Ashkenazi Haredim To Cancel Yeshiva Vacations Because It Looks Bad To Have Yeshiva Students Vacationing During A War They Refuse To Serve In

"…We need to know this is not like the other times. We are now in a terrible situation. Our brothers who have strayed [from Torah and haredi Orthodoxy – i.e., Jews who are not haredi] take every opportunity to make propaganda [against us] and incite against yeshiva Torah scholars. And is now in this time of war, thousands of Jews endanger themselves and every day large numbers of soldiers are killed, may God have mercy on us, and logic says that if [haredi yeshiva students] would vacation now with all that entails, it would cause a huge chillul Hashem when the seducers who wait for us on every occasion will open their mouths to speak ill of the Torah world.…"

Above: Rabbi Meir Tzvi Bergman

Ashkenazi Haredim To Cancel Yeshiva Vacations Because It Looks Bad To Have Yeshiva Students Vacationing During A War They Refuse To Serve In
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

The mainstream haredi faction headed by Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman will likely cancel the the three week yeshiva vacation period that begins after Tisha B’Av and runs to Rosh Hodesh Elul, the haredi news website Kikar HaShabbat reported.

Steinman is trying to decide whether to delay the vacation period by a few days and keep the yeshivas open during it or cancel it altogether and have the yeshivas continue run with no break at all.

Why?

Haredi leaders have realized that it looks terrible to have haredi yeshiva students sightseeing, vacationing and going to resorts and other recreation spots during the war while the rest of Israel has sons, fathers and brothers fighting – and, too often, dying – in Gaza, especially because haredi leaders have repeatedly claimed that the Torah study of these haredi yeshiva students “protects” Israel from its enemies. Haredi leaders have used that self-referential theological point to argue that no haredi yeshiva student should ever serve in the IDF, and have openly told their yeshiva students not to enlist in the IDF and to dodge the draft if they are called up.

Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Schneider, an associate of Steinman’s, told Kikar HaShabbat that Steinman said that if, God forbid, yeshiva students are on the streets or taking vacation trips rather than studying now during the war, it would cause a “horrible chillul Hashem [desecration of God’s name; a horrible embarrassment],” and “the sin of [causing] chillul Hashem is terrible.”

Rabbi Meir Tzvi Bergman, a member of the Degel HaTorah Council of Torah Sages that Steinman heads, was asked about canceling the yeshivas vacations.

Bergman reportedly said it was necessary to cancel the vacations "to avoid [causing] a huge chillul Hashem [desecration of God’s name; a huge embarrassment to haredim] and incitement against the [haredi] Torah world.”

"On the one hand there is the matter this time is a time for war, and we need and are committed to continue to increase Torah study and hard work [in Torah study] to rip up the evil decree [against us] and to save us from the enemy…[Torah study] is the only guarantee of the continuation of our existence. But at the same time there is another matter. We need to know this is not like the other times. We are now in a terrible situation. Our brothers who have strayed [from Torah and haredi Orthodoxy – i.e., Jews who are not haredi] take every opportunity to make propaganda [against us] and incite against yeshiva Torah scholars. And is now in this time of war, thousands of Jews endanger themselves and every day large numbers of soldiers are killed, may God have mercy on us, and logic says that if [haredi yeshiva students] would vacation now with all that entails, it would cause a huge chillul Hashem when the seducers who wait for us on every occasion will open their mouths to speak ill of the Torah world. Therefore, there is another reason [to cancel the yeshiva vacations]…to avoid the chillul Hashem…and continue to learn and be diligent in the halls of Torah,” Bergman said.

Meanwhile, the Council of Torah Sages of the Agudath Israel movement, which is essentially all hasidic, canceled their yeshiva vacations for the same reason and citied the necessity to strengthen Torah study at this time of danger.

"And now in these days and in the present situation…we call on yeshiva students…to stay in all yeshivas…strengthening the Torah study front …is [our] duty of the hour and time [as is prayer]…and God Almighty in His mercy, will bring the sukkah of peace upon us and upon all Israel…and hasten to soon redeem us and comfort us and make us in these days [full] with joy and festivals…,” the Agudath Israel’s Council of Torah Sages said in a statement.

[Hat Tip: Marty Bluke.]

Comments

[Yahoshua David]

It's funny he thinks all Jews consider the black hat community their Jewish brothers. And furthermore they think the soldiers care whether or not their in yeshiva when their friends are dying every day. You should see the funerals in Israel. The soldiers are just kids and are crying and broken. Classmates they grew up with since grade school all the way to military service. You can tell they'll be scared for life.

