The Ins and Outs of Deferments For Yeshiva Students

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

In Israel, " Ultra-Orthodox men studying in religious seminaries and learn what's necessary to become a rabbi.  They learn the art of debate here, as our Jewish leaders used to get together and present their view to be acceptable of interpretation of the law of Moses.  I'm connected to Rashi, a famous teacher from Troyes, France who opened his own school.  Rashi is still #1 in this in our Tanakh.  Possibly, Netanyahu is also connected to him or others like him, as he has a rabbi ancestor, and he is the best speaker and defender of Israel I've seen for many years, and I'm related to Bibi's mother's side of the family.  

Yeshiva boys have enjoyed sweeping draft exemptions or deferments, even as other Jewish Israelis face compulsory military service.  As it turns out, we Jews are also related to each other with that connection going back pretty far for most of us, I agree there, but we have a connection to each other.   The arrangement about exemptions creates a perverse incentive: remaining in religious study is the path to avoid conscription, while leaving the seminary – and entering the labor market – exposes a young man to the draft. The result is a system that discourages employment and places an increasingly unequal military burden on the rest of society. Adding insult to injury, the Israeli taxpayer is forced to pay subsidies to the yeshiva students – rather than the students paying tuition as those in university do."

These boys are the country's insurance policy that the religion was live, will survive any wars.  They are to carry on the direction of G-d in the lives of remaining people.  Is it so bad as to insure that the Ten Commandments, along with the rest of 613 commandments are known about at least?  To look at today's civilization, an alien from outer space might wonder about that.  The surrounding goals of Iran to destroy Israel worries the Religious element in our family as well, and they pray for everyone's protection.  

If Israel changes with a new Prime Minister, or even if Netanyahu again tries to alter this rule, the Religious Parties no longer will be a part of Labor, giving it strength.  The question is:  why is this exemption so necessary for the religious students?

       Today, even our women must fight, for all hands on deck is the word.  Female Israeli citizens (primarily Jewish) are subject to compulsory military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) upon turning 18, with standard service lasting 24 months for non-combat roles and up to 32 months for combat or specific specialized roles.  

The answer is that this country was founded on the ability to be Jewish. It's as Jewish as Saudi Arabia is Muslim. 

             Jewish lady of 18 in IDF Over 90% of IDF roles—including air force pilots, navy sailors, tank crews, and mixed-gender infantry combat battalions—are open to women, Israel has no other choice-In the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the length of mandatory military service for men is 32 months (2.67 years), following a legislative extension by the Knesset.  Conscription Scope: Mandatory service applies to Jewish, Druze, and Circassian males upon reaching age 18. Non-Druze Arab citizens are generally exempt, though individual volunteering is permitted.  

 Only we do enjoy having 20% of our citizens being Christians/other religions and in Arabia, they don't.   In all the other countries we have lived in, Jews were treated as 2nd class citizens or worse.  They were the object of always being the scapegoat, suffering under attacks out of the blue.  This country was founded by Kings Saul, David and his son Solomon who fought and died for it to enable them to follow what they saw and said was G-d's wish and plans. So many of us feel all young men should be like David and Saul;  fight for our country when needed.  Now there's a huge need.                                    

No other country has been as old as Israel and survived.  No other country was founded being able to follow one G-d and practice their religion without fear.

Now, let's look at some of the men who were leaders and believed in our rights.

1.  King Saul of the 11th Century BCE was a son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin.  Samuel came from a Levitical family, straight from Aaron, brother of Moses, so he had  a powerful role among people.   The Prophet as well as a judge, Samuel, went on a quest looking for a proper king at a time the people were clamoring for one.  By this time, all the other surrounding people had kings, and they knew it.  They only had Judges for smaller gatherings.  They wanted uniformity for all.  They felt weak.  Their lives were being threatened by the occasional attack by the Philistines and Ammonites, neighbors who wanted to take more land.  

So Saul immediately got all the strong men and trained them to fight. King Saul's army size changed at different times in the biblical account:

Standing / Selected Force: Saul initially chose 3,000 men for himself—2,000 with him at Michmash and Bethel, and 1,000 with his son Jonathan at Gibeah (1 Samuel 13:2). 
Dwindled Army: After desertions and fear during the war with the Philistines, Saul's force shrank down to about 600 men (1 Samuel 13:15).
Campaign Against the Amalekites: When summoned later to Telaim to fight the Amalekites, the army numbered 200,000 foot soldiers from Israel and 10,000 men from Judah (1 Samuel 15:4).

