Yated Ne'eman. 'Land exposed to disasters'
Haredi paper: Teens kidnapped because of IDF draft law
Editorial published in mouthpiece of Lithuanian leader Rabbi Shteinman says past week's events are direct result of government's 'organized abduction' of yeshiva students from their place of study.
Ultra-Orthodox newspaper Yated Ne'eman
has ruled that the abduction of three Israeli teens
by Palestinian terrorists is a direct result of the damage inflicted on the world of Torah by the IDF draft law
and a warning for the future.
An editorial published by the newspaper Wednesday states that "when the government tries to execute an organized abduction of people studying Torah from their place of study, when it tries to kidnap soldiers from their base and diminish the real and only guarding army, the land's intestines are agitated and it seeks to disgorge them."
Yated Ne'eman is the official mouthpiece of Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, the leader of the Lithuanian haredi community.
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The paper notes that "God's ways are mysterious and we cannot make calculations," but immediately adds that "when the government tries to reduce the number of people studying Torah, when it passed a draconian law aimed at reducing and framing those participating in the house of study, it exposed the land to disasters."
Two of the kidnapped teens. 'We will fortify the real army, the temples of Torah'
According to the editorial, yeshiva students are the only ones protecting the people and the land. "Every time they tried to target those studying Torah, something in the local serenity was undermined. When they try to harm the real keepers, the army becomes weaker and the land is exposed to terrible disasters, and we are occasionally served with horrible bills payable."
'Only Torah defends the land and people'
The Lithuanian haredi journal criticizes those who rush to blame the government for the situation due to the lack of a political horizon, calling them "bleeding hearts," but in the same breath it accuses the government of doing everything in its power to make life in the Holy Land dangerous by uprooting religion from Jewish life and promoting a wave of legislation on issues of state and religion.
"Those living here are protected by one thing, the Torah. The Torah defends and rescues. Those who study Torah defend the land and its dwellers against the fear of the sword… There is no doubt that something in the local security has been undermined. Because of the government, the Land of Israel has become a more dangerous place for its inhabitants."
After blaming the government, the editorial says: "At these difficult times, we will not ask who is to blame. We are all to blame. All Jews are responsible for one another. When such a terrible disaster happens, it means that God Almighty is talking to us. To all of us… We will listen to the voice of truth. God Almighty is talking to us in his language, can we not hear his voice?
"These incidents are like a megaphone, they are a 'postal' service to transfer the news, they are the siren, they are the preacher at the gate, they are the warning voice. God Almighty is talking to us in our language, perhaps because we did not understand the other language. We shall not wait for further means of illustration."
Yated Ne'eman concludes the editorial by calling for spiritual elation to save us from the security situation: "We will gather strength and pray for the abductees' wellbeing and for our own wellbeing. We will fortify the real army, the temples of Torah.
"Each person will take responsibility for studying the holy Torah… This is what God demands of us, and thanks to that we might get to see the children return within their borders."
