OP-ED: October 7 aftermath books bring dislike of ‘woke’ factions abroad, those who shun country’s defense

By STEVE LIPMAN

The recent first-year anniversary of the October 7 atrocities in the area bordering Gaza brought a virtual flood of books commemorating, documenting, explaining, and trying to make sense (if you can make sense of evil) of the inhumanity wrought in the name of Allah by the murderers-rapists-kidnappers of Hamas.

The destruction by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri as seen on Oct. 11, 2023. (Photo by Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Most evocative of the books are the first-person stories written and recorded by the survivors of that joyless Simchat Torah, by the modest Tzahal and civilian heroes who risked their lives to save others and by the family members and friends and comrades-in-arms of the men and women who became victims of vicious Arab-Muslim hatred.

These books are not easy reading; just a few pages at a time. I can barely imagine how traumatic it was for these people to tell what happened on October 7, and in the subsequent months.

Their stories tear at your heart.

And they brought in me a pair of reactions, both reactions of intolerance:

* Intolerance of the “woke” self-declared progressives in the West who vociferously advocate on behalf of the “Palestinian cause,” advocacy that easily morphs into anti-Israel rallies and encampments and predictably crosses the line into outright, unvarnished antisemitism.

*And intolerance of the haredi Jews (and their supporters) who are unbendingly reluctant to leave the safety of their yeshivot in defense of their threatened fellow Jews/Israelis.

First, a caveat about my qualifications to comment on what takes place in Eretz Israel: None. I don’t live in Israel. I am not a potential victim of terrorism when I walk on the Israeli streets or ride on an Israeli bus. I have never served in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). I have no children who are subject to an IDF draft notice or miluim call-up. I don’t have to run into a bomb shelter when the siren sounds, warning of incoming missiles from the south (Hamas’) or the north (Hezbollah’s).

I am simply an Orthodox golus Jew who loves Israel and the Jewish people, and is disturbed when either comes under attack.

The two objects of my new-found disgust are at first glance worlds apart from each other – indifferent and/or hostile non-Jews, and largely assimilated Jews (in their DNA but not in their hearts); and so-called ultra-Orthodox Jews. But the two groups are united by their rhetorical duplicity that couches their distressing behavior in the pretense of noble, enlightened motives.

Say the former: We are not antisemitic! We are just fighting on behalf of the endangered Palestinians!

Say the latter: We are not shirking our duty! We are just doing holy work by staying in the study hall!

Read the words of the October 7th books, see the details of the Hamas brutality, learn how the butchers of Gaza carried out their pogrom, share the ire of the unprotected kibbutzniks and Nova Festival participants who wondered where their country’s soldiers were, and you come to two conclusions: the people who espouse sympathy for the “resistance” that took 1,200 lives are an immoral travesty. If they are woke, they should go back to sleep. And, if the undermanned, ill-prepared Israeli Army would arguably be properly manned and better prepared, the victims of October 7 would not have to wait hours for their soldiers to show up, especially if the draft-deferred young yeshivot men were not missing from IDF units. Limited deferment from military service for people genuinely involved in theological studies – the US has traditionally exempted divinity students from the draft – is an accepted principle in many lands.

Declaring a shortage earlier this year of 7,000 active-duty soldiers, the IDF has considered lengthening the service time of active soldiers as well as extending the age of men who are eligible to spend time in the reserves.

With this in mind, I commemorated the recent anniversary of the Hamas invasion by reading several books on the topic.

Some excerpts struck me:

* Linoy, a paramedic, “instructs [two children in hiding] to call the dispatch every time [the older brother] is scared. And he did call. Time after time. Hour after hour. Two small, frightened children, hiding in a closet. For 14 hours. Without food. Without water. Without parents. (from “Battles in White,” by Dr. Yael Dreznik)

“A few weeks after the funeral, I went back there, to the place where [his grandfather] fell. My commander … showed me where he was killed. From what I understood, their jeeps were left to burn there for a long time, because the IDF didn’t get near there.” (from “One Day in October,” by Yair Agmon and Orya Mevorach, The Toby Press)