 They fought back on raids attacking them by now and experienced winning the battle with little losses.  One fight remembered was at Michmash which pushed back the Philistines.  Another group, the Moabites attacked and suffered great losses from Saul's army.  They had won over the Moabites, Ammonites, and Arameans who had stepped in as well.  The ancient Battle of Michmash (c. 1025 BCE) was a decisive clash recorded in the Hebrew Bible (1 Samuel 13–14) where the fledgling forces of the United Kingdom of Israel, led by King Saul and his son Jonathan, defeated the Philistines.                                                 

                                 

Later, another battle ensued and Saul was replaced by Saul with David who he appointed as king .

  David, younger and better looking, a gingy,  red cheeked, bright eyes from the tribe of Judah, A skilled shepherd who played the harp, wrote poetry, and composed many of the Book of Psalms,  had become most popular with the people  by his fighting capabilities and this had caused intense jealousy on the part of Saul who bitterly persecuted David and drove him from the country.  Then,   this new attack came upon them from the Philistines and Saul could only fight defensively and fell with his 3 sons including Jonathan in the battle on Mt Gilboa.  A surviving son, Ishbosheth, was temporarily acknowledged as Saul's successor over part of the country.  Saul's death was felt as a temporary domination of the Philistines.  However, the groundwork Saul had done and left for a successor proved effective in establishing a strong and independent Israelite monarchy. 

                                                         

David, king of Israel from 1000 to 960 BCE was the youngest of the 8  sons of Jesse, who was the grandson of Ruth and Boaz of the tribe of Judah.  Jesse was from Bethlehem but for fear of Saul, lived for some time in Moab, outside of the perimeter of his country,  and knew King Saul very well.  He had been Saul's armor-bearer at age 25.  Today, Moab is a part of Transjordan.  The Moabites were relatives of the Israelites being, like the Ammonites also were, descended from Lot, who was the son of Abraham's brother, Haran.  Their shepherds had a quarrel over pasture land, so they had divided up with Lot  trying to live in Sodom and needed Abraham to rescue him from these rather evil people.  They escaped from Sodom and his 2 sons were Ammon and Moab.  These sons had the reputation among the people later as having a drunk for a father.  They just happened to be the boundary neighbors of Israel.  

Even going back 4,000 years and one find the same problems people have today,  It's amazing!  .  Ammon and Moab ceased to exist as independent ancient nations after being conquered and absorbed by successive Mesopotamian and regional empires—primarily the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the 6th century BCE—and their territories eventually became part of modern-day Jordan.  Okay Palestinians, perhaps that is the answer.  Continue trying to live in Jordan under an established Kingship.  Leave Israel in Peace.  

Why King David Wrote The Psalms Loved By All Peoples

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

King David (reigned from 1010 BCE-970 BCE ( wrote nearly half of the Psalms during periods of intense trauma, betrayal, and deep personal failure. His writings span his entire life, covering his years fleeing from King Saul, a civil war started by his son Absalom, and the devastating fallout from his affair with Bathsheba.

Many of the Psalms serve as poetic journals of his emotional and spiritual journey through these crises:

                                  David and Goliath 

• Hunted as a Fugitive: Before becoming king, David spent years hiding in caves and deserts (such as the wilderness of En Gedi) while a jealous King Saul sought to kill him. Psalms written during this era (like Psalm 23 or Psalm 34) reflect deep fear, isolation, and a heavy reliance on God for protection. "Hashem is my shepherd, I shall not lack, In lush meadows He lays me down, beside tranquil waters He leads me.  He restores my soul.  He leads me on paths of righteousness for his Name's sake.  Though I walk in the valley overshadowed by death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me ....... (The morbid "valley" is a characterization of all exiles.  Also it is a place so dangerous that it is as dark and forbidding as the grave.)   Hashem is the earth and its fullness, the inhabited land and those who dwell in it.  For He founded it upon seas, and established it upon rivers.  Who may ascend the mountain of Hashem, and who may stand in the place of His sanctity?  and has not sworn deceitfully.......                        
  
