Rabbi Avraham Lipshitz from the Religious Zionists, a Rosh Mesivta in one of the Torah institutions of the sector to which he belongs, presents several critical questions to that selfsame camp to which he is affiliated. According to his testimony, to date, he has not received any answers to the questions which he enumerates.
He begins with several familiar sayings which are aired out morning after morning from his camp in various versions: "The public will not forgive those Knesset representatives who vote for the `Law of Army Dodging'" ; "Prove that you are not lackeys of the Chareidim"; "In the long run, they will not be drafted for the next hundred years" and "Only through coercion".
And he writes: "To my great dismay, it succeeded. All of those acerbic sentences circulating in our midst for the past two years (and those quoted were among the milder ones) achieved their purpose. Their aim was one: to put pressure on the National Religious representatives not to come to agreements with the chareidim regarding the draft. The efforts included weekly ads in the free publications, the reminders from the Tanach about the mitzvos of war which were actually directed at the chareidim.
But their object was identical: to put pressure on the N.R. Knesset representatives. And after all, this pressure proved successful and the chareidim left the government.
I would like to stop for a moment and ask some questions to our holy and so dear public, questions which have been disturbing and dismaying me a lot and for a long time.
He begins by hailing the value of army service as his camp views it, as an important mitzvah. But then he presents his critical questions: "But wait a moment. Since when does the path of realizing our longstanding dream of seeing the entire Jewish people as our partners in mitzvos wend through coercion, force, sanctions, sharp and abusing expressions against those who are not partners with us in this?
When, if ever, were we educated thus or acted in such a manner? Aren't there many other mitzvos which are equally important as the entire Torah itself, such as Torah study, Shabbos and tzitzis? We also would wish and hope to see them being embraced by the entire nation!
So why did we never cry out to exert force and sanctions against anyone who does not wear tzitzis? Why did we never demand to force Torah study upon anyone who does not do military service? Why haven't we ever seen ads in the leaflets in the nature of: Dear Secular Brothers, what about 'Torah study on par with them all'? Or notices quoting the so clear-cut quote from Maseches Makkos: 'What determined the successful standing of our feet in war? The gates of Jerusalem, where Torah was disseminated.'
And below, in a very bold and red font: Shall our brothers study Torah and you go to football games?
"Don't Chazal also say that if Jewry were to keep two Shabbosos halachically properly that they would immediately be redeemed"? It is so simple. Suffice it that the Jewish People were to decide to observe Shabbos as is required, for at least two Shabbosos, the Geula Sheleima would arrive. Without Hamas, without Iran and all the other hostile fronts! It is so immediate and obvious.
"The Jewish State is in such great need for more people keeping Shabbos. Not tomorrow. Now! So why did we never run an aggressive campaign against Shabbos violators and Kiddush dodgers, who are holding up the eventual Redemption?!
"There is so much more to say on this subject but hopefully you have absorbed the message. We all probably understand that it is impossible to make people do Teshuva by force or sanctions, by denigrating name-calling.
"But what remains an enigma is why this is not applicable to Chareidim? Who can explain this to me, once and for all - wherein lies the difference? (I must note that I have asked this question to many of the members of our sector in these past two years, but never yet have I received an answer.)
