To be fair, I must post the follow-up to yesterday's "We Yeshiva Students Barely Study" post.
The anonymous avreich called Bechadrei to get things off his chest. Unless they are making up a follow-up anonymous story.
Anyway so the guy calls up Bechadrei and expresses his remorse over what he had done. He says he hadn't realized at the time how much of an effect it would have had. He goes on to explain how he went out to meet the reporter and just started talking. He said all sorts of things, some in jest, and it is obvious much of it is not true. He says he just kept on talking. He says he didn't realize how big a story it would become and how it would create so much hatred against haredim. He thought it would be a small item in the paper, and not be made into such a central piece.
B'kitzur, the guy is a fraud. Either he was lying the first time, or the second time, or both (or not at all, if the whole thing is made up). If anything, he should have had Yediot run a second piece with his clarification. Regardless, he has become one of these crying panderers who say whatever they think the crowd in front of them wants to hear.
It is like the army people who talk about the need to draft haredim - social equality, social responsibility, shared responsibility to defend the country. Then when they talk to a haredi audience they say if we would suddenly have 2000 haredim come down to be drafted our systems would crash We dont need them, we dont want them, blah blah blah. As if the army could deal with drafting tens of thousands of young men and women every year, but couldnt handle another couple thousand.
This guy is the same. To the secular press he says he has an agenda and the haredim need ot be saved, and they won't, or can't, do it themselves. Then to the haredi press he cries he had no idea what he was talking about, it was all a mistake, he didnt mean it, its obviously not true. This guy, if he exists, is not a courageous man (if anonymously blaming society can be called courageous at all). He is just an idiot.
A note on the army. As you said, the army is NOT prepared for even the CURRENT influx of charedi soldiers!
ReplyDeleteNachal Charedi is FULL and it now requires protexia to get your son in (they had ~160 positions open for NEXT year, all of which are now full). The Air Force blue-and-white charedi maintenance tech program has openings for about 20 new soldiers per year and is also at full capacity (with 80% signing on for extended service).
BTW, Nachal Charedi is also getting an influx of foreign Jewish charedim (U.S. or European talmidim coming for the "not-Israeli" IDF program...and then signing on for extended service as they only have to commit 1 year).
The army is "considering" expanding Nachal Charedi to a 2nd battalion.
If you want your son in Nachal Charedi, better start working on it the MOMENT he gets his draft notice (normally a year in advance) if not before. (There are several younger local RBS-A charedi rabbonim that work in the IDF rabbinut and can help.)
Akiva you're sorely mistaken on a number of points:
ReplyDeletea) Nahal Haredi doesn't exist. They changed the name of the unit when they figured out that there were basically no Haredim in it. It's now called Netzah Yehuda.
b) I have a friend who's in it. He joined up without an issue. (No, he isn't Haredi either.) Trust me, if they had more people offering to sign up, they'd take them.
c) If there was an influx of ACTUAL HAREDI soldiers, you might have a point. But all the people signing up for "Nahal Haredi" which no longer exists, aren't actually Haredi! They're either DL's looking to be more frum, Americans with nothing else to do (or, in the case of my friend, ideologically committed) or Sephardic Masorti'im looking for the trade-school tacked on at the end.
As has always been said, the army could always use more combat soldiers. The fact that the hilonim are also draft-dodging and/or opting out for jobnik positions doesn't make the Haredim look any better.