Category: Politics

An Enlightening Conversation with the Great-Grandson of Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld ztz"l

19/8/2019

Every once in a while, Hashem enables you to come full circle within certain aspects of life.

For example, the biography of Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld ztz"l, Guardian of Jerusalem, changed my life and stamped an everlasting imprint on my hashkafah.

It was that book which shined light on the shadow surrounding the stories and scenarios I’d been told as a child in the movement for Conservative (which is actually quite liberal) “Judaism.”

I never consciously sensed the lies by omission nor the distortions regarding the modern history of Eretz Yisrael.

But upon reading Guardian of Jerusalem, so much came pouring back to me and I now saw the distorted history I’d been fed—corrected and displayed in full.

The maskilim and Leftist “pioneers” portrayed as heroes—they nearly destroyed the struggling Jewish settlement under Turkish rule. It was always either the Sephardi chachamim or the Ashkenazi chachamim who came to the rescue.

Yet I was always told the opposite: The religious Jews were always the bad guys; the “enlightened” liberal anti-religious Socialists were the saviors (although the fact that they were Socialists—or even Communists, really—was swept aside in the Commie-fearing Eighties).

A Zealous Warrior...from Love

I developed tremendous love and reverence for Rav Sonnenfeld, the father of the stream now known as “charedi.” He possessed an overpowering love for every Jew and for Eretz Yisrael.

He was also a tremendous warrior against the anti-Torah ideologies—but his zeal came from love.

He was a warrior from love.

Absolutely fearless, a warrior propelled by love, and a great ohev Hashem, ohev Yisrael, and ohev Eretz Yisrael, Rav Sonnenfeld was exactly what I wanted to be.

And over 20 years later, he is still the example I embrace, even though I’m still dropping very short of his example—mostly because I can’t figure out how to get there. But as usual, I figure there’s value in the effort.

Anyway, after one of my sons first started yeshivah, he came home telling me that one of his teachers was Ashkenazi and the great-grandson of Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.

Stunned with joy and gratitude, I could not believe the big chessed Hashem had done for me by placing the great-grandson of my role model as my son’s teacher.

The Ideal Teacher for Teenage Boys

And this great-grandson was an excellent teacher for teenage boys.

Extremely energetic, good-humored, yet highly intelligent and very much a product of his family’s hashkafah, he was also very understanding of dealing with all the challenges of being a teenage boy and a frum Jew in today’s world.

He was very open and honest with the boys about the challenges this generation faces, and he gave over his Torah approach with great passion and conviction.

My husband and I met him during a parent-teacher evening and he was very friendly.

At one point, I asked my son to do me a big favor.

Saved by the "Black Arm" of a Complete Tzaddik

I wanted an answer to a question I’d had about a certain event in the early 1920s, as recorded on pages 135-137 of Guardian of Jerusalem: The Life & Times of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.

At one point, Rav Sonnenfeld went way out of his way to save the life of a terrible Jew (“one of the leaders of the Zionist Labor Federation, known for his virulent anti-religious attacks”) who needed the superior treatment provided only at Shaarei Tzedek hospital and only Rav Sonnenfeld could make it happen.

To provide some background: The Beit Din of Yerushalayim had placed a ban on anyone who entered the Missionary Hospital, whether for work or for treatment, with dire results for anyone who violated this ban.

Anyway, it was assumed that the legendary Dr. Wallach of Shaarei Tzedek would refuse to admit a person who both intentionally chose treatment at the Missionary Hospital (despite the ban and the poorer medical treatment there) and was a rabid anti-Torah Leftist bent on destroying Yiddishkeit in Eretz Yisrael.

Indeed, upon being brought to Shaarei Tzedek, the Leftist and his family encountered resistance from Dr. Wallach.

Interestingly, the family asked an off-the-derech youth to approach Rav Sonnenfeld. This youth was the son of a big talmid chacham and well-known to Rav Sonnenfeld. This youth also knew that Rav Sonnenfeld was “quite upset” with this same youth for leaving Torah and befriending this anti-Torah Leftist.

Nonetheless, this youth approached Rav Sonnenfeld at home, where Rav Sonnenfeld still received this youth with warmth.

Upon hearing of the urgent situation, the rav braved a severe thunderstorm to rush to Shaarei Tzedek, where Rav Sonnenfeld insisted that halacha demanded the admission of this dangerously ill traitor (but promised to discuss the matter with Dr. Wallach later).

Two weeks later, the anti-Torah Leftist experienced a miraculous recovery, then continued his nefarious activities.

Knowing how much the Leftist disliked Rav Sonnenfeld, none of the Leftist's associates informed him of Rav Sonnenfeld’s life-saving intervention & mesirut nefesh.

By the way, this also shows the mentality of such people. Why not tell the Leftist leader? Why not tell this rabid hater that one of the Gadolei Hador saved his life? Maybe it would soften him up a bit. At least, it might stop him from attacking the tzaddikim. Maybe he’d more willingly to hear Rav Sonnenfeld’s side and compromise a bit.

But those who knew davka decided to be careful not to tell him. So once again, we see that Leftists don’t really pursue peace; they have other agendas.

Anyway, a year later, this same Leftist delivered a keynote speech at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new settlement in the North. When he reached the climax of his speech, this Leftist gave a frenzied shout:

“We will build this land by waging a fight to the death against the black arm of Rabbi Sonnenfeld and his cronies!”

(page 137)

Sitting in the audience was the same youth who’d interceded on the Leftist’s behalf.

This statement spurred the youth to jump to his feet and shout his protest against such slander.

At the invitation of the shocked Leftist, the youth took over the podium and explained to all assembled “exactly how the ‘black arm’ of R’ Chaim Sonnenfeld had interceded to save the life of one who had vowed to destroy him.”

That should make you eat your words, shouldn’t it?

Ba'asher Hu Sham?

Anyway, I was confused because this Leftist set himself on the warpath to destroy Torah Judaism in Eretz Yisrael.

So I didn’t get why Rav Sonnenfeld helped this terrible traitor so much.

Yes, the book clearly quotes Rav Sonnenfeld’s view that the situation was pikuach nefesh to save a Jewish life. But the halacha isn’t so clear-cut for someone willing to die fighting tzaddikim and shredding Torah Judaism to bits.

And before anybody gets lovey-dovey about it, please know that these anti-religious Leftists were killers—sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly—in addition to destroying the Am in a spiritual sense.

In fact, these same anti-Torah Leftists later programmed terrible suffering among the religious community of Yerushalayim, causing hundreds of Jews to starve to death.

So my son very kindly agreed to ask the great-grandson on my behalf. Why on earth did Rav Sonnenfeld do such a thing?

The great-grandson knew exactly to which story my son referred and pondered the question for a moment.

Then he said, “I don’t know exactly why he [Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld] did it. It could be that at the time, it wasn’t known that the other guy [the anti-Torah sickie] was so bad.”

That could be.

While at the time, the man was a known anti-Torah Leftist leader, it could be that it was only later that the man openly stated his rabid extremism, such as being willing die fighting one of the biggest tzaddikim of that generation.

But please note what the great-grandson did NOT say:

He did not say, “Nebbuch, the anti-religious hack was tinok sheh nishba, of course!”

He did not say, “Ahavas Yisrael, you know.”

He did not say, “Why, alter Zeidy loved EVERYBODY — of course he made every effort to save this hate-filled destroyer of Yiddishkeit!”

Nope. He didn’t say any of the expected feel-good stuff.

Instead, he said he wasn’t sure why his holy great-grandfather went to so much trouble to help this terrible person, then surmised that it wasn’t yet known exactly how bad the terrible person actually was.

This sort of fits in with Judaism’s precept of Hashem judging a person ba’asher hu sham—in the place where he is (i.e., in his present state), which is one reason given for Hashem’s Compassion upon Yishmael dying of thirst in the desert (Beresheit 21:17 with Rashi).

Yishmael would eventually produce a nation of terrorists (along with some very nice people too). But at that moment, he was a 16-year-old boy abandoned by a mother who couldn’t overcome her own pain to comfort him in his suffering.

(For more on that incident, please also see Salvation is Hashem and scroll down one-third.)

Who Listens to a Rabid Dog Frothing at the Mouth? And WHY?

I’d like to make one final point.

(And I'm not going to answer the question posed in the above sub-heading, but leave it to you instead.)

It seems to me that Rav Sonnenfeld’s tzidkut was widely known at that time.

Rav Sonnenfeld not only performed tremendous chessed in official capacity, but also as a neighbor and regular passer-by.

Rav Sonnenfeld was well-known for his generous tzedakah activities. He was also incredibly humble and a tremendous baal chessed—all in addition to his scholarly brilliance.

How is it that the secular Leftists possessed such intense hatred toward Rav Sonnenfeld?

Why were they so blind to the rav’s sterling qualities?

Furthermore, based on the above story and many others like it, then rav was clearly approachable. People just came to his house or joined him on his walks to davening.

Why didn't his opponents approach him themselves? They could have.

So what was going on here?

Why did they describe Rav Sonnenfeld as having a “black arm”? Why were they willing to “wage war” against him and even fight him “to the death”?

What was so terrifyingly awful about this wise, loving, compassionate, and generous tzaddik?

It seems to me the only reason was that these anti-Torah Leftists were rabidly insane.

What else explains their all-consuming hatred? Why else were they willing to starve impoverished charedi children in Yerushalayim and elsewhere?

Yet people followed them! People listened to what they had to say!

How could they?

Yet if you look around, it seems we have the same problem today.

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What's the Deal with Neturei Karta?

18/8/2019

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At one point in our marriage, we lived in Geula (near Meah Shearim) for around 2 years (and I worked there too), so I met many different types of frum Jews whom I'd only read about until then.

