the yeshivas receive their budget from the unified fund provided by the Zionists. This means that the key to all yeshivas will be handed over to the Zionists, and that they will receive the rule of the Torah into their hands… In my opinion, we must fight against this proposal with dedication… because it is a proposal to violate the Torah…. to hand over the key to the Torah to its violators and fighters.” (ibid., Letter 135, Av 5758)

His call was rejected by the yeshiva’s leadership.

The big trap for the yeshivas is that they are funded by the state. The fundamental Haredi view has not been updated, and it still opposes sovereignty but is sustained by this sovereignty. Moreover: the Haredi representatives are full partners in power, they themselves are the sovereign, together with the national parties and their responsibility for the war is no less than that of the other partners.

The dependence of the yeshivas on the state became absolute. The generation of a society of learners committed to the values ​​of peace fell silent. Many of them, who do not dream of enlisting, are even more militant than the fighters at the forefront of the IDF: they are ready to fight in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran until the last drop of blood… of the recruits.

The Councils of the Great Torah Scholars and the Torah Sages statements expressed a firm stance against military conscription in general and later also ordered their representatives in the Knesset to leave the government if the law exempting yeshiva students was not passed. But the more significant and interesting question is whether there will be any of the great Torah leaders who will lead an educational process of returning to the fundamental values ​​of the Torah world and building a generation of Torah scholars who are committed to peace, to preventing violence and saving lives. Beyond that: the peace movement that will arise from such a process will have a social and political impact on all Israeli society.