יש גם חריגים: בשבת האחרונה התארחה קבוצת בחורים מישיבת מיר בבסיס "פלס נח"ל" בבקעת הירדן, בו מתאמנים חיילים חרדים. pic.twitter.com/itzPtbyNQz

— יעקב אמסלם (@Yaakov_Amsalem) June 26, 2016

Amsalem calls them the exceptions. Maybe he is right and they are, or maybe he is wrong and they are not. Either way, Amsalem says a group of yeshiva bochurim from the Mir Yeshiva staye das guests for Shabbos on the army base  of Nahal Haredi, and attaches a picture to that effect..

A lot is made of the "Chardak" campaign and every time a Haredi soldier gets attacked by Haredim, so it is nice to point out when Haredim show respect and admiration.

Diego converted to Judaism and joined the Israeli army, in Netzach Yehuda, at age 28. At a commencement ceremony, his mother and sister were brought in from Columbia for a very emotional reunion..

Joseph Kaufman, the company that make fleece jackets, is running a contest on its Facebook page. They will give fleece jackets to an army unit, depending on which units photograph gets the most "Likes".

There are 11 units competing, and while I am sure they are all deserving and they all could make good use of the jackets, I am going to support the Nahal Haredi unit competing for the jackets.

Facebook page of the competition
Facebook page (photo) of the Nahal Haredi unit competing for the jackets

If you use Facebook, go support the soldiers of Nahal Haredi. Like their picture and help them stay warm when out on patrol. As of right now, Nahal Haredi is in 3rd place in the competition.

A Chabadnik, specifically a "Meshichist", is in hot water for wearing his "meshichist kippa" (with the Yechi Adoneinu embroidered on it).

According to Walla, the soldier serves in the Nahal Haredi brigade. When he was told by his commander to change his kippa, as it is prohibited by the army to wear a kippa with writing on it, he refused. He explained to his commander that his kippa is part of his faith and he wears it according to the instruction of his rabbonim, as do all his friends associated with the same stream of Chabad Judaism.


The commander did not accept the response and said that if he does not change his kippa he will end up in military court. The soldier tried to involve his rabbonim to use their influence to persuade the commander to allow the soldier to wear the kippa, but it did not help.

The director of the organization for religious soldiers, along with others form Nahal Haredi, have said that the commander went overboard. If they expect to draft many haredim, they will need to be more sensitive to the various needs. If a Golani soldier had worn a kippa with the tesxt "My Golani" embroidered in it, would they make him switch it?

The IDF Spokesperson simply responded that it is illegal to wear a kippa with text on it in the IDF.

from yesterday's ceremony for the Nahal Haredi

Hatikva:


followed by Ani Maamin:



from another view..



and part of the ceremony..

This past week was supposed to see the ceremony of the conclusion of basic training for the latest inductees to the Nahal Haredi. It was canceled due to the fear that the event would be targeted by haredi extremists, who have begun a campaign of delegitimizing haredi soldiers, and even leading to violence against haredim seen in uniform.

The even was rescheduled for tomorrow at 5:30 PM at Givat HaTachmoshet - Ammunition Hill - in Jerusalem.

Somebody came up with the idea to turn this into a show of support. To oppose the calls against Haredi soldiers, and especially the violence, he suggests that people should show up at the ceremony and show their support of Haredi soldiers.

He created a Facebook event to that effect, and it has received many shares on Facebook and has been picking up steam. I think it is a great idea, a great way to show support at a time when they are being threatened and future potentials are being scared away. If I could go I would, If you can go, I think you should.

Due to the difficulties of graduates of the Nahal Haredi army units to integrate back into the regular haredi communities after the conclusion of their service, a combination of government offices are investigating the possibility of forming a new community for these graduates.

The new community would be a haredi agricultural kibbutz, and different locations are being considered in the eventuality that this idea is finalized.

Obviously as more and more haredim finish their army service, more such communities would need to be established in the future, along with room for growth within each one. And some might very well choose to go back to the regular cities.

They say there is initial interest and there is already agreement to being trained in agriculture.
(source: INN)

I cannot imagine every one of them will want to work in agriculture. Put any group of people together, and there will be diversity in their interests. There already are some successful haredi agricultural-based communities, and there is no reason why there cannot be more.

Perhaps some future communities should be moshavim and yishuvim, and not just kibbutzim. Also, with the way the kibbutzim have gone in the past 15-20 years, with minimizing their agricultural efforts and turning to other industries, some of these haredi kibbutzim could also specialize in other industries and not just agriculture...

this is a very interesting look at the Nahal Haredi brigade in the IDF, and on the ordeals the soldiers go through.. the journalist accompanied the Nahal haredi unit for 8 months to make this documentary


אני מצהיר from bhol on Vimeo.

