Larry D. Bernstein

I am about to blow your mind. But for that, you have to open your mind and be prepared to face the fact that you’ve been duped. We all know that our feeds are full of fake news. That’s not a surprise to anyone. What might be a surprise is the extent of it, and in this case, I’m referring to a specific topic. So let me ask you this. When I say the word “Chareidim” or “ultra-Orthodox,” what’s your first association? Draft dodgers, right? Surely your first thought is how terrible the Chareidi world is for avoiding the draft and abandoning their brothers on the battlefield. Here’s the thing. I don’t blame you. The media in Israel has been hard at work for decades, yes, decades, vilifying the entire Chareidi world. The issue is at the top of every political discussion and TV panel. It’s all you hear about all day. It’s not only the media. I know countless people, even religious people, who truly despise Chareidim, all Chareidim, and would rather have a government with Israel- and Jew-hating Muslims than with their own Chareidi brothers. Truly sad to see. Tragic, actually. You see the horrible images and videos of Chareidim protesting and blocking roads. You hear about their violence, their extremism, and how much they hate the State of Israel. Well, let me tell you something. You’ve been duped. Before I explain, I will give a disclaimer. Those pictures and videos? They are real. It’s true. There are some very violent and disturbed individuals in the Chareidi world. Are there no violent and disturbed people in the secular world? Do we judge the entire secular world by those people? Those violent Chareidim, you know who hates them more than anyone? Other Chareidim. These extremists that dominate your feeds are a microscopic fraction of the Chareidi world. We can debate the percent, but one thing is for sure: the vast majority of Chareidim live a life upholding the Jewish tradition and dedicating their lives to Torah. Not everyone, but the vast majority of them. Don’t believe me? Go visit the Mir Yeshiva on any day you choose. Watch how the light of Torah shines. It reminds me of the “violent settlers” and how a few hundred dumb teenagers act in total contrast to everything Judaism is, and how these kids, many of whom should be behind bars, are condemned by 99% of religious Israelis, including those who live in Judea and Samaria. And yet, people talk about the issue as if anyone who lives in Judea and Samaria is a violent settler. Those violent kids represent no one. And those extremist Chareidim also represent no one. Since when does the worst behavior of a minority define an entire community? Gimme one more minute. I’ll get to the draft issue. Have you ever needed emergency medical assistance? Have you encountered the extraordinary Chareidi volunteers of United Hatzalah, Magen David Adom, or the countless other organizations that save lives every single day? Have you ever needed a wheelchair, crutches, or medical equipment and turned to Yad Sarah or another charitable organization? Have you ever encountered the people who deliver meals to struggling families, visit hospital patients, help families facing financial crises, or quietly devote their lives to helping strangers? Then you’ve encountered another side of Chareidi society. The real side of the Chareidi world. A side that rarely goes viral. A side that doesn’t generate nearly as much outrage. A side that represents some of the most beautiful values Judaism has to offer. Listen, I live in Beit Shemesh, which you might say is the center of all the Chareidi extremism. I see it. I’ve been right next to it countless times. For every one Chareidi acting violently and in contrast to the Torah, there are a hundred standing next to him, telling him to stop, yelling at him to stop! Those guys aren’t good for clicks, so you never hear about them, even though they are the majority. And now to the issue itself. If you read the news, you think that no Chareidim are drafting, right? Well, let me open your eyes to just how fake that news is. Let’s start with the fact that my son, Tzvi, served in a Chareidi unit. And there are many such units in the IDF. You didn’t know that, did you? My other son just recently had his swearing in ceremony. He’s in an elite unit. I cannot begin to describe to you how many chareidi soldiers I saw at that ceremony. After the ceremony, which was at the western wall, hundreds of them stood in a circle and sang Jewish songs about Hashem and the Torah. I saw this with my own eyes! Oh, I’m just getting started. Here are the facts. The rest is propaganda aiming at creating more division. OK, here goes. If I told you that thousands of Chareidim are lining up to draft, you’d tell me to go get my head checked, right? So, here are some numbers. Since October 7th, over 6,000 Chareidim reported to enlistment offices WITH NO draft order, entirely on their own initiative, demanding to serve. Have you heard about the 2030 program, a plan compiled by a team of senior security and military officials to create an entire division of Haredi combat reservists? You have not, right? Ask yourself why not. In early 2024, the Institute for Strategy and Haredi Policy found that over 70% of Haredi men over the age of 24 were willing to enlist immediately for reserve duty and take part in Israel’s security mission. 