And I met some wonderful women (including the warm & encouraging mikveh ladies) who seemed like they might be Neturei Karta (they had shaved heads, long black tichels, and black dresses), but I wasn't sure because I'm not always sure how to differentiate between Neturei Karta and other super-frum insulated groups.

And just for knowing: Neturei Karta is a specific group within that Meah Shearim-Geula community of wonderfully traditional & insulated Yidden. In other words, not everyone from there is Neturei Karta. (Neturei Karta has also spread out to other cities too.)

But I don't recall meeting any of the men. (Or if I did, I didn't know it.) So despite living & working right there, I actually know surprisingly little about Neturei Karta, other than what appears on the (deplorably biased) news or other tidbits here and there.

It also seems that other frum people don't know much about them either. There tends to be a lot of contradictory back-and-forth among frum people regarding Neturei Karta.

So imagine how pleased I was to run across a 2-minute 45-second video from Rav Zamir Cohen, which discusses Neturei Karta and who they really are. If you understand Hebrew, it's HERE.

(Note: A couple of females appear briefly in an ad — which you can skip — preceding the video. They're tsniusly dressed, but some people are shomer aynayim l'mehadrin — and more power to them. So the MP3 audio is on the lower right-hand side of the video screen for those who just want to listen, can't skip the ad, or whatever.)

What Rav Zamir Cohen Says about Neturei Karta

Anyway, a member of the audience asks Rav Zamir what's the deal with Neturei Karta, who appear to engage in behaviors that are offensive at best and deplorably forbidden at worst.

So Rav Zamir first acknowledges that when people claiming to be & dressing like Neturei Karta are photographed with the PLO and other particularly genocidal sonei Yisrael, this raises legitimate concerns.

Thus, Rav Zamir starts by explaining the Aramaic term Neturei Karta:
Neturei: Guardians of the
Karta: City

He then explains that the authentic original Neturei Karta group believes that (0:47):

"...because the State educates the children of Israel on a path against the Torah; the laws of the State do not go according to the Torah — so they [Neturei Karta] say: 'We do not wish to participate in elections, we don't want to be partners in this whole enterprise. We'll manage our schools without the funding of the State."

Even though it costs a lot of money to run schools on their own, they still refuse to accept any government funding. Why?

" 'Because we don't want to be partners with a government that educates the Nation not according to the Torah'."

(1:09)

Rav Zamir adds,

"That, in essence, is Neturei Karta."

He goes on to explain that within this group is a splinter group of whom "there are those who say seven families, there are some who say twelve families — but according to all opinions, no more than twelve families" who have even more extreme opinions. "But there, they've completely lost themselves," says Rav Zamir.

(I had no idea about any of that.)

In Neturei Karta's newspaper (I didn't know they had one), Neturei Karta states regarding this splinter group:

"They do not represent us and obviously their attitude is warped, and they bring upon all of us a bad name."

Rav Zamir then states his opinion that all those who meet with the leader of Iran, terrorists, the PLO, and who are photographed with the Philistinian flag are "completely corrupt" and "apparently in need of hospitalization."

When someone has reached the point where they associate with such enmity, Rav Zamir declares:

"Not only do they not represent the Torah, they don't even represent the Torah extremists."

Then Rav Zamir cautions against making assumptions about people you see dressed like the nutters supporting sonei Yisrael. They look the same as the authentic Neturei Karta and they call themselves Neturei Karta, but they are not.

This actually echoes what many frum Jews, regardless of our group association, deal with: We're always forced to defend ourselves against the actions (or misreported actions) of a disturbed few, protesting that "they don't represent us" or "they're a tiny minority; most of us aren't like that at all" or "the media got it wrong (again)," etc.

Again, Rav Zamir clarifies (2:15):

"Even the extreme Neturei Karta, their war is in that they claim that the State educates and legislates laws against the Torah — 'We don't want anything from them, we don't want to participate in elections, we don't want to influence, we don't want to take even one cent from them. But not, God forbid, to befriend enemies of Israel. We are all Jews; we are all brothers'."

This little clip contained a lot of new information for me, so I thought I'd share it because I suspect that I'm not the only one who didn't know all this.

It's not about whether you agree with the actual Neturei Karta or not.

It's just knowing the truth about your fellow Jews and not being a victim of the distortions of media or impostors.

A courtyard in Meah Shearim

Kashering utensils in Meah Shearim (although the guy in the forefront isn't Neturei Karta, but looks Breslov to me)

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Please, Help Yourself to A Slice of Life in Eretz Yisrael...

15/8/2019

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One of my sons likes to hike & hitchhike around the country when he's not in yeshivah.

(You can read about a couple of his exploits here: Despite All the Grumbles, There’s No Place Like Home and more recently: We Didn't Start the Fire...But We'll Still Gladly Help You Put It Out, Brother!)

Being age 20, the people who give him a ride often say things like, “Hey, how old are you? Why aren’t you in the army?”

He thrives on the opportunity to pleasantly defend himself, seeing it as a way to hone his own position.

And as far as he has experienced, these family-like confrontations are always self-affirming.

Anyway...at one point, an older Moroccan couple from Tiveria picked him up.

The husband was a firm supporter of Tiveria’s rabidly anti-Torah current mayor and the wife supported her husband.

But seeing my son’s obviously yeshivish appearance, the man didn’t want to get into it with my son.

Anyway, the wife started rambling about their son, who’d joined a combat unit in the IDF.

“They don’t feed them well,” she fretted. “When my son returned from battle, he was THIS thin!” She held up one finger.

My son silently noted with amusement that she seemed more concerned about her son’s food intake than the dangers he faced in battle.

Then the woman turned on my son, saying, “Why should my son have to risk his life on the battlefield while you sit in yeshivah?”

“Maybe the whole reason your son came back from the battlefield was because I’m sitting in yeshivah,” replied my son.

“Huh,” said the woman, thoughtfully. (It's hard for older Moroccan ladies to be REAL kofrim.)

The man didn’t say a word.

But he didn't chuck my son out of the car, either.

They dropped my son off at a convenient location, he thanked them, and things ended on a more or less amicable note.

Why am I telling you this?

It’s just a slice of life in Eretz Yisrael.

Also, Israelis on opposing sides do not usually behave with the ferocity portrayed in media outlets.

It goes more like the above: Open & straight-shootin', possibly passionate, but not hateful.

The media either makes things up or pounces on the handful of ferocious behaviors to set a magnifying lens on it.

Normal Jews may be flawed and misguided, but are basically decent people.

If we would skip over all the purposefully inflammatory video clips & rhetoric, we might all get along much better.

(And we'd behave with a lot more seichel too.)

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We Didn't Start the Fire...But We'll Still Gladly Help You Put It Out, Brother!

13/8/2019

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One of my sons attends an excellent Sephardi charedi yeshivah.

During the Nine Days, this son & 2 friends happened upon the owner of a small factory who was burning extraneous twigs and branches, when by doing so, this owner accidentally set his own factory on fire.

The owner quickly brought a bucket to a nearby faucet that released a weak trickle of water, then he threw whatever water he managed onto the fire.

The water merely turned to steam with a hiss, and the fire kept expanding.

My son sought out the fire-fighting apparatus required in any factory. He found a glass box with a hose in it, but no connection to any fire-extinguishing source.

No hand-held fire extinguisher either.

Then my son sought out a water source and found a rusty pump in the bushes. He and his 2 yeshivah friends connected the hose to the pump and assisted the owner in putting out the fire.

At some point, the authorities arrived and my son and his friends left.

Later, a man who knew both the boys and the owner met up with the boys and said that the owner got fined for not having his fire-safety equipment up to date.

“And do you know what a big kiddush Hashem you guys did?” said the man.

No, they didn’t. They just saw an older man struggling with a fire and it never occurred to them NOT to help him.

Forced to Eat Humble Mapai

It turns out that the owner was a Mapainik.

MaPAI [Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael—The Party of Workers of the Land of Israel) was Ben-Gurion’s political party. It was also the party of the old-time kibbutzim, Moshe Sharret, Levi Eshkol, and Golda Meir. It later merged with other Leftist parties to form the present-day Labor party.

Often described as “left of center,” it was basically Communist. Utter disdain of charedim was self-understood in Mapai.

So this die-hard Mapainik was shocked that charedi yeshivah bachurs would help him with such zerizut—especially since the fire had been his fault.

Furthermore, despite him being the older and “wiser” hotshot Mapainik and them being (in his eyes) the backwards & foolish yeshivah bachurs, it was the yeshivah bachurs who succeeded in figuring out the most effective way to put out the fire—in HIS factory.

So they were altruistic too, which also ran against his stereotype of the selfish, self-absorbed charedi Jew.

This is clearly an example of what psychology calls “projection” and what the Gemara describes as “kol hapossel, b’mumo possel”—every person who invalidates another (based on a particular flaw) is actually basing this invalidation on a flaw that he himself possesses too.

So this owner assumed that charedim would hate him too much to help him because HE hates charedim too much to help THEM. (Or so I surmise. I don’t know him at all. But why else was he so flabbergasted by their assistance? I mean, this IS Israel. Most passers-by would help. Naturally.)

The owner wanted their names and to thank them.

Needless to say, the boys weren’t looking to make a kiddush Hashem.

They just responded to the situation with the Torah values (and Gemara-sharpened brains) they’d internalized. It hadn’t occurred to them to think or respond in any other way.

Firing Up an Opening to Teshuvah?

I also think that Hashem is trying to give this old Mapainik a chance to do teshuvah.

The founders and leaders of Mapai took over the government, the media, and the schools back when this Mapainik was a youngster.

How much of chance did he really stand against their agenda?

But now, Hashem brought him 3 yeshivah bachurs who shocked him with their quick thinking, competency, and compassion.

