Why is our language so imprecise and vague? What is the source of the thinking of those sectors of the Israeli public that believe that they can coerce the draft upon the Torah students? Have not the leaders who have shepherded the community of the devotees to the word of Hashem for these past many days and years very unmistakably and ultimately clarified that those who study Torah in purity shall continue to persevere to delve in Torah with unqualified self-sacrifice, and that no law or statute in the world can cause them to waver from their study?
If the State of Israel seeks to starve our children, we will find some way to contend with this decree. And if it wants to hold up budgets, as it is already doing at the present, Torah will continue to flourish, no matter what!
Torah study without any foreign admixture is the very foundation of the preservation of the Jewish people. We have said this all along and will continue to declare it today and in every place, upon every occasion, to whomever wants to listen. There is no possible way in the entire Torah world where anyone would compromise upon this because it is the very core of our existence.
Even more — it is the very foundation of our national soul. We are surely pained, like everyone, over the deaths of soldiers, among whom are so many mitzvah-observant, as those fighters from the reserves left everything behind in order to go forth and serve on the battlefield. Many of them left behind, oh so many orphans, one, in fact, ten bereaved orphans, another eight orphans and so on for so many others. The pain is terrible, the sorrow unbearable. But the Jewish truth is immutable in spite of it, no matter what or how.
Among the deceased are those who studied and those who taught Torah, because everyone is obligated to study, as the Rambam determines in the laws of Torah study: "Each man of Israel is beholden to Torah study, be he poor or rich, whole in body or riddled with suffering, be he young or advanced in age and incapacitated, even if he be a pauper sustained by charity or seeking alms from door to door. Even so, one who is burdened with a wife and children is obliged to set aside times for Torah study both by day and by night, as is written, 'And you shall delve in it by day and by night.' "
Thus, likewise, the fact that such mitzvah-observant soldiers studied Torah, or put on tefillin or kept Shabbos. But by the same token, are those who sanctify their lives for Torah study without any external intervention. They, in fact, are the very foundation of the survival of the Jewish nation and they guarantee our safety in the present and in our eternal future.
What About All these Other Expenses?
The eminent economist, Professor Yaron Zalicha, past general auditor of the Treasury Ministry and today, president of the Supreme Academic Council, was interviewed in the media and asked about the budgets being allocated to the chareidi sector. Here is his reply [in translation]:
"Aren't you already tired of talking about the chareidi sector all day? The government gives them 500 million shekel. Is that the only thing that interests you?
"Why don't you complain about the banks which are robbing young couples who must come up with an additional 2,000 shekel beyond their regular monthly payments? Why aren't you talking about the generous pensions which should have long been whittled down? Why aren't you complaining about the kibbutzim which were given lots of land for free? A child born in Ashkelon, Beer Sheva or Sderot never got land for free! Why?
"And why don't you talk about the monopolies of the big companies? The tycoons? Or the peripheries of Ashkelon, Netivot, Ofakim, who should be getting exactly what Otef Gaza was receiving but which the government has looked the other way for years upon years to deny them what they deserve? This does not interest you?
"And why aren't you talking about the small businesses? The large companies do not pay taxes, while the small time businesses are being swindled. Why is this not a subject of interest? Are only the chareidim on your minds?"