 

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About 10 days ago a story hit the press about a haredi soldier who went to daven, in his uniform, in the "shteiblach" in RBS B -  a shul run by Toldos Avraham Yitzchak where there is no problem finding a minyan even very late in the morning. The story was about some vile behavior displayed by some of the other congregants as they chased the soldier out of shul, while shaming him harshly in the process.

I don't know how I would have reacted if it were me in that situation, but I do know that the chances of me going back to daven there after such an incident would be so minute that it probably is less than 0. Forget about the fact that I have never gone to daven there because I don't like the style of the people there, and I have no need for a shacharis minyan at 11am.

Regardless of what I would do, the soldier who was chased out did go back. I don't know why, and I don't know how he had the courage to go there knowing he could be chased out again, but he did.

This time, however, things played out differently.

On Monday the soldier went back to the shteiblach for an 11 AM minyan, when he was reportedly greeted warmly. They spoke with him about what had happened, and then during the davening, an aliya was bought by one of the other congregants and given to the soldier.

There are idiots everywhere, just as there are nice and decent people everywhere.


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Lipa With Soldiers Singing "M'arba Kanfos"

Lipa has gone on a campaign supporting the soldiers, especially the haredi soldiers serving in the IDF in Nahal Haredi (Netzach Yehuda). Lipa said he sings for all types of Jews, hassidim, litvishe, etc. and for the soldiers as well.

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With the fight over the Ulpana neighborhood of Beit El taking the headlines the past few days, here are some of the other interesting news bits you might have missed:

1. With the expected changes to the the laws regarding the drafting of Harediminto the army, the IDF is planning for the eventuality of much higher numbers of Haredim joining units and needing specialized units like Nahal Haredi. The IDF is therefore working towards forming 3 new Haredi army battalions. (source: Haaretz)

While Nahal Haredi and other similar units have been full and difficult to get in to, with the IDF reluctant to opening up new units in a similar style, now they expect to need to with the much larger numbers that might be drafted.

2. An industrial zone outside of Rechasim has been earmarked by Minister of Interior Eli Yishai for development of employment befitting offices for Haredi women (with companies operating programs similar to the existing programs run by Matrix, CityBooks, and the like).

There is opposition to the plan, but mainly because of zoning issues. They don't want to move to other industrial zones, because then Rechasim would lose that tax revenue, as it would go to Yokneam or wherever else they might end up. The problem is that the land allocated for this is zoned for agriculture. (source: Haaretz)

Some are complaining that - you complain when Haredim don't work, but when they want to work you also prevent them from doing so. I disagree with the sentiment. Zoning is an issue that needs to be worked out. You can't just put down a building wherever you want. If the land is zoned a certain way, it is meant to be used for specific purposes. Othe rpeople might have had plans for that. It can be rezoned, and must go through the proper channels. Just because someone opposes it does not mean he does not want haredi women to work - but build your building in a place that it is appropriate. Or Rezone that spot.

3. Harish is a city that has been going through the approval process for building a large city that will ultimately be Haredi, and cheap. A group of Dati Leumi are trying to promote a project for 300 units in Harish that would be bought by Dati Leumi. They know the city will be haredi, but they want to "build a Zionist community within the Haredi city, similar to what is in Elad". They say they are only looking for people who know and realize that they will be living in a Zionist community inside a Haredi city. (source: Ladaat)

I hope that works out well for them..





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INN has an interesting item about former Nahal Haredi soldiers.

Graduates of the Nahal Haredi army division are working on an initiative of establishing their own communities and neighborhoods based on groups of haredim who have similarly gone through army service via Nahal Haredi.

According to the report, the founder of the initiative, Yitzchak Atlas, says that it is important for haredim who served in the army to also live together later. This is so for financial reasons - as a way of putting together purchase groups in Jerusalem, Bet Shemesh and elsewhere (and thereby achieve better pricing), and also for social reasons. With such people having gone through similar experiences and often sharing similar backgrounds, they prefer to live together with other people sharing those similar experiences and backgrounds.

This is very common in general, as groups of people establish neighborhoods of like-minded people. There is no reason they should not  be any different. What i find interesting is that they all come from different places, different yeshivas, and after they share the army experience instead of going back to their "old lives", their "old friends" and try to re-integrate into their old social networks, they wish to remain with their army buddies. It makes perfect sense to me - after sharing what are surely life-altering experiences for a few years, they surely become closer with those friends and more distant from their old friends.

In addition, Atlas says that the haredim who serve in the army tend to become more nationalistic. He says this is the main difference between them and the regular haredi community. The haredim who served in the army honor Yom HaAtzmaut and Yom HaZikaron. Atlas adds that when they establish their own community, in the shul they build they will definitely say the tefilla for the welfare of the State of Israel.

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