The prayer of a warrior
בָּרוּךְ יְהֹוָה צוּרִי הַמְלַמֵּד יָדַי לַקְרָב אֶצְבְּעוֹתַי לַמִּלְחָמָה
The position of rabbis of galut (the so-called "Haredim") towards army service is flawed not so much because they don't want to let their flock join the army in order to maintain control over their personalities, but primarily because they do so under the guise of the Torah.
Following the attack on Israel on 7.10.23, and considering the sacrifices we have endured and continue to endure in this war, such a stance cannot be justified.
The narrative that participating in a war in defense of Israel interferes with "Torah study" is just as absurd as the claim that treating the wounded interferes with studying medicine.
Continuing education courses for doctors should not be a place where doctors hide from patients, for then they lose their meaning. Likewise, a yeshiva should not be a place where "Torah students" hide from the world, but a place preparing them to interact with it, and it should not be viewed as the final stage of such interaction. You cannot learn solely from books what it means to love a woman and children, what it means to hate enemies who have killed your friends, what it means to overcome the fear of death, or what it means to have faith in the Almighty. The prayer of a warrior going into battle is on a spiritual level fundamentally unattainable in yeshiva conditions.
Yes, perhaps there can be a period in a doctor's life when, for some reason, he cannot treat patients and must concentrate exclusively on studying medical textbooks and lab work. But imagine a doctor who is called to treat the wounded and replies: "This distracts me from studying medicine, I might soil my sterile white coat, besides, your hospital is far from perfect, lacking even bandages and antiseptics, and those doctors who are now treating the wounded there in blood-spattered, non-sterile coats—these are the wrong kind of doctors and their medicine is incorrect."
This is exactly how galut rabbis are acting today. Just as medicine loses its meaning without the Hippocratic Oath, their "Torah study" loses its meaning without participation in the mission of the people of Israel (as Pinchas Polonsky says: their refusal to fight for Israel distorts their understanding of the Torah). In their understanding, Judaism is exile (galut), and for them, leaving galut means abandoning Judaism. Observing numerous daily rules and prohibitions invented in exile is, for them, more important than fighting for the land of Israel and more important than rebuilding the Temple.
Therefore, we must honestly state that "Haredi" rabbis holding such views cannot claim to be spiritual authorities, let alone "Torah sages."
This post on social media:
Facebook (post and discussion in Russian)