Hashem could've brought the old Mapainik other helpers. I mean, after all, this IS Israel and most people would help in this situation.

But Hashem davka sent 3 yeshivah bachurs to help this guy.

And he’s good enough to both take note and appreciate their efforts.

This event clearly caused him to think differently (and more positively) about Torah-observant Jews.

Maybe he’ll start thinking differently (and more positively) about the Torah too.

Hashem loves everybody and wants us all to do teshuvah.

And I think the accidental fire was this old Mapainik’s opening to change.

I hope so, anyway.

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Giyus Banot, Crafty Deception, and Spiritual Physics

28/7/2019

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An issue that keeps popping up in Israeli society is giyus banot—female army enlistment.

This topic deserves a much bigger post, but we’ll just start out with this.

Ever since it became an issue decades ago, every big talmid chacham I’ve heard give his opinion on this has stated that it’s forbidden across the board, no exceptions. Ever.

This post isn’t even going to go into the whole reason why the Gedolim so strongly oppose giyus banot, but will briefly describe the historical key to Jewish military success and then address one angle of the whole shebang because it's an angle craftily used by the propaganda machine.

The Age-Old Secret to Jewish Military Victory (and it's not even such a secret!)

As described in the posts regarding my son’s army service (plus my own experiences talking to former female IDF “soldiers” & the plain cold hard numbers), the IDF is anyway overstaffed with many soldiers (hundreds at least) serving in imaginary positions—like the girl on my son’s base who was in charge of “culture & recreation,” but did nothing for 6 months except watch pirated movies on her cell phone all day and show the base an American movie one evening.

And that’s just one example.

And despite propaganda to the contrary, women CANNOT carry out combat duties nearly as well as men.

So practical reasons for female enlistment are almost nil.

Interestingly, the Gedolim haven’t made exceptions for females who could perform certain military tasks better than males. That’s not the issue.

A Jewish army has always depended on the spiritual quality of its soldiers and the spiritual quality of its motivation for its success.

WHO is going out to war and WHY?

You can read this in Tanach.

Yes, Jewish warriors have always displayed superior battle skills, whether in actual battle or in strategy.

But historically, the key to their success (or lack of) in battle rested in their hearts.

Again, you can see this pattern throughout Jewish history.

But certain powers-that-be are ignoring the historical facts and making giyus banot a pivotal issue.

So let’s take a look at one aspect of modern military service that gets pumped in the media because females do tend to perform better than males in this area.

Boys Can Do Surveillance Too

Because it’s a passive, nitpicky job, women tend to be better at camera surveillance than men.

Does this mean that men cannot do it at all?

NO.

It just means that you’ll find more women suited to this work than men.

Does this mean that you need to draft women into the IDF for this work?

NO.

In a Nachal Charedi unit in the South (I think it’s Givati), they use males to perform this task because they can’t have females on this base due to the Nachal Charedi restrictions. And these males seem to be performing just fine.

Furthermore, my son said that when he worked on a base that specialized in surveillance, there were always a couple of guys among the girls. This wasn’t to meet some quota (“We need at least 2 males per X-number females each shift!”); this was because these guys happened to be equally good at surveillance.

So they are out there, but yeah, you might need to sift more through the male population to find them.

Furthermore, in both recent and wayback history, wars and military efforts have been carried out just fine without any kind of female participation. Defeats & losses have been due to lack of morals or lack of brains or lack of equipment, not lack of females.

But due to their hidden (or actually not-so-hidden) agenda, the media & the upper echelons of the IDF like to magnify the female contribution in IDF surveillance.

Watch for this in headlines, the slant of certain articles, and the promotional photos accompanying such articles. You'll see it.

Big Feminist Accomplishment: Girls are So Much Better at Boring, Passive Activity!

One much-lauded example occurred a few years ago when a female screen-watcher spotted a group of terrorists scuttling out of a hole in the ground onto completely bare and empty terrain at Kibbutz Sufa.

(For a post detailing the miracle without promoting female military service, please see HERE.)

The screen-watcher than alerted the (male) security forces to deal with the issue of the terrorists and the newly revealed underground tunnel.

Now, I think many of us saw the actual footage of the event.

Does it take any superior skill or courage to spot a GROUP of dark figures scuttling over a bare, empty, pale patch of terrain?

NO.

Does it take any superior skill or courage to alert your superiors to this activity?

NO.

Is a male incapable of carrying out this exact same task?

NO.

In that scenario, the real heroes were shmurah matzah, Shemitah, and their adherents.

The mass harvesting of grain to produce shmurah matzot for 2 years (including a Shemitah year) was why there was all that pale, empty, bare terrain (instead of the expected cover of tall wheat) that made it so easy to spot a group of darkly clad terrorists.

But the IDF high mucky-mucks inserted a whole thing about how a girl spotted the activity and how girls are better at this work ("boys don't have the same powers of concentration") than guys.

Yes, females tend to be better at boring, passive, visual activity ("powers of concentration") than males.

So what?

Why is THAT such a massive sign of progress for women and their society?

The REAL Heroines of Am Yisrael

The ability to engage in boring, passive activity and do it well (and not necessarily be so bored by it)?

That’s a big part of what makes women better mothers, better nursers of babies, and better nurturers of young children.

It's what enables us to watch our children play at a park and prevent accidents or spot unsavory people who shouldn't be there.

Attention mommies & babysitters: If you are supervising your children at the park while sitting on the bench and staring at them, YOU ARE A HERO (in Hashem's Eyes, which are the only Eyes that matter).

It's what allows you to listen to certain family members or people in your neighborhood who tend to drone on, giving them that listening ear they need. It's a big chessed.

But davka using our innate nature for military surveillance, THAT'S the only time it's considered oh-so laudatory & deserving of media publication?

Just As You Can't Defy Physical Physics Without Going "Splat" (like deciding to ignore gravity and walk off a cliff), You Can't Defy Spiritual Physics & Expect To Get Away With It

Though it is politically incorrect amid today’s slavish allegiance to egalitarianism, Judaism embraces tafkid.

And tafkid is a GOOD thing. It's an ELEVATING thing. It's a tool!

Just like even the most musically talented and trained Yisrael cannot perform the Levite service in the Beit Hamikdash, women and men are prohibited from crossing certain gender-defined boundaries.

A man receives no merit for wearing a long, wide skirt and 70-dinar stockings. Au contraire, he earns the aveirah of beged ishah.

On the other hand, a woman who wears such clothing earns tremendous blessing and both spiritual and physical protection, not just upon herself, but upon her family and the entire Am.

Likewise, a woman is the designated candle-lighter meant to usher in Shabbat.

Have you ever heard of a husband who said, “You know what, Genendel? My eye-hand coordination is superior to yours—I can light the Shabbas candles so much better than you. Furthermore, I can say the blessing with the kavanos of the Rashash! So step aside, sweetie, and allow me to perform licht-bentschen from now on!”?

Case in point: There have been many holy mekubalim throughout the ages, yet their wives always carried out the Shabbat candle-lighting (even though the mekubalim possessed the ability to make a bracha with mind-blowing kavanot).

Why?

Because according to God's spiritual physics, you davka NEED the FEMALE candle-lighter to perform this mitzvah (and this tikkun) properly.

Men can and should do this when there is no female to do so, but a husband or son cannot perform this mitzvah instead of his perfectly capable wife or mother.

Even going back to the Nevi’im—did any of them ever light Shabbat candles in place of their non-prophesying wife?

And flipping over to the other side of the coin, did female Prophetesses lay tefillin on behalf of their non-Prophet husband? (Meaning, he didn't need to lay tefillin that day because she did it for him? Why not? A Prophetess is so much more qualified than her non-Navi husband! But Hashem's spiritual physics don't allow for such cross-overs.)

Some things just can’t cross over.

Well, not without unwanted consequences, anyway.

What a Jewish army REALLY needs to focus on: Hashem's Avodah (and not giyus banot)

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Using Fear as a Healthy Motivator to Serve Hashem

8/7/2019

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As written HERE, while fear is generally not the best way to motivate people (especially in this generation), I’ve personally found fear a helpful motivator (or more commonly, a helpful stopper or preventative).

And anyway, Chazal speaks copiously of the importance of fear, yirah—meaning yirat Shamayim.

Fear of Heavenly Punishment is not the ideal state. The Kli Yakar explains the great advantage of doing teshuvah from love, rather than fear. (For more, please see Teshuvah from Love vs. Teshuvah from Fear and Doing True Teshuvah: he Kli Yakar on Parshat Bo.)

Nonetheless, fear is indeed a motivator and a legitimate one.

(Please see also Why Fear of God is Still Important & Beneficial in Our Generation.)

I’m going to share one of my fear-motivators because I think about it sometimes when I’m feeling unmotivated or frivolous. It’s a sharp story and not for everyone, but it works for me.

"It Will End Badly."

In one of my all-time favorite books, A Daughter of Two Mothers by Miriam Cohen, the life of Izzy Rubenstein is briefly described.

Born to frum parents (his father had learned at Pressburg Yeshivah), including a very warm & loving mother (not sure about his father; it never says), Izzy Rubenstein is orphaned of his father after his father's long bout with tuberculosis.

To make matters worse, they were already poor and living in a village near the Carpathian Mountains on the Hungarian border.

For reasons both mentioned and unmentioned, when Izzy’s mother found herself widowed, she didn’t have support from her original family (both her parents were niftar)--or her late husband's family apparently. Instead, she went to work in the local vineyards during the warm months and sewed clothes in the winter.

When Izzy started going off the derech, his mother pleaded with him (page 5).

“Izzy, Izzy, my son,” she would tell him on his visits home, “don’t you ever forget that you are scion to an important, respectable Jewish family.”

