this weeks outrageous statement by ROY

This weeks Saturday night drasha by Rav Ovadia Yosef is creating quite a stir...as happens fairly frequently.

Rav Ovadia is a fairly "charif" (spicy) rav and he often says sharp things in his weekly drasha. The media is always there waiting to here some spicy quote. Sometimes they take it out of context, but they often share with the rest of us who were not there what he had to say that week.

This week, Rav Ovadia said that the soldiers of the IDF die because "they do not keep the Torah, they do not keep mitzvos, they do not keep shabbos, they do not daven daily, they do not put on tefillin, so is it a surprise that they die? If they repent they will all live good peaceful lives."

Rav Yosef also compared the army to the armies of Israel of old and said that "the armies of yore were armies of tzaddikim and God-fearing men. Anybody who was not such a person was sent home from the army.."

He concluded that "when soldiers are believers and daven, Hashem helps them in battle. They do not get killed. One needs to be clean (spiritually I guess) to go to war."

I am not nearly as close to God's ear as Rav Ovadia Yosef is, so he probably has more of a right to speak in God's name than I do. However, I do find the statement problematic.

First of all, what about religious soldiers who die? How does he explain their deaths based on his theory? Many parents of religious soldiers are outraged by Rav Yosef's statements. One parent said, "I invite Rav Yosef to light a memorial candle on my son's, Yoni's, grave. Yoni was an alumnus of a yeshiva, donned tefillin, kept shabbos, davened daily, kept mitzvos."

Second, what about all the deaths (not army related) in the religious world? Recently we had the summer vacation and there were numerous deaths of yeshiva students on tiyulim or in car accidents. The chareidi newspapers eulogized all those young men with descriptions of how they were the best boys in yeshiva and were righteous and dedicated to the Torah, etc. Were the papers not telling the true story? Were these students really heathens? maybe in public they lived the lives of tzaddikkim but in private they transgressed everything? I would not want to cast doubt on the lives of the poor souls who died, but how would Rav Yosef explain their deaths?

Third, if the Jewish army is best prepared for battle when the soldiers are religious and God fearing and righteous, etc., then what right do the religious parties have to push for deferments/exemptions from the army for the yeshiva students? They should be forcing them to go to the army because they are the only ones who can protect Israel!

Fourth, the deferments the chareidi world get from the army are based on the idea that "by our learning Torah we are protecting the soldiers and all of Israel, better than if we would be in the IDF." What happened to the protection from the yeshiva boys? If these soldiers are dieing because of their not being religious enough, shouldn't the yeshiva boys Torah study be protecting them?

While it might not be my place to criticize Rav Ovadia Yosef, I would like some clarification as to the points above as to how that fits in to his theories...