Are Young Yeshiva Students Traitors ?

B"H

Almost every Erev Shabbat we face the same scene at Rabbi Mordechai Machlises house. The Rabbi enjoys to invite as many people for Shabbat as he can and if you are in Jerusalem, you should definitely go to his place. What you should not do is expecting a quiet Shabbat dinner with good manners. Rather prepare yourself for a few loonies and also some "normal" guests. In other words, prepare yourself for everything. However, the Rabbi's hospitality is unbelievable and people usually have a great unforgettable time.

I am not sure if I belong to the loony or the normal group of people. Some might claim that in order to live in Jerusalem, one has to be out of his mind. What I do admit is that I am one of the regulars at Rabbi Machlise's Shabbat table and so are others.

My friend and I thought about either making a movie about the meals in the Machlis home or, at least putting everything on Youtube. Unfortunately, this is all impossible on Shabbat.

One character showing up almost every Friday night is an American guy called Michael. You can imagine Michael as the "prefect" Zionist. Well, as a fundamentalist Zionist and only last week I had a wild discussion with him about the talmudic reasons against a State of Israel. Of course, none of these three oaths apply anymore today. Not according to Michael.

The real show only begins when Michael gets up to make a speech in front of everybody.
Anybody is allowed to make a speech at the Rabbi's but somehow the context should be in the atmosphere of Shabbat. For Michael it is absolutely in this kind of atmosphere calling Yeshiva students a kind of traitor because they do not go to the army. The Rabbi's living room is usually crowded with mostly young American Yeshiva students (Aish HaTorah and Ohr Sameach) and Michael starts telling them no to listen to their rabbis and rather go to the army.
Not to forget to mention, Michael is totally religious. Well, more or less.

The Yeshiva guys just sit quietly and stare at the speaker; the rabbi, on the other hand, calls him to stop his speech.
The question, however, is, if there is not a little truth in what Michael has to say ? He definitely says it in an offensive way but, nevertheless, I do sometimes think that he is right.

Israel is a country which always has to defend itself and does need good soldiers. Especially the national religious and even the haredi population (Nachal HaCharedi) have shown that they belong to the best soldiers the army has. Those of us who are not anti - Zionists and recognize the current State of Israel should also be prepared to fight for it.

One might claim that there are not only physical but also spiritual wars and that Israel also needs a "spiritual army". This is true but just look at the times of King David where religious people joined his army without asking questions or start quarreling.

Michael expresses his opinions in a violent pushy way but even his thoughts are worth of deeper thought. Joining the army does not necessarily mean giving up a religious life. The Israeli army has plenty of religious units.

The latest rather unusual case was that a Chassid from Toldot Aharon went to the Nachal HaCharedi. Not only him but many Haredim start doing so.

Obviously everybody expected the Toldot Aharon Rebbe to kick out the new "soldier" but instead he told the other members to be quiet. It goes without saying that this Chassid as well as other Haredim probably do face Shidduch difficulties. Nevertheless, going somewhere else and having new experiences does help in many cases to become even more religious.

If anyone of you is interested in seeing Michael's show should come to the Machlise's on Erev Shabbat.