But Izzy only responded by asserting that he was not a little boy anymore and that she should no longer call him “Izzy” (or “Yitzchak”) but “Isidore.”

Then Izzy churned out his teinos:

Where was this so-called important, respectable family when Izzy and his siblings went hungry after their father died? Where was this respectable family when Tatte was ill?

“Yes,” Izzy continued. “They reminded me not to forget to say Kaddish, but they forgot to ask if I had food to eat! They do not interest me, as I evidently to not interest them.”

But his mother continued to weep, imploring him: “If you won’t remember that you are a Jew and instead act like a sheigetz, the goyim will remind you that you are not one of them and it will end badly.”

The narrator states: Her words were prophetic, but she did not know it at the time.

And indeed, Izzy—despite his Zionist connections and application for a visa to Eretz Yisrael—was swept up in the Shoah and didn’t survive.

Izzy Wins Our Sympathy

Now, you might be wondering why I find this such good chizuk.

After all, it's very depressing and even offensive to some people.

The reason is because if you look at Izzy’s life, you see that he has some compelling excuses to go off the derech.

Religious hypocrisy played a massive part in his upbringing.

He felt abandoned and rejected by the very people who should have cared most about him (some of his close family members) and who should’ve been most sensitive and dedicated to his needs, (as propounded throughout millennia of Torah scholarship—and his family consisted of supposedly respectable & chashuv Yidden who should’ve known and upheld the Torah approach of dealing with orphans and the poor).

So if you look at Izzy in today’s light, you have a boy who suffered the extended illness and then death of his father, a boy who endured extreme poverty, appalling religious hypocrisy, apathy and abandonment by close family members, a mother who loves him but (in his eyes) doesn’t understand him or the issues of the day, plus the magnetic pull of secular socialist Zionism.

So yeah, you can validate Izzy.

It’s definitely easy to sympathize with him, despite his casting off the beautiful yoke of Torah and mitzvot.

Every time I read the above passage, my heart goes out to Izzy, Hashem yinkom damo.

But despite his very legitimate teinos, and the natural sympathy he inspires, his mother’s words ended up being fulfilled.

Teinos Lose Sway When the Measure Is Finally Filled

If you subscribe to Rav Avigdor Miller’s hashkafah regarding the Shoah (as described in A Divine Madness)—and I do—then you have to see that the teinos and legitimacy of those teinos don’t matter in the end.

And that's exactly what I remind myself.

Now, Rav Miller didn’t make up this hashkafah. Not everyone holds the way he does, but many Gadolim do.

Of course there are hidden reasons and cheshbonot that we cannot fathom, but in a general sense, the ideas laid out in A Divine Madness are compelling. And Rav Miller wrote the book as a lesson, hopefully a life-saving lesson, out of his great love for his fellow Jews.

The other thing is this:

Don't Blind Yourself to All The Geshmak Aspects

In order to get really embittered and disillusioned by the frum community, you need to ignore a LOT of good.

In A Daughter of Two Mothers, a great many amazing Jews and their incredible acts of chessed come to life. For the most part, these sincere anshei chessed are not rebbetzins and talmidei chachamim (although some are), they are simply very good and good-hearted Yidden.

And Izzy knew them. He knew them well, in fact.

Furthermore, when you sit down and learn Jewish sources, it’s all very beautiful and compelling.

Just Rashi on Mishlei/Proverbs is so awe-inspiring. The wisdom and beauty of Pirke Avot. The lessons and profound wisdom found in Tanach—even on the simple text level, stories like Gidon, Devorah Haneviah, Megillat Esther, David Hamelech & Galyat, Megillat Ruth…these stories are incredibly compelling.

Even on a child’s level, you get so much out of them.

I once heard a famous British atheist waxing over how moving he found Megillat Ruth, declaring it to be one of his all-time favorites.

So in order to reject Judaism and give God the cold shoulder, you need to ignore a tremendous amount of truly geshmak stuff, both in Jewish scholarship and in Jewish life.

And that’s the first mistake.

Teinos & Excuses Don't Matter in the End

Appreciation and gratitude are our foundation stones.

As we know, our tribal name Yehudim is rooted in the word hoda’ah—gratitude.

But the big mussar is that we can have legitimate teinos.

Not the teinos of whiny spoiled brats—but real legitimate teinos! They exist! They're real!

We can have compelling excuses for our pick-and-choose observance of mitzvot.

We can suffer very real hypocrisy and rejection.

And the "ooh, shiny!" and compulsions of today are more numerous, more addictive, and more intense than they’ve ever been.

But the Chumash itself lists very specific consequences for spiritually rebellious behavior—regardless of any excuses.

And that’s maybe too sharp for some people.

But for others (like me), it can be the tap they need to get back into place when the yetzer hara comes prowling around.

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Which Jew is Really for Peace?

27/6/2019

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My Moroccan-born husband grew up in an immigrant neighborhood in Eretz Yisrael.

The neighborhood consisted of lots of Moroccans, plus a generous handful of Bucharians, and one Danish family who, for some reason, ended up there after making aliyah.

My husband attended the local mamlachti-dati (government religious) school along with the rest of the neighborhood. And he was one of the very good boys, in that he was shomer negiah and always wore his kippah & tzitzit, even when playing basketball, plus he always went happily to shul with his father for all the tefillot & voluntarily attended shiurim at night.

(There are more good things to say about my husband, but to head off any ayin hara, we'll stop here.)

Anyway, he'd gotten into Gemara in his teens. And though he always dreamed of joining the army, he decided to go to yeshivah instead. (For more on that story, please see God Helps: A True Story.)

I asked him how that was viewed in his neighborhood, seeing as everyone went to the army and while people had started off as religious, the secularization process went quickly and intensively.

"It was fine," said my husband. He explained that for all its social problems, it was still a traditional community. Therefore, even the more secular-seeming people still held Torah study in high esteem.

And even though the useless jobnik positions were less back then, people still didn't attack my husband about why their sons had to risk their lives while my husband sat in yeshivah.

They intuitively understood the value of Torah study.

The point here is that, yet again, your average Jew in Eretz Yisrael is not innately offended by yeshivah bochurim not "sharing the burden" of army service.

That unforgiving outrage & seething resentment comes from somewhere else.

Since Shevet Levi in Tanach, the Jewish people have always had Jews who sat and learned continuously.

Mishnah Avot states that the world - not just the Jewish world, but the entire world - stands on 3 things:

the Torah
the avodah (tefillah & serving Hashem, service in the Beit Hamikdash)
gemilut chessedim (acts of loving-kindness)

That's our base and for EVERYONE'S sake, it cannot be weakened.

(And if you examine these 3 pillars, you'll see they're all linked. In other words, you can't have one - or two - without the other.)

And many, if not most, Jews sense this.

So where is the venom coming from? Where is this seething rip-their-eyes-out resentment coming from?

It's being aggressively imposed upon the innocent Jewish people by media incitement and by those with political agendas.

Ani shalom v'ki adaber hema l'milchamah - I am peace; but when I speak, they are for war." (Tehillim 120:7)

Or, as Rashi interprets it:
"I am at peace with them, but when I speak peacefully with them, they come to wage war with me."

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The Keleh 6 Mesivta

25/6/2019

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Israelis are split in their attitude toward time in the IDF Keleh 6 prison up North.

The very clean-cut dati-leumi crowd I hung out with in my new adult years emphasized that prison time was easily avoidable and only screw-ups got sentenced.

In contrast, it seems like the rest of Israeli society opines that “everyone goes to prison at some point.”

The truth is, I met people who got 3 days for not shaving (if they didn’t have a beard permit) and longer if they didn’t return to their base on time. Forging doctor’s notes, resisting a particular role (like if you want to be a foot soldier and they try to put you in a tank), avoiding the draft (“We don’t have enough soldiers watching Friends! Thou shalt share the burden!”), and so on.

And that’s for the minimum security part of Keleh 6. Drugs, hard crime, and such things earn soldiers long sentences in other parts of Keleh 6.

My Son Goes to Prison - But No Worries! They Get Popsicles!

My son, in his goal of getting switched into a combat unit, decided to go on strike. He’d tried normal avenues, even snagging an interview with a high-ranking officer with the power to help him.

Nada.

So he went on strike, which meant that he didn’t show up to base.

The IDF remained unimpressed.

Finally, knowing that he was going to be sent to prison anyway, he decided to turn himself in.

So he bid us farewell and made his way up North where he was received by a prison official, an old kibbutznik wearing a bandana. He greeted my son cheerfully, praised him for turning himself in, encouraged him: “I’m sure you’ll be a good soldier from now on,” then sentenced him to 12 days. (Or maybe he was carrying out someone else’s sentence? Well, something like that.)

This part of the prison, which serves draft dodgers, note forgers, and so on, features tents.

The prison cell is a tent that holds many young men.

My husband and I weren’t sure what Keleh 6 was like, but a family member reassured us that it’s pretty tame because it’s not like a state prison and treatment is pretty decent—“They even get popsicles,” he reassured us.

Popsicles in prison? Why, we have nothing to worry about, then!

The Dedication of Mishmeres Hakodesh

There are also public phones via which your son can call you or you can call him—if you can get someone to find him.

An organization dedicated to freeing yeshivah bochurs imprisoned for draft evasion (“We face a severe shortage of personnel who can sit in an office all day watching pirated movies on their cell phones! Charedim must contribute their share of their burden!”) called us and nonchalantly informed us that our son was in Keleh 6 and did we need them to do anything about it?

Initially, we were puzzled until they explained that although he’d attended a non-mainstream yeshivah (with secular studies and everything), it was a yeshivah nonetheless and as a former yeshivah student, his name appeared on their list when he was imprisoned.

