Haredim warned against IDF 'soul hunters'
Two booklets distributed by radical ultra-Orthodox groups expose full personal details of yeshiva graduates who have joined Israeli army or are working to enlist others.
This is yet another attempt by radical groups to publicly condemn the "soul hunters" who are advancing "an equal share of the burden" and allegedly harming the world of Torah and the haredi public.
Two booklets have been published under the headline "The Hunters." One exposes 22 senior activists and the other reveals 17 junior activists, all of whom are described as "professional missionaries with a haredi appearance" who "have sold their soul to the devil for money."
According to the publications, these recruiters receive "hundreds of millions" and "bonuses for every head." The bottom line is that "the fifth column is drilling into the ship."
The exposed activists have announced their plan to file a joint complaint with the police.
The phrases in the booklets are borrowed from depictions of grave incidents in the history of the Jewish people, such as Amalek's war on Israel or Haman's attempt to annihilate the Jewish people – implying that the IDF enlistment is a "spiritual destruction decree," which the booklet's publishers believe is as serious as physical destruction.
The soldiers themselves are dead as far as these radical groups are concerned, and the last page in both booklets features a picture of an imaginary monument, with memorial candles around it, with the caption: "May God remember the thousands of fallen soldiers who have fallen in the Netzach, Shachar and Givati routes (programs for haredi troops), captured by sinners, the 'soul hunters,' who have sold their souls to the devil. Earth shall not cover their blood… Remember and don't forget."
'Corrupt and greedy'
In the publications, the radical haredim expose the personal details of the "hunters" – their full names, pictures, ID numbers, phone numbers, addresses and the religious circles they come from, as well as their marital status. They also state their positions and medical profiles in the IDF.
One is described as "a common, bitter and unsatisfied shababnik (a derogatory term for a yeshiva dropout who doesn’t follow the haredi community's social rules)," the other is "a frivolous youngster" drawn to "trading in souls," and another is "from one of the worst families," whose "hatred towards scholars drives him crazy."
Another recruiter is described as "a young hooligan" searching for himself in the "military mission order," and another is a "spiritually deteriorated hedonist."
Alongside the names and the pictures, the "zealots" also share sensitive details from the activists' personal lives: One is "a divorced man who graduated from the Ponevezh Yeshiva," another "became licentious and immigrated to France" after "a failed marriage," and then "remarried and got divorced again, and returned to Israel in a haredi disguise."
One recruiter was "kicked out of the Ger Hasidic movement," and another "failed in the yeshiva, fell into the army and extremely failed in spiritualism." There is also one who "got kicked out from a Talmud Torah school in Bnei Brak" or "has a low IQ."
The "common" characteristics of the recruiters include: "Corrupt and greedy," "a shrewd type and a liar," "filled with bitterness and burning hatred towards the halls of Torah and its followers," "crazily pursuing young men in self-deception with a rabbinical and ideological cover," "disturbed and wild, brutalized and a transgressor" – and also, "a lawless and sinning film and television actor."
The "zealots" warn the public against a person "walking around yeshivot as an ordinary guy and delivering information to the army about who has to 'get dressed' and whose yeshiva student status should be revoked," and refer to this person and to others as "miserable collaborators."
Other recruiters are simply called "Mizrahniks" (a derogatory term for national-religious among the haredim) who are "selling the haredim for the sake of a distorted ideology."
