I'm going to skip the complex dynamics this brought into our lives, except to say that attending a funeral with likeminded people, divrei Torah, and tefillot can bring comfort, closure, and healing to friends of the suddenly and tragically deceased. So while it's intense now, it's better now than in the long run.
So let's dive into the nitty-gritty:
I don't know what information you're getting, (because I've filtered myself out of almost all media, including frum media), but people told me that the Tzanchanim (Paratroopers) soldiers killed in Rafah last week were not identified by any of the Israeli mainstream media as soldiers of the charedi unit Chetz (Arrow) — which they were (except one).
Yes, their names and unit number (202) were announced, but in a media which likes to hone in on identifying details when it suits their narrative, this is an obvious omission.
After all, one cannot lambast the chareidi community as parasitic draft-dodgers when there are young men from charedi families entrenched in active battle zones and even sacrificing their lives to do so.
And here's a personal story connected to that media omission of what happened today.
Betrayed (and Brainwashed) by Her Beloved Media
As they went over the relevant material, she asked him how old he is.
"Twenty-one," he said.
"Ah, so you're in the army reserves," she said.
"No," he replied. "I never did army service."
"Oh!" She started seething. "You chareidim! You charedim always blah, blah, blah...you chareidim never blah, blah, blah...!"
"Oh, really?" said my son, cool as a cucumber cocktail on the rocks. "Tell me, how many kids do secular people have?"
"Around two. Like me."
"What did your kids do as their army service?"
She name 2 non-essential jobs, one he couldn't remember and the other is being available for support if the soldiers need anything (which they usually don't — or if they do, they don't necessarily seek it out during their mandatory service, but either later or outside the military, which means lots of downtime for the "support soldier," doing nothing for most of the army service; i.e., it's basically a filler job made available for the involuntary draft so they have something to do for the next 2 or 3 years).
Then she proceeded to claim that when charedim do serve, they never go to combat and instead work as jobnikim (exactly like her kids did, ironically).
She also slandered charedi soldiers for getting Shabbat exemptions, etc. (Not true in situations of life and death.)
"First of all," said my son, "when charedim join the army, they do so to completely give of themselves. Almost all charedim are in some type of combat unit."
She was shocked.
"Okay?" said my son. "And I have two brothers who served. Just like you guys have two kids who served, so do we. One did NOT serve in a charedi unit and was just a fire-fighter —"
"Hey, that's still a contribution," she said.
(Note: Fire-fighters serve in the air force and wait next to the runway every time a plane lands on the base, just in case of an emergency, which there almost never is, except for drills three times a week, they sit around watching TV, etc., the rest of the time — which is why something as cool-sounding as "fire-fighter" is considered a soft job in the IDF. So even though a skeleton crew of fire-fighters is essential for the air force, they're so overstaffed they don't do much, and furthermore, only serve "shavua-shavua" — meaning, they're on base one week, then at home throughout the next week, then on base, then at home, and so on until the end of their 3 years mandatory service — which means they actually on serve half the time period of everyone else.)
"Fine," said my son. "And do you know where my other brother is right now?"
"Where?"
"At a funeral."
"What —"
"Yeah," he said. "And he was at a funeral on Friday and two funerals on Thursday."
She sat there, dumbstruck.
"Did you hear about the tzanchanim killed in Gaza?"
"What!" she said. "Of course I heard about them! You mean to say they were charedi? That was a charedi unit?"
Note: The Tzanchanim Battalion 202 is the Chetz (Arrow) battalion. The media reports it as Battalion 202, but don't say what it is. In that tragic cluster of fatalities, there was another tzanchan who fell, but not from 202. Just explaining to give you clarity if you read the reports.)
"Exactly," said my son.
"I'm so sorry," she said. "But I didn't know that. There was no way for me to know that. After all, that detail didn't appear on any of the news."
She looked at my son and said slowly, "Why wasn't that reported in any media?"
Then she stared at him with dawning realization as my son just nodded.
Why indeed?
The Israeli media always seeks to emphasize the charediness of a Yid in other, less flattering, news stories.
And not just charedim, but if a story can be framed to illustrate any kippah-wearer in an unflattering light, the media always jumps to do so.
Clearly, they very much care about the religious background of the Jews they report on.
So why not now?
They Simply Cannot Lay Down the Stick in Their Hand
"And as he left the building with his rifle and got on his motorcycle on Shabbat," he told her, "the neighbors — yeah, those 'awful dossim' — saw him and blessed him with success and protection."
* * *
There's a lot more to say about the tragic incident which killed all these soldiers from charedi families, but it's too fresh right now. (Also, there were more, but son only had the time and emotional stamina to attend the funerals of the ones he actually knew.)
And it's good that my son set up the conversation in a way that enabled the misguided secular lady to come to the conclusion on her own — that she cannot trust her own media to provide her with accurate news.
But the above serves to point out how it doesn't matter to the powers-that-be (i.e. all those pressuring and threatening charedim to join the army, and brainwashing the masses about this) whether charedim serve or not.
They still refuse to give credit where and when credit is due.
Even literally dying for them does not gain charedim any brownie points.
These powers-that-be cannot be appeased because their main objective is the destruction of the Torah communities.
They issue of charedi military service merely stands as a stick in their hands — a stick which they are clearly not willing to lay down, no matter what.
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