It was very nice of them, and we explained that no, he wanted to be there and they said, fine, but if we need anything, we should feel free to call them back.

Very pleasant and polite for such religious zealots, I'm sure you agree. ;-)

As far as the treatment of the yeshivah bochurs in Keleh 6, my son said he didn't witness them being treated any worse by the wardens (the wardens, especially the female ones, don't behave in a particularly refined manner). The other soldiers mostly ignored them.

Unfortunately, due to media incitement, a yeshivah bachur evading the draft can be despised by fellow inmates more than an inmate who has actually committed a crime. But my son did not personally see active bullying.

Mishmeres Hakodesh also call the public phone repeatedly every day to ask whoever answers if there is a yeshivah bachur there for draft evasion. (They’re always concerned they missed one that didn’t appear on their list.) In return, the imprisoned soldier who answers treats the caller to a string of vulgar curses before slamming down the phone.

How self-righteous.

Sometimes, the soldier tries to accommodate the caller, but usually not.

But these guys put up with the treatment and keep calling anyway to see if anyone needs their help.

Actually, someone did try to take them up on their offer to help, but he couldn’t hide his Muslim religion for long, so that fell through.

Prison Shrews Share the Burden Too

Also, many of the wardens are girls.

And this may sound shocking to people with their head in the sand, but young rowdy guys of this age do not take orders from young women seriously.

So the girls resort to shrieking and verbal abuse, and telling them things like, “Look at what a screw-up you are, ending up in Keleh 6 like this, you stupid pathetic zero.”

Not surprisingly, the boys find this entertaining, rather than intimidating.

Also, the wardens play all sorts of minor mindgames to assert their authority over the inmates. He gave an example of the treatment by a 19-year-old girl-warden, but after his initial surprise, he found it amusing.

I kind of wonder if these girls are able to turn off all the shrieky negativity & controlling mindgames when not dealing with mildly delinquent young soldiers, and how that affects their relationships back home and then after their service is over, if they can go back to normal.

But I figure, hey, they’re sharing the burden.

Yeshivah bachurim are just sitting around all day learning Gemara, while these girls are supporting the Zionist enterprise with loud & seething verbal assaults. How could Medinat Yisrael possibly function without them? So I’m just gonna keep my nose out of it. After all, who am I to judge? I don’t share the burden either. (For example, I’ve never seen an episode of Friends. That’s right—not even ONE.)

A Yiddishe Krechtz?

Anyway, there are more rules at Keleh 6 than there are on an army base.

For example, you are not allowed to speak at all in the dining hall. The Chafetz Chaim would approve, actually, because he was against talking while eating because it’s potentially dangerous.

Anyway, during one meal in which only the sound of chewing could be heard, another sound appeared: the sound of choked-back sobs.

Soon, the choked-back sobs turned into the gasped crying as one imprisoned soldier had a breakdown over his hard-boiled eggs & rice.

Because this isn’t The Lords of Discipline, the other soldiers just felt embarrassed & sorry for him. One of the male wardens came over, sat down next to the broken soldier, and tried to comfort him by telling him that it wasn’t so bad here and that he had a really short sentence and that he’d be out soon, and then everything would be all better.

He didn’t suffer any bullying later either. People just felt bad for him.

Day Jobs for Clannish People

My son met several other soldiers who were also there for resisting service in non-combat units.

Then there was a Bedouin soldier there for forging doctor’s notes so he could stay home longer.

Another was there for something else and he eagerly explained to my son his parnasa, which consisted of stealing gasoline from gas stations up and down the country. He usually had a cousin/clan member working at those stations, and that was his connection to the gasoline.

My son isn’t easily shockable, but it floored him to hear someone his age talking about a gas-theft racket as if it’s a regular job. The Bedouin really didn’t seem to realize he was doing anything wrong.

They’re very loyal to their clans and that supersedes national loyalty or basic law—including the 7 Noachide Laws, apparently, which forbid stealing.

"Toto, I've a Feeling We're Not in Lakewood Anymore..." Meets "Big Brother is Watching."

Then, every inmate must do a stint as a guard in the locked-down section.

That’s the place where dangerous or suicidal inmates are housed. It’s solitary confinement, more or less, with a toilet in the cell and everything nailed down, and little barred window way up near the ceiling.

Anyway, the regular inmates need to sit in that room because these people apparently need constant supervision, despite the fact that they are on camera all the time anyway.

In preparation, my son and the other temp-guards were taken to an orientation of what their duties were (“Don’t fall asleep”) and told a scary story of an inmate-guard who dozed off and the guy he was supposed to be guarding crept over and started strangling him, however—the orientation officer gestured to the video screens—these cells are being watched, so the staff noticed the strangulation-in-progress and were able to send forces to stop it in time.

And the message?: “Don’t fall asleep on guard duty. But if you do, we’ve got you covered.”

So the first night, it was really boring. The inmate just slept the whole time.

But the second night, my son was immediately approached by an anxious yeshivah bochur who didn’t understand what he was doing there. Seeing my son in a kippah and tzitzit, he poured out his heart.

What happened was this:
The boy was the child of American charedim who’d made aliyah. A couple of years before he turned 18, the family returned to Lakewood. But, being the idealistic young Yid he is, the boy wanted to go back to Eretz Yisrael & learn in yeshivah.

But he didn’t realize his name was entered into officialdom as a draft dodger, so they caught him at the airport, to his complete bewilderment.

But he needed to have a really good excuse why he could not enlist and stuff himself with American candy bars while watching American sitcom most of the day.

So a psychiatrist, in an effort help him out, decided to write down that he was suicidal (which he was not at all).

And instead of being placed in the regular section with the tents, he was placed in the locked-down section, where the guards have, what my son described as, “soulless eyes” and yell anything they have to say.

So my son reassured him that things weren’t as bad as they seemed, explained what was going on, and reassured him again that there were people working on his behalf to get him out and that he’d be out soon.

And he was.

The Most Effective Way to Get Jewish Boys to Learn & Daven with Cheshek

Anyway, the best part about Keleh 6 is that the boys spent a huge chunk of their day in shul.

The prison shul is nicely designed and air-conditioned (which the tents are not).

There’s davening 3 times a day, plus wonderful shiurim. So whenever there is davening or a shiur, everyone goes to the shul (including the Muslim and Druze inmates).

My son enthused about the shiurim.

He also met a couple of rabbis from his high school yeshivah, who keep tabs on their former talmidim and make it a point to go visit them if they end up in Keleh 6.

Having been very fond of my son, they were thrilled to see him again and he got lots of hugs and kisses. He was also proud of them for delivering such enthralling shiurim.

Really, the best part of Keleh 6 is the plentiful davening & shiurim. It's very geshmak.

So I had this really good idea that maybe the IDF should make a night-sweep of the parks & other hang-outs frequented by at-risk youth and take them to Keleh 6 for six months where they could imbue a constant flow of davening and inspiring shiurim - tefillot & shiurim they would attend BY CHOICE!

Just think of what a life-changing influence that could be.

Anyway, his 12 days ended pretty quickly and he came up energized by the whole experience. You’d think he’d been playing Color War at Camp Simcha or something.

And he came home even more convinced than before that soldiers who aren’t willing to go to jail when faced with an order to expel Jews—those soldiers are spineless wimps.

“It’s not that bad,” he insisted. “I could’ve easily made it through 30 days there. It’s not that big deal.”

And there you go. The Keleh 6 Mesivta.

Note: I feel enormous appreciation for my brothers serving in combat and anyone else standing between a Jew and a terrorist (or a missile). I simply oppose this mandatory draft "Share the burden!" craze, when the IDF clearly has a glut of soldiers in many areas, as detailed in the previous posts. Siding with the Gadolei Hador, I oppose the mandatory draft of yeshivah bachurim & females.

I also oppose the incitement by media and politicians, who rile up severely negative emotions & ideas that people wouldn't otherwise experience without the incitement.

I also feel that rather than chasing down yeshivah bochurim and recently graduated girls, the Israeli government should concentrate on real criminals (like the gasoline-racket guy in prison with my son). In fact, Bedouins live as their own state within a state, committing whatever crimes they want, including murder, with no repercussions (although there are, of course, decent & helpful Bedouin). Yet the government & mainstream media pillories charedim for living as a culture within a culture, even though charedim are not smuggling drugs or weapons, nor do they murder their members (like innocent young girls) due to primitive concepts of "honor." For some reason, learning Gemara in yeshivah is considered so much worse than all that by certain elements of Israeli society.

Most Jews in Eretz Yisrael are good. Those who aren't yet religious have tremendous potential to become sterling Jews. Yet much good is held back by those with warped priorities.

That's all.

For more stand-alone posts in this series (for which I still haven't figured out a title), please see:

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Have You Ever Wanted to Know What Basic Training is Like for Serious Delinquents & Teenage Ex-Cons? Here's Your Chance!

19/6/2019

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When my son finally got the much-anticipated call to enlist, his heart was set on Golani.

But when he got to the recruiting station, he was stymied to find himself sitting with a Nachal Charedi rep, who didn’t stop pressuring him to join Nachal Charedi and forget about Golani.

This went on for a while and my son didn’t give in.

What neither of us knew at the time was that my son’s itty-bitty file with the police put him in a certain category with the IDF.

(And yes, I have a heter to discuss this, as stated at the beginning of Sharing What Burden Exactly? The Unspoken Elephant in the Room.)

How Any Kind of Police Record Affects Recruits from Charedi Families

You can make yourself a file with the Israeli police by getting caught doing anything untoward. Like carrying an illegal size of knife as you and your friend drive past unfriendly non-Jewish neighborhoods, being too noisy at night in a residential area, and so on.

Such a minor police file needn’t necessarily bother a secular recruit’s chances for a combat position (maybe yes, maybe no).

