Monday, December 9, 2019

IDF FAKING CHAREI BOYS, while denying dati religious girls

Charedim in the IDF? An Insider's Perspective
As a sequel to yesterday's post about the IDF massively overstating the numbers of charedim in the IDF, here is an eye-opening account from a friend of mine who served in Nachal Charedi. Please note that the point of this is not that Nachal Charedi is not valuable; it is tremendously valuable. The point is that Nachal Charedi does not indicate that charedi society is more accepting of army service.


Don't let the IDF's spin fool you. The talk of "mistakes", of "an unfortunate mishap", it's all false.

I know. I served for three years in Netzach Yehuda/ Nahal Haredi and can testify that what we have here is nothing less than a systematic campaign by the military to fool the government and the public.

In August 2013, I transferred from the Border Police to Netzach Yehuda. The August draft cycle was the first since then-Finance Minister Yair Lapid passed the Draft Law, and everyone involved had an interest in showing that haredi enlistment was on the rise.

As part of this propaganda effort, Netzach drafted two companies. As IDF veterans know, every combat battalion only drafts one company per tri-yearly draft cycle. But officially, so many haredim were begging to wear army green that they had to establish a second company, probably the first time this happened in the military's history.

The reality, of course, was considerably different. In fact, there were barely enough haredim for one company. So what did they do to maintain the fiction?

They simply went to the IDF's recruitment center in Tel Hashomer, found everyone who refused to serve in non-glamorous units such as tanks and artillery, conscripted them into Netzach, and sold them to the public as 'haredim'.

This brings me to the ultimate policy of dishonesty that was only exposed this morning. The IDF officially counts anyone serving in its ultra-Orthodox units as haredi.

This includes foreign soldiers trying to evade a mandatory three month Hebrew course ("I'm haredi and can't have female teachers"), married Religious Zionist troops who wanted more time at home with their wives, Chabadnikim, and Religious Zionists who didn't want to serve with women.

All of these people were counted in the official statistics. And when we were told that haredi enlistment is on the rise, it didn't mean that more haredim chose to fight for God and country, but that these units simply accepted more people.

Yet even the haredim themselves were not actually haredi. During my service, I saw people in my unit visiting brothels and eating bread on Passover. Shabbat desecration was rampant, daily minyanim were not a thing, and even officers were completely secular. When serving as a commander in the training base, I would often be forced to visit other companies to find a minyan for Mincha because I knew there was no chance I would find it with Netzach guys.

This wasn't a secret. Everyone knew, both in the IDF and out. Yet the official story went on. Journalists would arrive on base, speak to the three actual haredim, and then file a story about "the Ultra Orthodox combat battalions". I even remember how the soldiers selected to visit Defense Minister Bogie Ya'alon in his Sukkah were ordered to replace their knitted kipa with a black velvet one. As the old Canon ad went, "Image is Everything".

You can't fool all of the people all of the time, and the fact that the IDF was exposed cooking the books means we need to do some real thinking. The myth that haredim are running to the military is now demonstrably false, and the stats about their integration in the workforce are also problematic.

This means that the two fastest growing populations in Israel, the haredim and the Arabs, are not serving in the military, live in poverty, are not highly educated, and do not identify with the state.

These two populations already comprise 35% of Israel's total population. What will happen in 2040? Who will work, serve in the IDF, pay taxes, and be doctors?

As the saying goes, a third of the country pays taxes, a third works, and a third serves in the army. The problem is, is that it's always the same third.

If nothing changes, Israel could very well deteriorate into a failed state that cannot take care of its citizenry.

2 comments:

  1. This post seems like a hasty patch to cover up the fundamental error of the previous post, in which you cited and linked to the Jerusalem Post to breathlessly trumpet that the IDF has been "deliberately falsifying" (your words) the number of charedi recruits. It said nothing of the sort. At most, there is a rethinking or difference of opinion in how to define "charedi." That doesn't even mean the previous designation was wrong, let alone "deliberately false" - its just a different method. Everyone knows these things are impossible to define. That your "friend" here thinks otherwise is meaningless. As a Friend of the Show, I hope you are more careful of your words. In other contexts that could be actionable. And in all events it doesn't help your credibility.

    As for your closing comment, that Israel could deteriorate into a failed state - in 2019, I thought everyone had learned to stay away from predictions.

    (Having said all this, yes, I agree with central point. It would be nice if more Charedim served.)

    2. In your update you fret about the
    Reply
  2. Well, if Nahal Haredi is so full of chilul shabbos, treif, and brothels, and they don't have a minchah, then I guess it's a good thing so many Haredim don't go.

