Prayers for the Czar but not for Jewish Soldiers

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Who stands guard at the Kotel, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, if not the Jewish soldier, the messenger of the All-Merciful?Who endangers his own life when Arab bullets fly at Jews praying at Rachel̓s Tomb, if not the soldier of the army of Israel?Who puts his body on the line watching over the cave of Machpela, enabling his Jewish brothers and sisters to pour out their hearts at the graves of their forefathers, if not our brave Jewish warrior?

Would you therefore not think, faithful reader, that the Israeli soldiers who put their lives on the line on a daily basis to protect our holy land are deserving of a Misheberach in our synagogues on Shabbos? Tell me, please, is a Jew who is willing to die in defense of our Jewish homeland not worthy of a Misheberach? I ask those of you who feel that to even make such a suggestion is to come perilously close to heresy: is not the blood of a Jewish soldier worth a Misheberach?

Yet, hard as the concept may be for those outside the Orthodox world to accept, there are very fine “frum shuls” that refuse – stubbornly, adamantly, passionately – to make a Misheberach for the brave and bold soldiers of Israel.

For the Russian Czars, the arch-enemies of all the Jews, the most boorish and barbaric evil-doers – for them frum Jews did make a Misheberach. But for Jewish soldiers in the land of Israel, for the wonderful and loyal guardians of our people, some “frum shuls” refuse to make a Misheberach. Why?

For Romanian dictators, racketeers, ruffians, and vicious anti-Semites (including royalty) we did make a Misheberach, but for Israeli defenders, the God-appointed messengers, some “frum shuls” don't. Why?

For the Polish rulers – may their names be obliterated, the scoundrels and drunkards who imbibed anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk and killed Jews while crossing themselves – we did make a Misheberach, but for our Jewish soldiers there is nothing from some “frum shuls.”
Why?

For Hungarian vagabonds, lowlifes and womanizers, we did make a Misheberach, but for the Jewish soldiers, the protectors of our land, some “frum shuls” will never make a Misheberach. Why?It is written in the Jerusalem Talmud and in Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer that “being an ingrate is equivalent to being a heretic.” If someone does not acknowledge favors done to him by others, he does not, God forbid, acknowledge the existence of Hashem. Can one think of a more powerful indictment?

Even more galling – at least it should be to every reader in whom a Jewish heart beats – is that in some “frum shuls” there are menuvolim (vile people) who have the audacity, the chutzpah, to rip out those pages in the gabbai`s guidebooks that contain the Misheberach for Israeli soldiers. Is it possible that such people were present at Sinai when the Almighty revealed Himself in His full glory to give us the Ten Commandments? Would not the Pillar of Cloud have spit them out? May Hashem have mercy on them.

There are those who argue that the Jewish soldiers of Israel don`t deserve a Misheberach because they are defending an “irreligious state" state that, according to their teachings, was born in sin. A simple question to such people: Is the modern State of Israel any less religious than those states that existed in the days of Achov or Menashe or Yirovom Ben Nevot? To put the question in more sweeping terms, is the modern State of Israel any less religious than were the Jewish states under most of the kings of Israel and Judah? The Gemara says that during the reign of King Achov there wasn't a single lawn in all of Israel that did not have an idol on it. And yet his armies were victorious in battle (Sanhedrin 102, 2).

And let's not mince words: Is it not primarily the fault of we ourselves – we frum Jews — that the government of Israel is not religious? Was there ever a mass frum aliya to Eretz Yisrael? Did we answer the call in the state`s formative years, after Europe had slaughtered Jews in the millions and vomited out those who survived, and when the gates of Israel were wide open and the land was crying out for its children to come home? To ask the question is to answer it.

And let`s get a few things straight about this “irreligious state” that so many of us in the frum community love to denigrate:

• This “irreligious state” is the greatest repository of Torah knowledge in the world today. In fact, more Torah is being learned and disseminated in Israel now than at any time since the destruction of the Second Temple.

• In this “irreligious state” there are more yeshivas, Talmud Torahs, synagogues and gemachs (free loan societies) than anywhere else in the world.

• This “irreligious state” is home to more “Shas Yidden” than any other country. (A Shas Yid is a person who has completed the Talmud cycle with most of the commentaries several times.)• In this “irreligious state” can be found the greatest assemblage of Torah giants on earth. Their opinions are accepted worldwide, and they are revered by all.

True, we frum Jews in America are not fighting in a war, but we can say a Misheberach in shul on Shabbos for those who are fighting on behalf of the Jewish people in our homeland. Not only are those dedicated young Jews going to war, they are ready to risk their lives for the sake of Eretz Yisrael. For heaven`s sake, the least we can do is make them the same Misheberach that our forebears made for the Jew-hating thugs who ruled over them in Russia and Poland and Hungary.

Bezalel Fixler, a survivor of the Transnistria death camp and a musmach of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, is a contributing columnist to Dos Yiddishe Vort and the Algemeiner Journal. He can be contacted at bfixler6@aol.com.