The black hats? Well, they just protest against Israel, the soldiers, want everything for free out of moral seperiority, feel a birthright entitlment to having their life supported, and feel that they are the ones who lead and protect the world. Do people see how they have tainted the religion of normal Judaism? Regular jews have taken on their 'yiddish' ways.

It's still strange how these people popped out of nowhere.. Lithuania, Poland, RUSSIA, Ukraine, Hungary. Classic Rabbi's who contributed works toward Judaism through history have always been from Israel, Iraq, Greece, Egypt, Rome, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Morocco. It's only around 1820 or so you get the first peep out of Eastern Europe which is very suspicious. I'm still trying to figure this one out.

[Garnel Ironheart]

What do you want from them? They're not going to go to the army and fight. If they went on vacation you'd condemn them. They say they won't do army because their Torah study protects and they're cancelling vacation so they can keep up the protection. They think they're helping.

[MM]

Yahoshua David, where did you go to school? This is not a rhetorical question. How long do you think Jews have been in Argentina? While there were conversos in Argentina during the Spanish colonial period, an organized Jewish community with synagogues and other institutions did not start to form until the mid-nineteenth century. Argentina was hardly a hot bed of Jewish learning "through history."

As for Eastern European Jewish learning, the Vilna Gaon was born in 1720, so the "first peep" of Jewish learning in eastern Europe could not have occurred "only around 1820." Rashi lived in the 11th century in northern France, so the "classic Rabbi's" [sic] were not confined to "Israel, Iraq, Greece, Egypt, Rome, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Morocco" prior to 1820.

Obviously the Jewish communities in the Middle East and the Roman Empire predate those in northern and eastern Europe, so obviously early Jewish scholars would not come from northern and eastern Europe. However, by the end of the 11th century, coincident with the First Crusade, Jews began to move north and east to avoid persecution and genocidal pressures elsewhere. At that time Lithuania was pagan, not Christian, and it and Greater Poland were safe havens for Jewish communities. Many Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 sought refuge in what we might call "LitvakLand." From the fifteenth century on until the Holocaust, Greater Poland/Lithuania was the center of Jewish learning worldwide. The list of great Talmudic scholars who emerged from the yeshivas of Greater Poland is endless.

Y.D., your problem is that you are trying to figure out the causes of a phenomenon that didn't exist. From the 15th century on (long predating 1820), the yeshivas of Eastern Europe were the centers of Jewish learning WORLDWIDE and the homes of the great sages of the period. Torah scholarship did not suddenly emerge in Eastern Europe after 1820, so no need to explain what never happened.

[mb]

Damned if you Damned if you don't although I'm pro draft, (one must serve their country,) but this action should be commended even though their principles are twisted and corrupted

[Michael-Meir]

Gamel: "What do you want from them?"

National service would be a start.

[Barry]

"And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "You may put my two sons to death if I don't bring him (Benjamin) to you. Put him into my hand[s] and I will return him to you."

Surely Bergman should be killing these Torah Scholars rather than delaying their vacation so as to provide the most effective help.

[Sarek]

Wow, it's MY fault that they have to cancel their summer vacations. Who knew I had such powers? All that with no red string!

[Ron]

@MM

Ignore Yahoshua David. Maybe you haven't seen his previous posts. They all end with this silliness that "Lithuania, etc." are bad while "Iraq, etc." are good.

Also, there are actually Haredim who believe they are helping the nation by learning Torah. It is not fair to always put them in a bad light.

[David]

They keep referring to themselves as "Torah scholars" but how many of them are really so? Also this full-time "learning" is a completely modern innovation coincident with the welfare state and the abuse thereof that enables these "scholars" to claim welfare because they say they can't work or can't find work. Torah learning should be done on their own time after working and fulfilling family obligations and civil obligations such as military service. If they really knew Torah they would understand their obligations to work and defend Israel (as well as educating their children so they can work).

[Philadelinquency.com]

Hi. Stupid goyim here. I know it's been a loooong hiatus. But one thing that strikes me here about yeshiva is how in the "Christian" (heavy air quotes) world, at least in the States anyway... if you went anywhere saying "oh hai please can you give me some money so I can study the Bible and can you also pay for my kids? I don't do birth control so I'm probably gonna have anywhere between 9 and 15 of them. SANKS in advance!" you would pretty-much be crucified.

Even with early English-speaking Protestants you had the Royal supremacy with the government as head of the church... they still didn't pay for the lifestyles of the bishops. Because the nobility wouldn't tolerate having half their income or more being sucked away to pay for it.

So, stupid me... I can't understand how one can go to the unwashed masses and ask them to pay for your moral lifestyle to sit at a school and study a book full of rules; then have the audacity to be disappointed when they say no.

