No evacuation, says Hesder founder

Rabbi Eliezer Waldman visits the Five Towns

Tensions flared Sunday night after Israel’s Ministry of Defense cut ties between the military and hesder Yeshiva Har Bracha. The move followed a swearing-in ceremony at which several Har Bracha students waved posters calling on soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate Jewish communities as Gush Katif once was.

Rabbi Eliezer Waldman of the Nir Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba is generally considered the founder of the hesder yeshiva movement, in which students split their time between Torah study and IDF service. Many serve in frontline combat brigades and other specialized units. Hesder students constitute a significant percentage of the officer corps.

“We are all Har Bracha,” Rabbi Waldman told Arutz Sheva this week. He spoke to The Jewish Star after his visit to the New York area and the Five Towns several weeks ago.

“No Israeli government has a right to uproot Jews form their home in the land of Israel,” he asserted. “In any army there are principles of truth and justice where the soldier has a right and an obligation not to obey immoral commands.”

Rabbi Waldman stopped short of saying he would advise soldiers to disobey direct orders concerning evacuations.

“I am also a reserve officer in the Israeli army though I am beyond the age,” Rabbi Waldman explained. “I would not be able to obey such an order. I don’t believe any Jewish soldiers should obey such an order; I believe such an order should not be given. This is against the basic truth of our existence in Israel, the basic truth of Zionism and Jewish faith — the connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel.”

Rabbi Waldman said he spent his weeks in America doing “hasbara” — public relations.

“I feel my greater responsibility is bringing a true message of the situation of the goals of the Jewish State,” Rabbi Waldman asserted. “We are confronting and dealing with the problems we have on two fronts. One is the external front, dealing with our enemies and dealing with the world who are pressuring us, and the internal problems we have with our own people - a small percentage who have been weakened in their Zionistic ideals and their readiness to stand up to the problems and pains and difficulties - to hold on to the principles of the Jewish State and having a true faith in the justice of our cause.”

Fellow Members of Knesset criticized Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who made the Har Bracha decision.

MK Tzipi Hotovely told the Jerusalem Post, “there cannot be a thought police against rabbis.” MK Danny Dannon said that Barak “should be dealing with Hamas and not the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria.”

Rabbi Waldman criticized foreign involvement in Israeli life.

“The leaders of the West, they are not objective,” he said. “They have their own interests and they have this lack of courage to look at things with clear eye to confront terror internationally. Instead of really fighting it, they prefer to pacify international terror - especially if they think it’s not in their own expense. Especially if it’s at the expense of Israel. They pressure us to yield to the evil of terror. We cannot afford to. Our lives are in danger from this approach, the very life of the Jewish state and the Jewish people is dependent on us not yielding to terror.”

Questions or comments? Contact Michael Orbach at morbach@thejewishstar.com