But because of the strictures of charedi society, even very minor offenses committed as much as a year or two before enlistment are considered serious signs of an insubordinate personality by the IDF. They look at it as relative to the fairly law-abiding community from which the recruit comes.

Furthermore, the secular extremists are well-aware that the charedi community doesn’t respect the laws of the Medinah if they contradict Torah Law.

So even if the young man is rebelling against the charedi community, the secularists feel the young man might be non-conformist in general, including against IDF protocols, and they prefer to have him ensconced within Nachal Charedi.

So if a young man from a charedi family has ANY kind of police record, the IDF wants him in Nachal Charedi.

(Ironically, this is also true even if the young man has committed serious offenses and comes from a disadvantaged background, the combination of which might actually make him more suitable for MAKAM. To Nachal Charedi he must go!)

And yes, this makes Nachal Charedi a mixed bag of young men from one extreme to another, which is something else that is hardly ever mentioned.

Nachal Charedi consists of recruits who come from charedi families; the recruit himself may not be charedi at all. It depends.

And just for knowing, I support Nachal Charedi for certain types of situations. For some, it can be an excellent option.

(This is in accordance with certain Gadolei Hador. For a very brief summation of their views, please see: Who Backed Charedi Enlistment? The title is a misnomer, BTW. None of the rabbanim mentioned back charedi enlistment; rather they support the framework of Nachal Charedi for certain types of bachurim from charedi families.)

Having said all that, there are no hard-‘n’-fast rules. Ultimately, the IDF recruiters make their own decision and there are exceptions to the above.

What seals the young man’s fate is the interview with the IDF evaluator of mental ability (my son is super-smart), during which my son did not make the right impression. It’s still not clear to me if he came off as too right-wing or something else, or if she'd already decided the outcome in her head from the first.

But like I said, they don’t want charedi rebels or misfits in the regular IDF, just in Nachal Charedi.

So because he refused Nachal Charedi, my son was placed in MAKAM for basic training.

I’d never heard of MAKAM.

But I found out soon enough.

What is MAKAM?

If you look at the IDF website, you’ll see that MAKAM stands for Merkaz Kidum Ochlusiot Meyuchadot—The Center for the Advancement of Special Populations.

If you look on the regular IDF site, the MAKAM section portrays itself as helping new olim and those from disadvantaged communities.

But really, it’s for young men with criminal backgrounds.

Drugs, assault, reckless driving that led to serious accidents—it’s all in MAKAM!

The odd thing is that if a boy from a charedi family with a minor police record refuses to join Nachal Charedi, he’s placed in MAKAM with boys who grew up in Israel’s worst neighborhoods and have sat in prison.

All of the sudden, the precious son you tried so hard to protect from bad friends on the street of your charedi neighborhood is now sharing barracks with a non-Jewish Ukrainian named Igor who has a scorpion tattooed across his face and jaw, and has served time for violent offenses and earned extra money by street-boxing (i.e. boxing without gloves).

(I’m not making this up. Igor exists and was in MAKAM with my son.)

Anyway, something like a third of the boys were from dati or charedi backgrounds, including some of the tattooed ex-cons, although the Jewish ones tended to favor tattoos reflecting their Jewish heritage, like a Magen David. And they tattooed their arms, rather than their face.

In addition, the commanding officers were all girls.

Why girls?

Because the IDF discovered that serious delinquents didn’t respond so well to being ordered around, and would attack their commanding officer.

Yet these same delinquents were much less likely to attack female commanding officers, although they did charge at them in displays of intimidation.

Please note that I wrote “less likely” to attack female commanders, and not “completely unlikely.”

In the MAKAM cycle before my son’s, one MAKAMnik snapped and chased his female commander around the base with a loaded and cocked machine gun, screaming orders at her.

Fortunately, the psychotic episode ended with nobody getting hurt. But still.

What's the Real Goal Here?

Anyway, MAKAM is a 12-week basic training program, compared to the 3-6 weeks of basic training most other soldiers get.

Needless to say, combat units endure months of basic training. (But most IDF soldiers aren’t combat.)

So MAKAM is a pretty long program, comparatively speaking.

And the boys are given the impression that they are cared about and that this is their ticket out of the mess they’ve found themselves in until now. If they complete MAKAM, then they can continue in the regular IDF and ultimately make a smooth adjustment into society.

Except that none of that is true (generally speaking).

The problem with MAKAM is that the boys spend 12 weeks under a magnifying glass. One step out of line, and they ruin any chance to get into their unit preference. (Not surprisingly, many want to go into a combat unit.)

A step out of line can mean arriving to a line-up 20 seconds late. (Just to be clear, they won't block his unit preference based on a one-time delay like that, but if it adds up...)

So in some ways, MAKAM is even more exacting & unforgiving than regular basic training.

Another problem is that despite the tremendous physical aggression possessed by some recruits, a life of crime is actually not conducive to physical training.

My son and a handful of others not only mastered the physical training, but thrived on it. But most of the MAKAMniks could not handle it.

Not surprisingly, discipline and following orders also proved difficult for many of them.

Although MAKAM is advertised as helping the boys get used to discipline & orders, it doesn’t really succeed. And despite the IDF’s presentation of MAKAM (which you can find on various websites, including Hebrew Wikipedia), MAKAM is not really meant to give them a second chance, to rehabilitate them, nor is it particularly supportive.

It’s meant to weed out problematic recruits.

Sub-Culture Clash

Another problem with MAKAM is the morale and social environment.

You might be (like my wonderful son) incredibly motivated and highly skilled.

But you’ve got problematic people around you who aren’t. Or maybe they are, but they’re starting to deteriorate when subjected to such a long-lasting & unforgiving testing ground.

One recruit could not take the strain without chemical assistance, so he managed to smuggle chashish onto the base and spent bedtime smoking it out the window of my son’s barracks.

Others simply deserted.

Remember, this is a 12-week program. So after a month or 2 in this environment, it can start to have a depleting effect on even the most motivated soldier.

Again, you have people from very difficult backgrounds and neighborhoods.

You have people who don’t know how to deal with their emotions without drugs.

You have people who are used to anger, intimidation, and violence as a way of life.

You have people, particularly if they’ve been in prison, who have adapted all sorts of behavioral mechanisms to protect and even defend themselves—mechanisms that are helpful in bad neighborhoods and prison, but not so helpful in general society.

The truth is that they need an authentic Torah infusion, but instead they get idealistic young females who’ve been programmed a certain way (according to secular ideals and psychology) to deal with them. They’ve got pat methods and pat speech, but not Torah hashkafah.

And my son was really motivated. He’s super-smart and strong with great coordination and endurance, and tends to get along well with others.

He was also spiritually motivated, which he expressed by trying to round everyone up for minyan and helping them put on tefillin. (He several happy years in a Chabad yeshivah, so he’s really into tefillin—except that he accidentally put tefillin on a couple of the non-Jewish recruits, but in such situations, these things happen.)

Sensitivity Training in MAKAM

Part of the MAKAM program is sensitivity training.

(I know, I know; I giggled when I heard that too.)

So the girls sit with the MAKAMniks and read to them from current events in order to bring out feelings of empathy.

For example, when the toeva disco shooting occurred, the girls read it out to the MAKAMniks so that they would feel bad about all the toeva guys and what they suffer for being different.

Well, not surprisingly, the entire group immediately collapsed in uproar with bellows of: "THEY DESERVED IT!!!" and other choice words that I'll omit here.

This resulted in the girls shrieking back at them, "How dare you?! How can you be so heartless and insensitive?! These are real people!"

And so on.

This was so unbelievable stupid of these girls because if you know anything about prison culture, the guys feel like they absolutely must stand firm on their straight orientation. There can be absolutely no doubt about where they stand.

And remember, these are teenage boys who'd served in prison, so the need to assert their stance is even stronger.

Therefore, with so many of the recruits coming from a prison culture at some point, of course they are going to respond with anti-toeva vehemence.

Furthermore, the rest of the guys are compelled to follow along because that is the kind of environment they're in; no one wants aspersions cast on his orientation.

So even if a guy did feel bad about the shooting, he could never ever express it in such a group.

And anyway, rowdy bellowing is fun. That's why they do it at football games.

Also, do I really need to explain that young girls shrieking at teenage boys is likely to encourage their behavior because such boys enjoy action and find shrieking girls highly amusing?

Now, it's not the girls' fault that they are so dumb about this because these girls are extremely idealistic 20-year-olds who've undergone a specific training to deal with this group.

But it is stupid nonetheless.

Another time, the girls presented the story of a Muslim-Arab family that accidentally killed themselves in mind-boggling ignorance by using a kerosene heater inside a fully sealed plastic tent (or something like that), and now the boys were supposed to feel heartbroken about that.

Yet many of these boys had been in fights with Arabs, knew terror survivors, had been affected by terror, and so on. Furthermore, they'd joined the IDF not to battle Buddhists but to protect their fellow Jews from terror perpetrated by the very people who'd accidentally killed themselves.

Finally, the girls declared they were giving up on the sensitivity training because the recruits simply refused to go along with it.

The boys cheered.

What about the Torah's Military Guide?

And why do Jewish soldiers need to foster copious empathy for people who rabidly oppose their Jewish value system, including those who may represent Jew-haters and killers?

How come these girl-commanders were not giving the boys examples of fellow Jews with whom to empathize?

Anyway, Jews already have everything we need to face battle with integrity.

For example, there is the Rambam and his handy-dandy book called Mishneh Torah.

Within, you can find a chapter conveniently called "Melachim u'Milchamot - Kings & Wars."

And it only gets better! Chazal is chock-full of all sorts of military advice. Whether it's military strategies or ethics, Chazal has got us covered.