70%!!! You had no idea, right? Have you heard of Rabbi Label and his Kodkod program? Rabbi Label oversees a network of over 90 kollels and educational institutions, all of which push IDF enlistment to technology units, combat units, and combat support programs throughout the IDF. The program has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past two years. Crickets in your feeds about this. Why would that be? Have you heard of the Rebbe of Karlin, who leads one of the largest and most influential Hasidic courts in the country? The Rebbe himself carries a handgun. He built a framework that has quietly enlisted hundreds of his students every year into construction, technology, and the military production line. Have you heard of Ma’alot Sur from the Belz Hasidic community? Over 1,000 have enlisted. Battalion 99 quietly enlisted over 500 people into Stage B over the past year and built its entire logistics corps on the backs of Chareidi soldiers. Did you know that? No, no, you did not. The IOF program: hundreds a year into technological tracks. Nachal Chareidi? Negev Company, combat defense fighters in the Air Force. Hadassim, hundreds of Haredi women serving as IDF civilian employees, programmers on the home front and in technological systems. A feminist success story. You’d think this would get a ton of coverage, right? But nope, nada, zilch, zero, nothing in the media. Atidim, Shahar Kahol, Netach Yehuda, Hashmonaim. Every program here is more proof that the full story is not being told to the public. So why aren’t Chareidim enlisting? Wrong question. The question is why you haven’t heard about any of the thousands who do! Here, try this experiment. Type in Google “Ultra orthodox drafting to the IDF.” See the results? All pictures of the extremists fighting the draft. Zero pictures of the many thousands who stepped up and initiated change in the chareidi world. Listen, we can debate whether the state should financially support anyone learning Torah or whether everyone should draft. It’s not a black-or-white (pun very much intended) issue. We can talk about how hundreds of thousands of Chareidim can serve their country in a way that is suitable for their lifestyle. There are many things we can debate when it comes to this issue. What is NOT debatable is that there is a trend happening of more and more Chareidim showing up to serve their country and that information is actively and maliciously hidden from you and me. Ask yourself why that is. None of this means the draft problem has been solved. It hasn’t. There are still serious questions about unequal military obligations, the burden on reservists, the number of eligible Chareidi men who actually enlist, and the responsibility of every community to participate in defending this country. Those are legitimate questions. Very legitimate questions. And the families who have sent their sons and daughters into combat have every right to demand answers. But acknowledging those concerns doesn’t require us to demonize an entire community. So instead of joining the mob and vilifying hundreds of thousands of truly incredible people, how about you dig a little deeper, do some research, and realize that you are being lied to? Is there a problem of extremism in the Chareidi community? Yes, there is. Is it as widespread as the media would have you believe? Abso-freakin-lutely not! There are not thousands of Chareidi extremists, just like there are not thousands of “violent settlers.” There is a small number of people who behave immorally and who are condemned by 99% of the society around them. That is true for violent people in Judea and Samaria, and that is true for the Chareidim who act in a way that is the opposite of Torah values. The reality is that the numbers are actually tiny and insignificant. Whether it’s tens or even a few hundred (it’s not), that is still a tiny percentage of the Chareidi world. Of course, there are things that need to change. The question is whether we’re genuinely interested in helping that change happen or whether we’ve become so comfortable hating one another that we’ve forgotten what we’re actually trying to accomplish. Because the goal should never be to win a war against the Chareidim. The goal should be to build a stronger Israel. Together. Because if the goal is to increase Chareidi military service, then every Chareidi who enlists should be viewed as part of the solution. They should be celebrated. Not ignored because his existence complicates the narrative. We can demand more from the Chareidi community without denying everything it already contributes. We can recognize the enormous sacrifices made by IDF soldiers and reservists without vilifying those who live differently. We can fight extremism without becoming extremists ourselves. Read that sentence again. It is key! Whether you like it or not, the Chareidim are your brothers and sisters. They’re your family. Families have sibling rivalry, and that’s fine. No matter how much two siblings fight, they are still siblings. Maybe if we viewed each other as family and not adversaries, Israel would be in a much better place. If you’re a secular Israeli who has never even met a Chareidi person your age, perhaps consider rectifying that. If this issue is so important to you, don’t you think you should know a little more about the other side and what they have to say? I’d bet there aren’t many issues that you feel so strongly about but that you know close to nothing about the other side of the debate. The next time you see some journalist or influencer trashing an entire part of the population, perhaps ask that person if they are familiar with any of the above information. Then share it with them because times are changing, and we should encourage that change instead of generalizing and stereotyping about hundreds of thousands of people. The world does enough of that to us. We don’t have to do it to ourselves.

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