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Rabbi Joel Lehrfield
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| The Rabbi's Study |
February, 2003
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The other
week, I happened to notice in a number of places, articles describing a
dilemma facing the Israel Defense Forces. There was a time when the backbone
of the IDF's most elite units were taken from youth affiliated with the
national secular kibbutz movement. They were among the most ideologically
motivated members of the IDF, but that is no longer so. Army service, which
was once held in highest esteem among the teens of the kibbutz movement,
is now seen in a different light. To quote one article, "while many
kibbutz teenagers are still serving in the top infantry and Air Force units,
the shift is already evident and the new generation of combat IDF officers
is now that of the kipa sruga (knitted yarmulke), the youths identifying
with the national religious camp."
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The other week, I happened
to notice in a number of places, articles describing a dilemma facing the
Israel Defense Forces. There was a time when the backbone of the IDF's most
elite units were taken from youth affiliated with the national secular kibbutz
movement. They were among the most ideologically motivated members of the
IDF, but that is no longer so. Army service, which was once held in highest
esteem among the teens of the kibbutz movement, is now seen in a different
light. To quote one article, "while many kibbutz teenagers are still
serving in the top infantry and Air Force units, the shift is already evident
and the new generation of combat IDF officers is now that of the kipa sruga
(knitted yarmulke), the youths identifying with the national religious camp."
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But as we say in Yiddish,
"The bride is too beautiful. - Der kallah ist tzu schein." Recently,
a senior secular kibbutz movement official, Yoel Mahrshek, was quoted as
saying that religious Orthodox youths, who are now commanding units in the
Army, are unacceptable in a country that still is composed of a secular
majority. He went so far as to question the loyalty of the young religious
commanders by saying "they have their Rabbis and religious leaders
." He thus suggested implicitly that they may not obey their commanders
if Rabbinical authorities instructed them otherwise. He further added that
it was important that secular youths move into command positions to prevent
the religious youth from taking over.
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Needless to say, a number
of leaders of the kibbutz movement responded with varying disapproving statements
to Mr. Mahrshek's position, but the cat is out of the bag. It is quite obvious
to anybody with some knowledge of the secular kibbutz movement, that it
has become ideologically bankrupt. One of the tests of an ideologically
bankrupt position is the inability to transmit that position, its concerns,
its beliefs and its values to a succeeding generation. People often vote
with their feet and the youth of the kibbutz has voted with its feet. By
and large they have moved to the cities and towns, in pursuit of a different
lifestyle. They seem to be unwilling to cling to the socialist values of
their elders. To be ideologically valid is to be able to transmit a core
belief to your children and your children's children. This value or belief
must have staying power; it must be able to live beyond the confines of
a single generation or two. The truth be told -- the values of the Zionist
pioneers no longer excite or move the current generation. For a state such
as Israel, besieged on all sides by enemies who are relentlessly opposed
to the very notion of a Jewish state, opposed by murderers from without
and weakened by those who are unsure of its value as a Jewish state from
within, an ethos is required that provides a sufficiently strong structure
to withstand the constant assault to which it is subject. It should be no
wonder why the youth of the modern religious Zionist camp still see Army
service as noble and worthwhile. For they believe that this land is our
land, from the sea to at least the Jordan - that this land is the promised
land - that Hashem gave this land to the Jewish people and that having returned
to it after 2,000 years of exile, to once again establish a Jewish commonwealth
that this land is worth fighting for, risking one's life for and, G-d forbid,
dying for. Certainly one does not see, with all of the sacrifices that we
have endured over the past two years, the modern Zionists leaving Hebron,
Gush Etzion, Shomron, Gush Khatif. Instead for every korban that has fallen,
a new rededication takes place that can only arise from the power of an
idea. It is in this new generation of IDF religious commanders who lend
the strength of their beliefs to the Army they serve, that the Army and
the State it secures will endure. May Hashem bless their efforts..
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