Natan Slifkin's Blog, page 20

Pain and Division

This week is already starting as one of the most painful weeks this year. After the terrible murders of the six hostages, the country seems more divided than ever, with massive protests and much of the country shut down today.

I will start this post by giving my position on the hostage deal: I don’t have one. I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not. I don’t even know how anyone can know. Nobody (in the general public) even knows what the details of the deal are! And certainly nobody knows the con...

And What About American Jews?

In my numerous posts about army service, I have written extensively about why charedim should be sharing the national responsibility. But there’s a question begging to be asked: What about Jews who live in the US or other places outside of Israel?

There are those who take the approach that it’s a milchemes mitzvah and indeed every Jew, no matter where they live, has an obligation to come to Israel and fight. (I’m told that Rav Hershel Shechter takes that position, though I have not been able to c...

Kosher Food to Die For?

The lionfish is a voracious predator which is highly venomous. Lionfish possess 18 venomous spines, which can cause extreme pain and nausea, convulsions, dizziness, fever and numbness. Lionfish are also invasive species in the Mediterranean, having swum up from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal, and they are an ecological menace. But are they kosher?

Lionfish do have fins and scales, as required in this week's Torah portion. But what about their venom?

In the 17th century, Rabbi Yom Tov Lippmann Hel...

What Should Trapped Charedim Do?

In the last few days I received a variation of the same question from three different people in the charedi world. There are many people who, for one reason or another, are stuck in the charedi world. Either they grew up that way, or they moved to Israel and fell into that culture, and now their children are embedded in the system. Meanwhile, the events of the last ten months have made them realize that the charedi path of not sharing responsibility in a national emergency is wrong. What should ...

The Dati Community is Furious

In my previous post, The Delusion About Dati’im, I noted a striking phenomenon: many Anglo-Charedim in Israel are under the impression that the dati community is fine with the charedi community not serving in the IDF and that there is achdus. I pointed out that, by and large, the dati community is furious with the charedi community.

Apparently I struck a chord.

I was deluged with comments from people in the dati community expressing how angry and disgusted they really are. Here are some of the res...

The Delusion about Dati'im

I’ve recently become aware of a remarkable phenomenon. I told some friends about it and they couldn’t believe it. But it’s true.

I discovered that there are a considerable number of Anglo-charedim, including (and perhaps especially) the more moderate ones, who are under the delusion that the dati community has no ill feeling toward them.

I first realized this when R. Mordechai Neugerschal made the ridiculous claim that dati-leumi rabbis support the decision of the charedi community not to enlist. ...

The Rule of Law

I have written a lot about the shortcomings of the charedi community. They are the most serious of Israel’s internal problems, because if no drastic change is made then then the country will simply economically and militarily collapse. But there are problems in other sectors of society too, including my own. And one very alarming problem was seen a few weeks ago.

The arrest of several soldiers in the Sdei Teiman base under suspicion of torturing and sexually abusing a prisoner was followed by a g...

The Religious Risks of IDF Service

One commonly cited alleged justification for why charedim don’t serve in the IDF, even if they are not learning in yeshiva, is because of the religious risks that it presents. There is talk about a very high percentage of dati soldiers who end up becoming secular after their army service, as well as a Leftist-Supreme Court-IDF agenda to oppose accommodations to religion and secularize soldiers. Accordingly, it’s just too spiritually dangerous.

There are four responses to be made to this: first, i...

Trust the Magic

(Pictured above: R. Mordechai Neugroschel, who opposes army service, and Rav Eliezer Melamed, who is in favor of it)

Listening again to R. Mordechai Neugroschel’s lecture on why charedim shouldn’t serve in the army (you can hear an audio recording here), something occurred to me. People have told me that he is a brilliant scholar, a renowned philosopher, an expert in explaining Torah even to secular Jews. But his lengthy and empty presentation featuring only five minutes of actual content that pr...

Torah and Army: The Big Index

While some have criticized my posts about charedim and army service as being divisive, many others have applauded them, and some have even described them as the most important posts that I have ever written. And what I noticed is that, by and large, the people who criticize my posts live in the United States, or are charedi. Whereas, by and large, the people who greatly appreciate my posts live in Israel and/or have children in the IDF.

It is, of course, easy and desirable for people to talk abou...