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Here is an drash I read from a Yakkish Rav. I think he addresses directly some of the concern people have about army & separation from society in general. What do you think?
Right before Yitzhak birth, Avraham & Sarah decided to move to the south [yoshev] – which is a rural area, but near Palestinian city of Gerar that Avraham would visit [gar] [and Yitzhak will live there even more]. Why?
Yitzhak needs to be educated in isolation, removed from negative influence. on the other hand, complete isolation that denies student all contact with people who think differently .. is a dangerous educational mistake. A young person who never saw a way of life different from parents never had an opportunity to compare and appreciate the difference and value what parents taught him. He will surely fall victim to outside influences at his fist encounter with them, just as one who fears the fresh air and closets himself in the room will catch cold as soon as he goes outdoors.
Avraham’s son, his heritage, should – from time to time [sic!] – enter the world that is alien to the spirit of Avraham. There he can evaluate opposing ideas and strengthen himself to keep to the ways of Avraham in a world that is opposed to them. For this purpose, Avraham chooses the capital of the Philistine prince.
Rashi explains why Avraham and Sarah moved, because there was no longer traffic in that area (to invite guests and teach them about Hashem) after Sodom was destroyed. Avraham was constantly interacting with all kinds of pagan wayfarers who he hosted and fed and taught about the true God of the Universe. Yitzchok grew up in the ultimate Kiruv house, he had no need to go anywhere to see the local yokels, they were right there all the time. On the other hand, Sarah was adamant about kicking out Yishmael so he wouldn’t be a bad influence on Yitzchok, and Hashem agreed with her. So there are in fact multiple layers of chinuch decision making and strategy going on in last week’s parsha, but the “vort” about going out to shpatzir in – Gaza – seems off the mark. In fact, we find at least two examples where Chazal clearly recommended AGAINST such a mehalech. One by ותצא דינה, and one by וישב העם בשיטים that the Midrash interprets as a lashon of שטו העם or ‘strolling around’. We also find that Yosef made sure to settle his brothers and their families in Goshen, far from the center of Egypt, to keep them AWAY from the locals as much as possible. When Bnei Yisroel entered the Land, there were also multiple ציוויים to eliminate the locals – so that they may not lead you astray… In other words, stay away from bad guys, period. The “vort” sounds more like an anachronistic projection of modern German style hashkafa than an actual pshat in what was going on then.
AAQ – Excuse me, I started reading straight from the ‘drash’ and skipped the first line. Then I noticed that this is yet ANOTHER dig about Chareidim serving in the IDF. Even אם תמצי לומר that there is something to be gained from exposure to outside ideas (something by no means מוסכם לכל הדעות, and even in the “Yekkish” context was seen as a הוראת שעה and not לכתחילה), so you think the way to do that is to conscript teenagers to a 24/7 forcible שעבוד to all-powerful Chiloni (often OTD for good measure) commanding officers with a hostile agenda? That doesn’t even jive with the (contrived) ‘drash’ you quote, let alone with any normative concept of Torah Chinuch.
AAQ – According to your ‘logic’, instead of going for three years to the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever, Yitzchok should have enlisted for three years of service in Avimelech’s army…
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