[Philadelinquency.com]

BTW to clarify a bit more what I just said... I'm not saying it's bad to study Torah (or for Xians, the Bible)... but it's mathematically impossible to support an able-bodied population that grows which produces negative income and GDP. You eventually reach a point where those being asked to pay more and more will be crushed by the burden and join the ranks of the beneficiaries themselves. Economics doesn't work this way.

Some people find it their life's calling to employ themselves to their faith and depend on social network charity for sustenance [that's how professional religion works... everywhere]. But as a civilization you can't have this population overwhelm the rest of society making it bone idle or you don't have a civilization anymore.

Political Islam doesn't work for the very same reason. Mullahs sit on their fat asses cashing checks while everyone else is slave-driven. The more cooks in the kitchen the faster the system collapses; so this system stays afloat by putting the whole nation's ideology into a small room of mullahs who basically convert to a theocratic oligarchy, making it quite easy to wipe out the regime with a few strategic air strikes.

Political Christianity survived a lot longer in the history books because it was never about faith and always about empire.

I'm sure these folks think they're doing the country a great service by shoving their face in a book and praying for favor. I dunno. My cynicism is pretty high today.

[David]

Philadelinquency.com, spot on! Well said. Judaism has never had a situation where a large part of the population parasitizes the other. Like any religion there were always a tiny number of true outstanding scholars supported by others for full time study and no one would mind that. You average Jew was always expected to work, support his family, educate his children and fight to defend Israel when necessary. Full time "learning" as a lifestyle never existed and wasn't economically feasible in any case (just as it isn't now). And you are no "stupid goy" either.

[Yahoshua David]

I agree with David. This whole thing is a VERY recent phenomina. And yes i hold fast to my 1820 claim. The other poster suggested that the Jews in eastern Europe came from 11th century france which is laughable.

The Jewish populations in Rome, France, Greece, actually predate Christianity. The Synagogue in Rome is actually older than Christianity and part of the building materials in that Synagogue were built with the origional synagogue from the Jewish 'neighborhood' at the time.

Northern France - especially in the 11th century has a lot of significance with the Jewish people and the Order of the Knights Templar as well as other extremely important 'Davince Code' things in an effort to take back Yerushalayim but thats another topic. However let me make something clear:

-The jews of 11th century France did not have top fur hats and trench-coats
-They were not on welfare living in ghettos.
-They were not singing 'ya ya ya ya' although the songs can be fun.
-They were not practicing a 'birthright Judaism' or other Paganism.

They were real Jews who knew the truth of Judaism; that being a practicing Jew is NOT difficult. What was most important was faith in Hashem - being God fearing.

Just to show you how recent all these modern heresies are, If you look at ANY footage of 'historic' jews in America, you will not find ONE kippah. If you look at the video of Hasidic jews from the 1950's they are dancing with WOMEN. Fully touching them and all that.

When you look at Jewish military enrollment in WW2, is had OVER representation per capita compared to American counterparts.

I'm saying that Jews were well integrated - not because of a conspiracy, but because they were real Jews. It's only recent times that we've been paranoid like this. It's the curse of Zionism. We hide and are afraid because OTHER Jews make us feel GUILTY like we're hiding something.

This new Jewish Paganistic psychology that make us feel guilty come out of Poland, RUSSIA, Lithuania, Ukraine... Did i mention RUSSIA? Oh yeah I did. Now why not go look for a video called RUSSIAN superstition and you can see videos of people who moved there and were amazed to find out how crazy and paganistic they are. The whole country until this day.

Paganism is a strange brew of magic, FOLKLORE, tall-tales, psuedo-science, and superstition. It almost always involves witchcraft. This is why I see through their Torah study to protect Israel as simple paganism of life-force. Their humanly powers protect israel. Hashem is not in the equation, only the black hats keep Israel safe.

Look - one of the first thing Hashem does is curse the man that he'll have to do work. The work will hurt him and be hard for him. The pressure of a man to provide is something all of us fathers here can relate with as men,

But these people are not working. They are getting a life for free to do what they want all day. They arent Rabbis serving the community. They are outside drinking coffee and smoking., errr.. I mean inside the Yeshiva studying all day. What happened to Hashems curse of work? Duties, responsibilites and hardships of being a man. Living out our curse. This is BASIC Judaism. Basic, basic things that are bot being obeyed. They 'study' WITHOUT purpose and Hashem doesnt like waste.

Now, we're in a day and age where Reform and Conservative are being made to look like bad guys. They actually want to tak away their right to go to Israel and invalidate them as Jews. They say for peace in israel they must remove the knit hats. But as soon as a war happens and there is talk of them serving, all of a sudeen they're showing support.

Oh and they also say Yiddish is the true language of the Torah.