from the heart of jerusalem: rabbi binny freedman

The challenges of army service to religious life

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Rabbi Freedman is off this week. A version of this column originally appeared in 2012. 

I remember one of the guys I was in yeshiva with, trying to convince me not to sign up for Officer’s course. I would be forced to spend an additional year and a half in the army, without any spiritual environment to safeguard my religious ideals. “Atah titkalkel,” he said, “you will be corrupted.”

There are many in the “religious” camp (whatever that means) who believe that those capable of sitting and learning Torah should not go into the army. 

After all, for 2,000 years of exile when we did not have a land, our only connection to our Jewish heritage and identity as a people was the study of Torah. Hard as it is for some to imagine, it is very easy to lose your Jewish identity in the “field” even in the only Jewish army in the world; I watched a lot of guys go into the army with a kippah on their heads and a pair of tefillin in their bags and gradually lose their connection to Jewish ritual and Jewish tradition.

On a Saturday afternoon, when we were down from Lebanon (after an intense and stressful month) for a weekend of R&R in Netanya, we were free and told we would have the evening off. All the guys cleared out to go to the beach or head into town. For me, though, it was Shabbat, and I stayed behind in Beit Goldmintz, the R&R center we were bivouacked in for the week. There was one other boy who was from a religious home, who was clearly torn about what to do. Later, when everyone had gone, I realized I was alone; I never asked him where he had gone. The army really does wear you down. 

And so, I understand the position of those Jews who are opposed to yeshiva students doing the army. But after considering that point of view, I respectfully disagree.

This week’s portion, Shelach, contains one of the most challenging stories in the entire Torah: the story of the spies. “Sh’lach Lecha’ Anashim Ve’Yaturu…” (“Send out spies for yourselves…”) (Numbers 13:1)

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