“That morning, before Vivian realized a disaster was unfolding, one of her old friends from Gaza, a Palestinian man, was among the first to get in touch: “Vivian, what’s going on? What’s happening? We hear civilians and soldiers have been kidnapped and they’re already in Gaza. The pictures look horrible. Where is your army?” (from “10/7: 100 Human stores,” by Lee Yaron, St. Martin’s Press)

“My amazing sister … a paramedic …waited for seven and a half hours … at the clinic with the wounded and dead begging and pleading that they be rescued. Seven and a half hours hiding in the small kitchen with a kitchen knife, listening to the war raging outside … Seven and a half hours during which she, and we, asked: where is the army? Where are the rescuers?” (from “October 7,” compiled by Tal Chaika and Lily Marks, Prospecta Press)

Where indeed?

Would the Hamas atrocities been averted, or mitigated, by a more-fully-staffed army?

The answer is conjecture. But more solders in the ranks certainly would not have hurt.

This is not to conflate the culpability of Hamas, and the im(moral) reprehensibility of its supporters abroad, with the responsibility of the men in Israel who opted not to don khaki.

The former are our enemies; the latter, are our brothers, though not brothers-in-arms.

The supposed idealists who selectively support the Palestinians and condemn Israel, while ignoring atrocities and genuine genocides committed against other peoples, not to mention the awful treatment of Palestinians at the hands of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, are beyond the pale. Morally tone deaf, they are bystanders to evil, enablers of godless atrocities. Go`d will judge them one day.

The yeshiva students who choose not to serve their endangered nation are our immediate concern.

Following the near destruction of Jewish life and mesorah in the Shoah, secular David Ben-Gurion, leader of the nascent Jewish country, one under siege by its bordering Arab neighbors and in need of a full complement of army soldiers, agreed to a limited-in-number and putatively limited-in-time number of deferments for men studying Torah. The future religious leaders of Medinat Yisroel. The country needed a cadre of knowledgeable rabbis and teachers to replace those wiped out by the forces of Hitler.

The number of eligible yeshiva students then: 400. Now, after some tweaking of the relevant legislation: some 60,000. (The size of the Israeli Army: more than 160,000.) The original deferments were intended for the elite of yeshivaleit, the most-learned and community-minded men who would shape the Jewish character of the Jewish homeland – they weren’t a carte blanche get-out-of-service card for every Jewish male sporting a Borsalino.

Haredim constitute 13.5 percent of the country’s population; that figures is expected to rise to 33 percent in a quarter century. Which would mean a higher percentage of eligible men opting out of the IDF

Is every yeshiva student today destined to become a rosh yeshiva or rosh kollel?

According to jns.org, more than 30 percent of Israel’s draft-age-eligible men are enrolled in yeshivot. They also are not joining the army.

Are things about to change? At least one thousand haredi men serve on active duty in the IDF, many in specialized units like Nahal Haredi, and 2,000 more tried to enlist post-October 7 – despite the urgings of prominent rabbis for their followers to ignore draft notices.

This does not include Orthodox soldiers, mostly from religious circles, who serve in hesder units, which combine Torah study with army duties.

The men in hesder and Nahal Haredi deserve our admiration and praise; the others, our scorn.

Spare me the party line that bochurim in the cocoon of the beit midrash are contributing as much to Israel’s safety – Torah magna u’matzia, “Torah protects and saves” — as the men in tanks in uniform. Put down the tractate and pick up an Uzi!

Dating back to biblical times, and more recently, in Israel’s wars of 1948, 1967 and 1973, religious men in the Jewish state did not see picking up a rifle incompatible with their Jewish beliefs.

Klal Israel faces a dual threat today. Those who wants to destroy us, and those who will not defend us.

Both weaken us.

Do the “liberal” enemies of a strong Jewish state regret their reprehensible actions? Do the bachurim taking advantage of the generations-old deferments have second thoughts about their decisions to eschew army service?

In both cases, the answer is apparently “no.” Both groups self-righteously assert that they stand on the side of a higher calling, citing, respectively, a universal code of morality, or a narrow interpretation of the Torah.

In either case, the books about October 7 tell us, the spiritual and physical security of Israel is at risk.

Steve Lipman is a former reporter for the now defunct New York Jewish News who lived in New Orleans for a short time covering the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.