                          David playing harp for King Saul
• Deep Personal Guilt: Following his moral failures involving Bathsheba and Uriah, David experienced profound remorse and spiritual agony . Psalm 51 is his famous plea for forgiveness and inner cleansing, written after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his sins. David's psalm of remorse includes the principles of repentance.  thus, it is a fitting prayer for any penitent. Show me favor, O God, according to him, when he came to Bath-sheba.  Show me favor, O God, according to  Your kindness, according to Your vast compassion erase my transgressions, Abundantly cleanse me from my iniquity, and from my sin purify me, For I  recognize my transgressions, and my sin is before me always.....  
  
                        Destruction of first Temple
• Betrayal and Grief: During his reign as king, David was forced to flee Jerusalem when his own son, Absalom, led a massive rebellion to steal the throne . Psalm 3, Psalm 55, and Psalm 63 were penned during this exile, echoing his heartbreak over betrayal by friends and his own family. Then He showed me Joshua, the Kohen Gadol, standing before the angel of Hashem, and the Satan was standing on his right to accuse him. "May Hashem denounce you, O Satan!  May Hashem, who chooses Jerusalem, denounce you!  Indeed, this man is like a firebrand saved from a fire!" ..... (The confrontation between Joshua and Satan represents the contention between the Jews who were trying to rebuild the Temple and the local chieftains, who tried to halt the constructions, as described  in the 4th chapter of Ezra. (Radak). Listen, O God, to my prayer, do not disregard my pleas.  Pay heed to me and answer me;  I lament as I speak, and I moan:  because of the shout of the foe, on account of the oppression of the wicked, for they accuse me of evil and hate me with passion, My heart shudders within me, and the terrors of death have befallen me, Fear and trembling penetrate me, and I am overcome with horror. (Despite the revolt of his son, Absalom and he defection of his intimate friend and adviser, Ahithophel,  David was unwavering in his faith that God would enable him to prevail.)  Oh God:  You are my God, I seek You, My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for you; in a parched and thirsty land with no water.  Thus to have beheld You  in the Sanctuary, to see Your might and Your glory.  For Your kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.  thus shall I bless you all my life; ....(Though a victim of malicious slander, exiled from nation, family, and home, alone in a desolate wilderness, David neve wavers in his love for God.) how many today can trust that there is a G-d?  Perhaps G-d himself knew when the end of times would be happening after all these 5,000-4,000 years and why !!!  
• Spiritual Despair: Beyond external threats, David occasionally battled intense periods of spiritual darkness, feeling as though God had abandoned him Psalm 13  captures his cries of despair and loneliness, ending ultimately with a declaration of trust in God's salvation. How long, Hashem, will You endlessly forget me?  How long will You hide Your countenance from me?  How long must I set schemes within myself?  My heart is melancholy even by day.  How long will my enemy triumph over me?  Look!  Answer me, Hashem, my God!  Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.  Lest my enemy boast...(Exile is like a long, dark, seemingly endless night.  David speaks prophetically on behalf of Israel in exile.) 
• Resource:
• The Stone Edition of the Tanach (Old Testament), the Torah, Prophets, writings...using Hashem instead of God since Jews don't like to use the word in vain.  "HaShem (הַשֵּׁם) is a Hebrew term that literally translates to "the Name". It is the most common substitute used by Jewish people in everyday conversation to refer to God, allowing them to speak about the Creator with reverence while avoiding uttering His actual, holy names in vain.  Respect: In Judaism, the primary four-letter name of God (the Tetragrammaton) is considered too sacred to be spoken aloud outside of specific Temple rituals.  
• The Third Commandment: The prohibition against taking God's name in vain extends to almost all casual or conversational speech. 
• Context: When formally praying or reading directly from the Torah, Jews traditionally use the name Adonai (meaning "My Lord"), but HaShem is used everywhere else."