The girls would have done a lot better reading from the Rambam than from the newspaper.

And the boys would've listened a lot more respectfully to the Rambam.

I mean, for crying out loud...

MAKAM Goes to the Kotel

At one point, the female officers took the MAKAM recruits to the Kotel.

This was not a pleasant experience.

As the boys stood there in army uniform, some of the more kanai visitors hissed at them, "Look at you! Coming here with female commanders! You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

For those who aren't aware, every Gadol Hador has come out strongly against any kind of female enlistment to the IDF. They have excellent reasons for their opposition and it has to do with their heartfelt concern for these girls and for the Jewish people in general.

So these rebukers saw this as if the boys had set up a pork barbecue in front of the Kotel or something like that. (Yes, even though the boys had no control over the situation; it was an IDF program.)

Just for knowing, I don't believe in talking to people like this. I think if something needs to be said, it should be done in a much more loving manner.

But I'm just explaining the attitude behind the rebuke.

Anyway, the boys didn't answer them back (much to their credit), partly because they were indeed kind of ashamed to have petite 20-year-old female commanders (it's feels unmanly) and partly out of respect for the Kotel (they didn't want to brawl near the Shechinah).

Although I would helpfully advise any kanai reading this that if you do see a contingent of young male soldiers led by female commanders only, it probably is MAKAM and you should be careful how you express yourself to them because while this particular group kept themselves in check, it's still comprised of unpredictable individuals who may not have the same respect and self-control.

Then, even though some of the female commanders, like my son's commander, are technically dati (shomer Shabbat & kashrut), they felt it would be a good idea to go over to the women's side and start singing songs while dancing in front of the Kotel wearing pants.

Yeah. Where the unfathomably Holy Shechinah hovers.

I'm going to digress for moment to point out the brainwashing going on here.

As stated, some of these girls are dati. And technically, they should know better than to behave so disrespectfully at The Holiest Place on Earth.

So why don't they?

Because of a particular ideology, these girls feel that their IDF service permits them to wear pants (even though there are long-skirt uniforms). And furthermore, because their religious beliefs are enmeshed with certain political beliefs, they think that it's okay to appear at the Kotel like this because of their idea that the IDF uniform is holy in Hashem's Eyes, as is singing while dancing around like this.

And even though they know that many of the female worshipers there would find their behavior disturbing or even brazen and sacrilegious, they don't care because they are so confident in their ideology.

Hopefully, they will eventually use their tendencies for ideological dedication & their devil-may-care attitude to truly serve Hashem and for the good of Am Yisrael.

(Every character trait can be used in a positive manner. It all depends how you channel it.)

It's Like a Sleight-of-Hand Game: Now You See It, Now You Don't!

At one point toward the end, my son came home all excited. “My commander said that if it were up to her, she’d put me in Golani!”

My heart sank when I heard that. I knew it meant that he wasn’t going to Golani. That kind of phraseology is a way of passing the buck to your superiors while giving false hope to your soldier.

Ultimately, those who made it to the end discovered they had 3 options:

Becoming a truck driver
Passing out weapons
Fireman

And that’s it! And those had been their only options all along. Surprise!

Now, for those one or two trainee soldiers who maintained perfect behavior from Day 1, they got to go into the armored corps.

One of them (let’s call him Avi) was originally from a charedi family with whom he hadn’t lived for around 2 years. He actually worked and rented his own apartment and led a fairly responsible and independent life. Yes, he’d been busted once for growing marijuana on his property.

But he wasn’t suited for Nachal Charedi because he’d been out of the charedi world for a while. So why would he want to be there? Yet because he was originally from a charedi family, the IDF couldn’t put him in the regular basic training.

So to MAKAM he went, even though there wasn’t anything really wrong with him, and he would’ve done just fine in the regular army.

He merited joining the armored corps.

Yet that’s not considered a desirable unit, and I’ll explain why.

It's Like When You Think You'll Get a Really Exciting Present for Your Birthday, and Then You Just Get a Pair of Socks--and the Socks Don't Even Fit Right

A great many boys who want to join combat units do NOT want to join the armored corps.

I didn’t get this at first because I was thinking that driving around in a large metal thing while exploding mortars out the gun turret sounds like something boys like to do. In fact, when I was dati-leumi, one of our crowd had been a tankist and he’d quite enjoyed it.

But as it was explained to me, part of tank combat training is spending a lot of time cooped up with other guys in a tank. It also becomes your shared bathroom and dining room.

(And for some reason, allowing girls to do this in the army is considered a celebrated leap of progress for women's rights.)

Many boys who find sitting in a classroom to be a form of torture look forward to their army service.

They much prefer running for miles with a rifle and a heavy pack, crawling through mud, sleep deprivation, and other serious challenges to, say, sitting passively in a classroom with their legs cramped under a desk.

When you tell these same boys, “Welcome to the army! Now you get to be crammed in a tank!”—their response is “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

And who can blame them?

Some even spend time in IDF prison for resisting service in the armored corps.

So it was news to me that out of the combat units, tanks are the least desirable.

But now I understand why.

So Avi gave his all to being perfect in MAKAM for 12 weeks, and his reward for all his efforts under difficult demoralizing conditions is—life in a tank.

So those who managed to stick it out to the end were left feeling disillusioned, betrayed, and rejected.

We'll Allow You to Succeed when It Fits Our PR Needs

Then after all that, my son’s girl-commander (who defines herself as dati) sent all her graduated recruits a photo of herself at a cocktail party, dressed as they do at cocktail parties and holding a glass of wine. I guess she just wanted to show them what she REALLY looked like, i.e. with makeup and hair styled, etc. I’m not sure why this is so important, but apparently it is.

Then my son was perusing the IDF newspaper and saw one of his MAKAM mates—in Golani!

Mystified, my son read on to see how that happened. After all, this boy did not perform very well in shooting or physical training and all the rest.

He soon discovered it was a PR article for the IDF to show the great success of their MAKAM program with “special populations.” They wanted to show that the immigrant children of intermarriage can also make it due to the wonderful support and opportunities of the IDF.

“Stefan” was the son of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother from the Ukraine. Bamachaneh needed a MAKAMnik of his background to place in Golani in order to produce an article that shows the effectiveness of the program. (This is called shooting the arrow first, and then drawing the target around the arrow. Look—a perfect bull’s eye every time!)

My son knew him well because on the way to the shooting range, Stefan suddenly felt the need for a heart-to-heart discussion of his religious identity—or lack thereof.

“I don’t know whether I’m Jewish or not,” he said. “I keep getting told different things.”

“Is your mother Jewish?” asked his comrades.

“No,” said Stefan. “Just my father.”

“Did you undergo a conversion?”

“I can’t remember,” he said. “I attended some kind of course for conversion, but I can’t remember if I actually converted or not.”

(This is so totally against halacha, I don’t even know where to start. So I won’t.)

So then the boys said, “Well then, I’m sorry to have to break it to you, my brother, but you’re not Jewish at all. But don’t worry, we still like accept you as one of us.”

And though disappointed, Stefan the Ukrainian found great comfort in being let down with such warmth and sensitivity.

Then a formerly-dati-soldier-who-was-now-completely-secular happened upon them at that moment. “Why, Stefan,” he said. “I think you’ll find that’s not true. Conversion and maternal lineage don’t matter. The fact that you are now an IDF soldier grants you equal status in Medinat Yisrael. In fact, according to our Zionist ideology—”

At that point, all the other boys started shouting at him, “Shut up, you stupid heretic! What are you talking about? That’s totally against halacha! Get lost!”

(I find it gratifying that these boys, some of whom had tattoos and served time, were still knowledgeable of and committed to basic halacha enough that they even called a misguided pontificator a “kofer—heretic,” which he was, unfortunately.)

Anyway, it was a bit demoralizing to read that a less qualified boy got a coveted position simply because he fit the profile the IDF needed at that moment for their own PR.

The Illusion of a Second Chance

The second eye-opener came when he saw another article about a MAKAMnik who had done well in MAKAM (but not better than my son and others) and also got to join a good combat unit.

Once again, the article focused on how MAKAM helped this boy from a disadvantaged background succeed in the IDF and in life.

And once again, my son realized that they needed this kind of story, so they simply plucked out a boy who best fit the picture they wanted to present.

It didn't matter how hard my son and the others pushed themselves. It didn't matter how well they dealt with all the psychological and physical challenges of prolonged basic training.

And being in MAKAM, they were still stigmatized with whatever mistakes they'd made when they were 15, 16, or 17. Willing to push themselves for a second chance, there was none.

So ultimately, for many of them, the promised opportunity out of disadvantage and mistakes never materialized.

And that’s the story with that.

Some Practical Help You Can Give

In conclusion, I’d just like to recommend that if you do know a young man from a charedi family who’s been in trouble with the police and has his heart set on joining the IDF, you should do everything you can to encourage him to join Nachal Charedi, partly because it’s just plain a better program spiritually and militarily speaking, and partly because there’s almost no chance they’ll allow him to join the regular army.

(This is what my son does now. He talks troubled youth out of going for the regular army and to just enlist in Nachal Charedi instead. It really does work out much better.)

Otherwise, this boy will likely get stuck in MAKAM and then be forced to be a truck driver, a weapons clerk, or a fireman (which sounds exciting, but because the jet mechanics and the pilots do their job so well, baruch Hashem, the firemen usually have nothing to do, except drills 3 times a week—although they’ve also been used to help put out balloon fires along the Gazan border, may Hashem protect everyone from all harm).

So there you go.

For more stand-alone posts in this series (for which I haven't yet figured out a title), please see:

2 Comments

What's Happening to the Zionist Dream?

18/6/2019

4 Comments

During my son’s IDF service, a certain dynamic repeated itself—and it shocked me.

