Rav Aharon Feldman on Why Chareidim Refuse to Join the Israeli Army - גיוס - English

Rav Aharon Feldman, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, spoke at an assifa organized for English speakers in Beit Shemesh. The Rosh Yeshiva describes how the crux of the issue is a fight over the definition of what it means to be a Jew is and that even if everything could be made kosher there is no way for an ehrliche Yid to put himself in an environment which directly contradicts the Torah's definition of a Jew. He also recounted the tragic story of a talmid who decided to join the 'Chashmonim' brigade and was mechallel Shabbos for the first time in his life on the first Shabbos in the army under the threat of arrest by his commander.