A Tal Tale: The security burden is on us alone

When Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, decided to free yeshiva students from serving in the Israel Defense Forces, there were just a few hundred of them. However, over time their numbers grew to thousands, and eventually tens of thousands of yeshiva students were exempted from army service.

It turns out that even Ben-Gurion didn't imagine their number would grow at such an incredible pace, and wrote a letter to Israel's Chief Rabbi at the time, Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog -- grandfather of current MK Yitzhak (Buji) Herzog -- on Nov. 10, 1958, revealed here for the first time.

"When I exempted yeshiva students from army service 10 years ago their numbers were small, and, as I was told at the time, this was the only country where there still existed those who studied Torah for learning's sake, although I must note happily that yeshiva students took part in the defense of Jerusalem like the rest of the city's young people," Ben-Gurion began his letter.

But he changed his tone very quickly. "This situation has changed; the number of yeshiva students has increased. I don't know if there's anything to the accusation that there are some who go to study to avoid army service. I'd like to believe there's no basis to that accusation. But there's no question that over time their number has increased, reaching the thousands. In some countries, the non-Jews don't need the help of Jewish defenders. Here we are all Jews and our security depends only on ourselves, and this is first and foremost a serious moral issue, if it's right that that the son of one woman be killed for the sake of our homeland while another woman's son sits in his room and safely studies, while most of our young people are willing to risk their lives for others."

Ben-Gurion's typewritten letter, with corrections in his own handwriting, was sent to Herzog after the chief rabbi asked Ben-Gurion not to seek the recruitment of yeshiva students and continue with the arrangement made with the establishment of the state.

"I won't dare come to you with the clear ruling by Maimonides," Ben-Gurion writes to the chief rabbi, "that in a war sanctioned by the Torah (milhemet mitzvah), everyone is required to participate, even a bridegroom and bride on their wedding day, because you certainly know it better than I, but it seems that in the state of Israel, combat expertise and doctrine is part of the Torah and it's inconceivable that thousands of young people not be able to bear arms when the day of reckoning arrives."

Ben-Gurion adds; "We also cannot ignore the possibility that Jerusalem, Heaven forbid, may be cut off and attacked by the enemy, and hundreds of young people won't be able to defend themselves and their peers, parents and the Holy City, which is the law in other centers of yeshivas.”

Later in his letter, Ben-Gurion explains his offer: "That is why I proposed (I didn't order, but rather proposed) that yeshiva students who dedicate their whole lives to studying Torah should go for three months' basic training, while others should serve in the army like any Israeli youth. I proposed this to Agudat Israel MKs and the Defense Ministry's secretary-general proposed this to several yeshiva heads.

"We must not forget that we aren't continuing Diaspora life here, dependent on the favors of others. We stand on our own and the burden of our security depends only on us ourselves. It is a great privilege we have gained after hundreds of years and I think it is the duty of every Israeli youth."

Ben-Gurion also notes: "I cannot find a mention of Torah scholars being exempted from defending the homeland in the Torah, Prophets and the Writings, and we must keep in mind that the situation in our times has changed. We were never surrounded on all sides by enemies wishing to destroy us, and the weapons available to our enemies are not like those at the time of the First or Second Temple. Now it's a more complex doctrine of warfare requiring comprehensive training."

Ben-Gurion continues: "I cannot in any way agree with your statement that 'it's because of the yeshiva students that we have gotten this far.' They did not build the country nor did they risk their lives for its independence (although some did) and they don't have special privileges that other Jews do not. Our Sages said: 'He who enjoys the fruits of his labors is greater than he who fears God.' And army service will not reduce the importance of Torah study, and in an independent Israel the Torah is not complete unless it includes the doctrine of defending the people and the homeland."

He concludes: "Without the existence of the Jewish people there will be no Torah, and mortal danger in our nation takes precedence. And it's expressly the people who respect Torah scholars (and I dare say that I am one of them) and desire the best for them, who must see to it that they are not separated from the rest and do not release themselves from the most holy duties of all -- the duty to defend their parents, relatives, their homeland and their people."

Ben-Gurion asks the chief rabbi to convince the heads of yeshivas "that they themselves demand, at least, three months of basic training for all yeshiva students."

At the beginning of his letter, Ben-Gurion writes that he was very sorry to hear that Herzog was ill, and wishes him a quick and complete recovery. However, the rabbi's conditioned worsened, and nine months later (in July 1959) he died.

THE BATTLE OVER TORAH STUDY

In his letter to Ben-Gurion, Herzog wrote from his sick bed: "I was deeply shocked and heartbroken by the rumor that the intention has been raised to make some changes in the existing status of yeshiva students whose recruitment was delayed as long as they sat in God's courts and devote their time to Torah."

The three-page letter begins with Herzog heaping praises on Ben-Gurion for exempting yeshiva students with the establishment of the state. In very flowery language, he writes: "Historic privileges reaching to the skies have fallen into your hands, to return the splendor of freedom and redemption to Israel and to establish his independent government in our native land. The verse, "And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways," applies to you as well. I am certain that you more than anyone else have seen our God's wonders and accompanying miracles which occurred both in matters of state and on the battlefield, through which and with their help we have gotten this far."