As mentioned in previous posts, my son was blocked from serving in combat, where the dynamic and the attitudes are different than in non-combat units.

If you're English-speaking, you probably hear almost entirely about the experience of combat units in the IDF.

However, that is not the majority of the IDF—far from it.

My son's experiences paint another part of the picture...

"Are You Retarded?"

Anyway, whenever his fellow soldiers discovered that my son holds full American citizenship—an American passport and social security number (which theoretically enables him to get on a plane at any moment and arrive in America and get straight to work living the American dream, which is unfortunately the dream of many Israelis)—the response was usually one of the following:

“Are you stupid?”
“Are you some kind of idiot?”
“Are you retarded?”
“Are you crazy?”

The above inquiries were then followed by one of the following:

“What are you doing HERE?”
“Why on earth did you join the army?”
“Why didn’t you just go to America instead of enlisting? Are you retarded?”
“I never would’ve enlisted if I had American citizenship. I’d have gone straight to America. What were you thinking?”

I mean, he got this ALL THE TIME.

What Happened to "The Hope of 2000 Years"?

This all shocked me because I found it so unpatriotic.

Can you imagine an American soldier being told by his fellow soldiers, “You have Canadian citizenship? Are you stupid—what are you doing in the Marines? You could be in Ontario!”

Okay, it’s not really the same because the US military is volunteer while the IDF is mandatory.

But my point is the sheer disloyalty of such a statement. Not to mention the appalling lack of morale it implies.

And this might sound naive, but I asked my son if a soldier could get court-martialed for saying such traitorous things, like insulting a fellow soldier for enlisting & even encouraging a fellow soldier to leave the country altogether. Especially since Israel isn't Canada and not located in Candy Land. We have a serious security situation both within our borders and outside our borders. Considering Israel's reality, it just sounds traitorous.

Furthermore, this attitude displays a shocking lack of Zionist principle.

Why are your fellow soldiers in the ISRAELI army telling you to leave the great Zionist enterprise and make your fortunes in another country?

Why does your display of Zionism and patriotism cause your fellow soldiers and citizens to question your intelligence and sanity?

Isn’t this what you’re supposed to do—enlist in the IDF? Live in Medinat Yisrael?

My Moroccan-born Israeli-bred husband also found it hard to believe.

“I think it’s the kind of people he’s serving with,” said my husband. “These people are a certain type.”

My husband is right to an extent. These kinds of comments are heard far less within combat units. (Although a boy serving in tzanchanim/paratroopers heard these comments, but only infrequently. I think that might be because tzanchanim attract a different type of combat soldier than, say, Golani.)

And while IDF recruits cannot decide what position they receive, they can state a preference.

Many of the people serving in non-essential jobnik positions are Left-leaning or just not particularly idealistic and wish to finish up their service in the least demanding way. Others just feel they have better things to do.

For example, one of the shavua-shavua guys came from a wealthy family and showed up to base in his Audi. During his off-base week, he attended law school. During his copious free time on the base, he studied his textbooks to keep up with his classes.

But I think it’s also generational, which is why my husband and I found it so shocking. I don’t think most young Israelis held that attitude when we were that age.

In other words, I think this is a new thing.

The Israeli iGen. (Or Generation Z.)

Still the Oddball...

Being not-remotely-thin-skinned, my son kind of enjoyed their shocked response, although after a while, it did make him start to reconsider his priorities. Why was he in the IDF, especially since he was shoved into an unwanted non-combat role? Why was he in Israel at all when he could be living it up in the US?

Furthermore, he found that he could use this attitude to his advantage.

When a new commanding officer tried to intimidate my son, my son bellowed something like, “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? I DON'T NEED TO TAKE THIS KIND OF GARBAGE FROM YOU BUNCH OF LOSERS! I’VE GOT AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP—I DON’T EVEN NEED TO BE HERE! GO AHEAD AND DO WHATEVER YOU WANT—I CAN JUST GO TO AMERICA ANY TIME I WANT!”

“Wow,” said the commanding officer. “Really? You’ve got American citizenship?” He mulled that over, then added, “So what are you doing here? Why’d you enlist? Are you retarded or something?”

(Just for knowing, my son wasn't out of control when he bellowed like that. He pinned the officer as a bully to whom, if you show a good offense, backs down right away. Case in point: The officer responded non-aggressively and my son was not disciplined for insubordination.)

What I think clinched it for my son was a combination of 2 incidents:

Not the Pilot & the Career Officer Too!

Once, he sat next to a pilot as they waited for the bus. As they chatted, it came out that my son had American citizenship.

“Really?” said the pilot, who sported a kippah & tzitzit. “So what are you doing HERE?”

“You’re religious and a pilot, and you say that?” said my son. (Air force pilots are considered very prestigious in Israel. And the truth is, being an IAF pilot takes tremendous dedication and other important qualities.)

The pilot said, “You know, I’m doing this because I figure that if I have to serve my country, then I might as well go all the way—you know?” Then he shook his head. “But if I had American citizenship? I don’t think I’d stay here. American citizenship is a real opportunity that I don’t think I could pass up.”

I’m assuming that most IAF (Israeli Air Force) pilots don’t feel this way, but it’s interesting that this one did, and a religious one at that.

At one base, my son was interacting with a high-ranking officer who’d made a career out of the IDF. He served on a permanent lifelong basis.

But when he discovered my son had US citizenship, he grew pensive.

Finally, he said, “You know, if I’m here anyway and I don’t have any other choice, I decided to make the army my life. But if I had the chance to leave it all and make it in America like you?” He shook his head. “I don’t think I would be here. I don’t think I would’ve enlisted like you did. I don't think I would be here at all.”

Am I the only one who finds this absolutely bizarre? I mean, a high-ranking career officer? Really?

Ah, So NOW He's a Smart Boy!

So after a year-and-a-half of this, plus the fact that my son was very bored doing mostly nothing all day (I mean, how much TV can an IDF recruit watch?), he decided to get himself discharged.

So after a very short stint in the IDF’s Keleh 6 prison up North (a story for another post) and a bit of confrontation with a commanding officer, my son was discharged.

“I’m going to America,” he informed me. “There’s no future here."

Once officially discharged, his phone didn’t stop ringing. Israeli businesses located in the US track down discharged soldiers to offer them jobs in the US.

Because my son has US citizenship, he was especially in demand because an American citizen is much easier for them to hire (no wrangling work visas and other bureaucratic legalities).

Gratified, he enjoyed their pursuit. "I'll be probably be in Texas by the end of the month," he gloated.

(Baruch Hashem, that was over a year ago and he’s still here with a job he enjoys. Ha!)

A few months after his discharge, he attended the wedding of one of the guys he’d served with.

It’s a cute story because this guy entered the army secular. But because of Chabad, he finished it frum. Another girl with whom this guy had gone to school since kindergarten also did teshuvah, and they re-connected and got engaged.

So the wedding consisted of all their old classmates, who were still secular and clearly remembered all the silly things these two had done since kindergarten. Plus, their secular army buddies.

But it was an enjoyable wedding nonetheless and a lovely Kiddush Hashem.

Anyway, my son ran into quite a lot of people he’d served with and they all told him the same thing: “You got yourself discharged early? Good for you! I wish I’d had the guts to do that! You’re so smart!”

If you've read the other 2 posts, you'll understand how incredibly ironic this conclusion is.

For more stand-alone posts in this series (for which I haven't yet figured out a title), please see:

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<<Previous

A Zealous Warrior...from Love

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Saved by the "Black Arm" of a Complete Tzaddik

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Who Listens to a Rabid Dog Frothing at the Mouth? And WHY?

What Rav Zamir Cohen Says about Neturei Karta

Forced to Eat Humble Mapai

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The Age-Old Secret to Jewish Military Victory (and it's not even such a secret!)

Boys Can Do Surveillance Too

Big Feminist Accomplishment: Girls are So Much Better at Boring, Passive Activity!

The REAL Heroines of Am Yisrael

Just As You Can't Defy Physical Physics Without Going "Splat" (like deciding to ignore gravity and walk off a cliff), You Can't Defy Spiritual Physics & Expect To Get Away With It

"It Will End Badly."

Izzy Wins Our Sympathy

Teinos Lose Sway When the Measure Is Finally Filled

Don't Blind Yourself to All The Geshmak Aspects

Teinos & Excuses Don't Matter in the End

My Son Goes to Prison - But No Worries! They Get Popsicles!

The Dedication of Mishmeres Hakodesh

Prison Shrews Share the Burden Too

A Yiddishe Krechtz?

Day Jobs for Clannish People

​"Toto, I've a Feeling We're Not in Lakewood Anymore..." Meets "Big Brother is Watching."

The Most Effective Way to Get Jewish Boys to Learn & Daven with Cheshek

How Any Kind of Police Record Affects Recruits from Charedi Families

What is MAKAM?

What's the Real Goal Here?

Sub-Culture Clash

Sensitivity Training in MAKAM

What about the Torah's Military Guide?

MAKAM Goes to the Kotel

It's Like a Sleight-of-Hand Game: Now You See It, Now You Don't!

It's Like When You Think You'll Get a Really Exciting Present for Your Birthday, and Then You Just Get a Pair of Socks--and the Socks Don't Even Fit Right

We'll Allow You to Succeed when It Fits Our PR Needs

The Illusion of a Second Chance

Some Practical Help You Can Give

"Are You Retarded?"

What Happened to "The Hope of 2000 Years"?

Still the Oddball...

Not the Pilot & the Career Officer Too!

Ah, So NOW He's a Smart Boy!

Myrtle Rising

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"Toto, I've a Feeling We're Not in Lakewood Anymore..." Meets "Big Brother is Watching."