Who Founded Jerusalem ?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

Jerusalem wasn't built by a single person; it was continuously constructed and reshaped by various civilizations over 5,000 years. Its earliest foundations were built by Canaanites and Jebusites. The city is first mentioned in Egyptian execration texts around 2000 BCE as "Rusalimum." By the 17th century BCE, Jerusalem had developed into a fortified city under Canaanite rule, with massive walls protecting its water system. . During the 14th century BCE, the city was an independent Canaanite stronghold ruled by Egyptian vassals, as documented in the Amarna Letters.During the Late Bronze Age  Jerusalem became a vassal of Ancient Egypt, as documented in the Amarna letters.                      

  The Amarna Letters are a cache of nearly 400 clay tablets discovered in 1887 at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. Dating to the mid-14th century BC, this royal archive records diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian pharaohs (mainly Amenhotep III and Akhenaten) and the rulers of neighboring kingdoms and vassal states.The Amarna letters are unusual in Egyptological research, because they are written not in the language of ancient Egypt, but in cuneiform, the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia. Most are in a variety of Akkadian sometimes characterised as a mixed language, Canaanite-Akkadian; one especially long letter—abbreviated EA 24—was written in a late dialect of Hurrian, and is the longest contiguous text known to survive in that language.

The city's importance grew during the Israelite period, which began around 1000 BCE when King David captured Jerusalem and made it the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel

Major builders include King David (ruled from 1010-970 BCE) and King Solomon (961-920 BCE) , and then King Herod I(37-4 BCE) son of an Idumean father and a Nabatean mother,  and the

Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled from 1520-1566) who was a Muslim  with Muslim Ottoman  rulers holding it for the last 400 years to WWI where they lost it.  

The Canaanites and Jebusites (ca. 3000–1000 BCE): The first settlements trace back to the Early Bronze Age. It was later fortified and inhabited by the Jebusites before its conquest.  They lived in he hill region around Jerusalem and called it Jebus.  Joshua, the leader that Moses had to take over the Exodus, defeated the Jebus coalition but Israelites only lived there during the reign of King David.  (II Sam. 24:15.).  Jebus people had a king, the last being Araunah.  His people remained in the city under David and became tributary under King Solomon, David's son.  They were assimilated into the Israelites.                                 

                      First Temple by Solomon

King David ruled for 40 years and King Solomon ruled for 41 years=81 years (ca. 1000–950 BCE): King David captured the city, making it the capital of the ancient kingdom of Israel. His son, King Solomon, significantly expanded the city and built the First Temple. 

Herod the Great ruled  as King of Judaea from 37 BCE to 4 BCE;  for 33 years . He was appointed "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate in 40 BCE , but his actual reign began in 37 BCE after he successfully captured Jerusalem and ousted his rivals.  Under Roman rule, King Herod the Great heavily developed Jerusalem, expanding the Temple Mount and rebuilding the Second Temple. King Herod I ("Herod the Great") was a practicing adherent to Judaism. However, he was not ethnically Jewish by birth; his ancestral background was Idumean (Edomite) and Nabatean Arab. His relationship with Judaism was complex and widely debated by his contemporaries: Herod the Great   was the ruler who ordered the "Massacre of the Innocents" (the killing of young boys in Bethlehem ) in an attempt to eliminate the prophesied infant king. This is when Moses was placed in the bullrushes, a hidden area.  

• Ancestral Conversion: The Idumeans were an ancient neighboring people who had been forcibly converted to Judaism a generation prior under the Hasmonean dynasty. Because he followed Jewish law, he was legally considered a Jew and observed Jewish customs, which allowed him to rule over Judea.

Jewish Revolt Against occupation of Romans-66-70 CE, Romans took Jerusalem, starved the Jews, took them as slaves, killed them, some got away- were threatened to never come back to Jerusalem-now a Roman fortress or face death.  

The Romans (135 CE): Following the Jewish revolt, the Roman Emperor Hadrian entirely rebuilt the city as a Roman colony named Aelia Capitolina. 

Suleiman the Magnificent (ca. 1537 CE): The iconic walls surrounding Jerusalem's Old City today were commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

 Ottoman forces defeated the Mamluks and gained control of Jerusalem in 1516 -1917= 401 years. 

Brief Interruption: The empire lost the city for nine years between 1831 and 1840, when Muhammad Ali of Egypt occupied it before Ottoman authority was restored .

End of Rule: British forces, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city in December 1917 during World War I, permanently ending Ottoman control.

Resource:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herod-king-of-Judaea

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia