We're Your Family in Israel

Gadi Eisenkot - Moti Leitner - Bibi Netanyahu

WAR UPDATE 117

Fighting for our Future

Israel elections are only two months away on October 27 and the campaign chaos is in full swing.

PM Netanyahu is seeking to maintain control of the government. His main opponent at this point is Gadi Eisenkot. You may recall Eisenkot who was a former Chief of Staff of the IDF and was a member of Benny Gantz's opposition party.

After October 7, Netanyahu invited Gantz and Eisenkot to join his war cabinet. It didn't last long as they were at odds with Netanyahu and had aligned themselves with the Biden Administration seeking to topple Netanyahu from power. (I wrote about the intrigue in my book Faith Under Fire)

Today, Gantz has left the political scene and Eisenkot formed a new party, Yashar, positioned to the Center-Left, however "right-wing" when it comes to security.

Bibi's Likud Party and Gadi's Yashar Party are polling neck to neck at this point.

A NEW PARTY

One of the more interesting developments this cycle is a new Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) party that calls itself “The Haredi Public.” Its leader Moti Leitner launched the campaign with a blunt message: the long-standing Haredi political leadership has grown detached from the people it claims to represent, and this time the Haredi public itself must take responsibility.

That single word — responsibility — is the real issue before us.

For years the question of shared national burden has been an election issue. The war that began on October 7 forced it to become a major national issue. While tens of thousands of families sent their sons and husbands into Gaza, Lebanon, and the other fronts, large sectors of the ultra-Orthodox community remained largely exempt. Those involved in full-time Torah study receive deferrals from service until they leave the study hall to work. In times of peace, the issue annoys Israelis. When we are in the middle of a three-year war, people get angry.

The new Haredi party does not solve the problem. It does, however, acknowledge it. It says that young men who are not learning full-time in yeshiva should serve in the army or in national service. It speaks about employment and economic self-sufficiency. Whether it draws votes mainly from the two veteran Haredi parties, or from ultra-Orthodox Israelis who previously stayed home or voted for Likud, is secondary. The deeper significance is that voices inside the Haredi world are beginning to say out loud what many have long felt: we cannot continue as we are.

This is not only a Haredi question. It is a national one.

A NATIONAL QUESTION

Our Torah is clear. When the nation goes to war, the burden is not meant to rest on a few. In the desert the tribes marched and fought together. In the days of the Judges and the Kings the call to arms went out to the people.

The exemption for those fully devoted to Torah has always existed in tension with the mitzvah of defending the Land and the people. When that exemption becomes the rule rather than the exception for an entire community, the moral and practical foundations of the state begin to crack.

Eisenkot has made equality of service one of the central pillars of his campaign. He speaks of expanding the ranks of the army so that no family is called up endlessly, and of requiring service, either military, national, or civil, from the overwhelming majority of young men.

Netanyahu’s government has moved more slowly. Bound by the political reality of its ultra-Orthodox partners, it has managed the draft crisis carefully, seeking gradual change while protecting the coalition.

Both men understand the threat from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. The difference lies in how heavily they weigh the internal cost of continuing the present arrangement.

WE ARE ONE PEOPLE

I do not write these words to attack any community. The Haredi world has produced giants of Torah and acts of extraordinary kindness. Many individual ultra-Orthodox Jews already serve with quiet dedication. The problem is structural.

A Jewish state that asks some mothers to bury their sons while others are told their sons’ primary contribution is to remain in the study hall cannot easily and indefinitely sustain the trust required for national survival.

The appearance of this new Haredi list is a small but telling sign. It suggests that the pressure of war, economics, and public resentment is beginning to produce internal reckoning.

If the party crosses the electoral threshold, the total number of Haredi seats in the next Knesset may actually grow rather than shrink. That growth will matter only if it brings greater willingness to share the burden rather than simply more leverage to protect the old exemptions.

STILL AT WAR

We are still at war. The multi-front struggle is not finished. Threats from Hezbollah, Hamas and from Iran have not disappeared. In such a time, leadership is measured by whether it strengthens the people or further divides them.

The next government, whether led by Netanyahu, by Eisenkot, or by some other combination, will have to decide whether it will continue treating the draft crisis as a political problem to be managed or confront it as a moral and strategic necessity.

The Torah does not allow us the luxury of permanent, large-scale exemptions when the nation is under attack. “Remember what Amalek did to you” is not only about external enemies. It is also a reminder that weakness and internal division invite the next blow.

May the Almighty grant us leaders who understand that the strength of Israel rests on the willingness of all its sons to stand together. And may He open the hearts of every community to the truth that shared responsibility is not a threat to Torah, but one of the conditions for its continued flourishing in this Land.

The election will decide names and numbers. The deeper choice is whether we will finally treat the burden of defending the Jewish people as a shared responsibility.

May we choose wisely.

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R. Shmuel Veffer and Sarah Eliana

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Election season is a time for walk-abouts, and you never know where or when your favorite politician may show up.

The other times you may run into them is during summer vacation. We are a small country with limited options for vacations.

Exactly eight years ago, in the summer, Bibi and Sara showed up unexpectedly and the whole story was an amazing Galilee Green miracle.

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Subscriber Photo of the Week

"Enjoy!"

This week's photo is from Tonya Gabbert of Brighton, Missouri.

Tonya was one of our earlier subscribers in August of 2015.

She posted this photo shortly after she received her first order of GGOO.

You can tell because of the original label on the tin and the decanter with the color logo on it.

Said Tonya at the time:

Hope everyone had a restful Shabbat! We enjoyed challah with olive oil and herbs from Israel!

Dipping challah into GGOO and zaatar is one of our favorite Shabbat pastimes!

Blessings for a healthy and sweet new year to you and your family, Tonya!

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