Rabbi Herzog stresses that, "With God's help we have been granted this exalted miracle, from within which we can hear the bells of our redemption as promised us by our prophets, tradition and heritage. But millions of our brothers and sisters in Europe have not celebrated this happiness with us. They were destroyed by evil enemies, our crown was destroyed and the beauty of Jacob ruined with fury in the European Diaspora, but in their death they left us life, the life of a people, to rebuild these souls and re-establish what was destroyed in both the material and spiritual worlds.

“Our land, which became a gathering place for the dispersed people of Israel and the survivors of the European slaughter, also absorbed the remnants of the yeshiva students and the yeshiva heads. They -- sole survivors from whole cities and no two from the same family -- came and re-established the idea of the yeshiva-tabernacle destroyed in Europe. As a result, our holy land benefited and we benefited that the Torah was returned to its proper quarters, its natural place. And from that standpoint it became a Torah center unequaled in the world, something we didn't manage to do in many other places."

Rabbi Herzog continues: "I am certain that you were thinking of this some 10 years ago when you granted the yeshiva students their special standing regarding recruitment. The granting of this regard proved to us all that there is still recognition and esteem for the remnants of Torah in Zion and its importance in our new ways of life in our new-old country."

He then makes his concrete request: "It is the duty of the nation settled in Zion, living under independent skies, to grant to the yeshiva boys who have been charged with maintaining the spiritual wings of the nation (and they do this with unmeasured devotion and under indescribable economic difficulties) an exemption from any and all recruitment requirement so long as they devote themselves almost exclusively to Torah study. This is because they too are recruited and guarantee the security of our Torah and its heritage, wherein lies Israel's splendor and due to which we have gotten this far. Both of these groups guard the basic assets of the nation, which are Israel's Torah and the land of Israel."

Herzog notes: "I am certain that we all believe with full and unshakeable faith that the voice of the Torah emerging and rising from the study halls forms a shield against the hands of Esau and Yishmael who plan evil and murderous plots against us, and the nearness of God protecting these holy study halls strengthen the hands of the dear defenders, and they will pray for our victories and welfare.

"I therefore come before your honor with a shaky heart, but with belief that you, who rose to the all-Israeli spheres in granting the yeshiva students their special standing regarding recruitment, will continue to show his attachment and appreciation for the Torah scholars and there will not be any changes in this standing, even small ones."

Finally the rabbi asks: "I am hopeful that you will understand my despondent mood, which hastened me into writing this long letter, during a time of weakness and unsteady strength, and may God's pleasantness encourage you to agree to my request and may the giver of the Torah guard and protect you from any sadness and harm and may you live 120 good years first and foremost to establish our country in holiness."

Rabbi Herzog signs his letter; "With the blessing of the Torah and the land and with deep respect."

FROM THE YESHIVA TO THE BATTLEGROUND

When the rabbi's son Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of Israel, told his father after the 1948 War of Independence that he planned on continuing to serve in the IDF, the rabbi responded: "If you're not going to be a rabbi in Israel, there's no greater honor than to be an officer in the IDF."

In his autobiography "Living History: A Memoir," Chaim Herzog tells how he joined the Haganah not long after immigrating to Israel, before he turned 17. He notes that "long walks and ongoing talks with my father turned me into a Jewish patriot. My religious education was now joined by the overwhelming feeling of the possibility of Israel's independence, involving real fighting required to finally realize it. I felt that I could do it and was duty-bound to do so. Those who remained on the periphery couldn't expect to take part in these dramatic developments."

Chaim Herzog, who studied at Yeshivat Mercaz Harav and afterward at Yeshivat Hebron, wrote: "This yeshiva was much more useful than the yeshivas of our days. Not only because it turned out great people and outstandingly wise students, but the number who joined the various underground movements was particularly high. I doubt if there's a single yeshiva student today who did his full service in the IDF and contributed his part to protecting Israeli society, which allows him to be free to pursue his studies.'

Herzog also describes the enthusiasm that raced through him at the ceremony when he joined the Haganah, at night near the Alliance School on Jerusalem's Jaffa Road, when all those joining received a gun and a Bible. "And I swore on it: 'To devote all my strength and even give up my life for the Haganah and the war on my people and homeland, on the freedom of Zion and the redemption of Israel," he wrote.

"My father was a wise scholar and not a soldier, but I had no doubt that he gave my swearing-in his silent approval. If he had been my age he would have done exactly as I did, but my mother was afraid when she discovered by chance, after she came to live here, that I belonged to the underground."

A THIRD GENERATION DEMANDS CHANGE

MK Yitzhak (Buji) Herzog, the grandson of Rabbi Yitzhak Herzog and the son of President Chaim Herzog, was a member of the public committee that formulated the Tal Law and he is the third generation involved in the recruitment of yeshiva students for army service.

Herzog the grandson tells how he and his brothers studied in religious schools but served in the IDF (his brother Michael was a senior intelligence officer and was head of the defense minister's headquarters), and that his sons are currently officers in the IDF.

"There's no doubt that thanks to the Tal Law, several thousand ultra-Orthodox are serving in the IDF today, but there's no need to extend the law,” Herzog says. “Rather, the government should formulate a new model of the law in the coming months that will guarantee the integration of the ultra-Orthodox in all areas of Israeli life. This can come about via a national service law or by widening the current framework of Nahal Haredi [an ultra-Orthodox military unit] and the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox for special squads in the IDF like [the Air Force’s] Blue Dawn."

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