    I know everyone will say that it's that way *because* the Hare
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7 comments:

  1. " During my service, I saw people in my unit visiting brothels and eating bread on Passover"


    The second part of the statement could be credible, after all, bread could be brought into the base. How , exactly, did the writer witness the first part? Imagine the military base is somewhere in the desert, and soldiers do not have freedom to leave daily? Or do they go home every evening? if so, how did this man witness people visting brothels, considering they are presumably not so easily found in the desert? And he also does not state whehter these so called "visitors" were proper hareidi (in attire) or another branch of Orthodox, or seculars? If they can find brothels whilst in the army, then i presume they are already initiated in this "pastime" even before entering the army, whether hareidi or not!
    Overal, it is not a believable story.

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  2. Torah thought on וישלח
    “Jacob sent messengers מלאכים ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, and instructed them as follows, [or Thus you shall say to my lord Esau, Thus says your servant Jacob] -Thus shall you say, To my lord Esau, thus says your servant Jacob: I stayed גרתי with Laban and remained ואחר until now” (Genesis 32:4-5).
    בראשית פרק לב פסוק ה
    וַיְצַו אֹתָם לֵאמֹר כֹּה תֹאמְרוּן לַאדֹנִי לְעֵשָׂו כֹּה אָמַר עַבְדְּךָ יַעֲקֹב עִם לָבָן גַּרְתִּי וָאֵחַר עַד עָתָּה:
    רש"י בראשית פרשת וישלח פרק לב פסוק ה
    גרתי - לא נעשיתי שר וחשוב אלא גר, אינך כדאי לשנוא אותי על ברכות אביך שברכני (לעיל כז כט) הוה גביר לאחיך, שהרי לא נתקיימה בי. דבר אחר גרתי בגימטריא תרי"ג, כלומר עם לבן הרשע גרתי ותרי"ג מצות שמרתי ולא למדתי ממעשיו הרעים:
    Esau kept up with pretensions of being righteous. Jacob remembers the big fights they had. Esau said better to go out into the world to make the world better than to go to Yeshivot of Shem and Eber. Bravo Esau killed Nimrod.
    Midrash Rabbah - Genesis LXV:16:
    “ ‘Rebekah then took the best החמדת clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on ותלבש’ (Genesis 27:15). Viz. those which he had coveted from Nimrod, as it is written, “The wicked covet the catch of evil men; The root of the righteous yields [fruit]” (Proverbs 12:12).
    משלי פרק יב פסוק יב
    חָמַד רָשָׁע מְצוֹד רָעִים וְשֹׁרֶשׁ צַדִּיקִים יִתֵּן:
    רש"י משלי פרק יב פסוק יב
    חמד רשע - להיות נזון ומתפרנס ממצוד רשעים שצדים את הבריות בגזלות וחמס:
    ושורש צדיקים יתן - מה שהוא ראוי ליתן והוא הפרי:
    Esau thought only of this world how to enrich himself and to rule. Jacob thought mainly of Torah and mitzvot. Jacob said to Laban: “Of the twenty years that I spent in your household, I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks; and you changed my wages time and again [lit. ten times]” (Genesis 31:41).
    The parsha וישלח was a continuation of Jacob and Esau’s argument from youth. Esau wanted this world to rule and to get as more and more money. Esau got his wish. Yes Esau rules Seir. Esau killed Nimrod, the evil dictator in his day. Esau never has enough wealth: “Please accept my present which has been brought to you, for God has favored me and I have plenty. And when he urged him, he accepted.” (Genesis 33:11).
    Most important to Esau was: “Let peoples serve you, And nations bow to you; Be master over your brothers, And let your mother’s sons bow to you.” (Genesis 27:29).

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  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOoQ1Xpdt4I

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  4. YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR HEAD DEEP IN THE SAND !
    IDF 3 SINS ARYOUS(ZNUS) SHFICHAS DAM AVOIDAH ZORAH CHILUL SHABOS RAMPANT

    KEEP AWAY

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  5. What shfichas dam are you referring to? What a.z. ?
    Perhaps would be worse if secular were not in the army. Anyway, you are advocating another shoah, which is not surprising, as you are satmar .you want the greatest shefichas dam of all, you must be soton@s son.

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  6. Who is giving this eye witness account of what happened in olam haba? The man is a charlatan, has no idea what will happen in the next world.

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  7. YOU want to bury the Jews in Israel under 6 feet of sand, like your satmalek friends.

    ReplyDelete

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