OK, lets put it this way. This week’s english MIshpacha brings an article about Aviad Friedman, a religious businessman who is trying to get chareidim in the army. Why? Read this:
Mishpacha:You are a religious jew and the scion of a rabbinic family. How can you lend a hand to a committee that many feel will jeopardize the Torah world of Eretz Yisroel?
AF: Let me tell you a story. When the Second Lebanon War began, I was summoned to reserve duty. We were the first reserve force to enter Lebanonk, and my own eyes saw things I would never wish on my worst enemies. Right before we set out, ready to go with all of our equipment and our faces covered with camouflage paint, a soldier named Yair Cohen stood up, removed his shoes, and blessed us with the Bircas Kohanim. And that same Yair Cohen went to the battlefield with a small gemara in his possession, a copy of Maseches Gittin, which was then being learned in day yomi. Throughout the days of combat, he and another soldier named Meir Ben Shachar didn’t miss a single day of studying the day yomi. On one particularly difficult round of combat, our unit was given only 45 minutes to sleep out of an entire 24-hour period. These few minutes, which everyone else used to recoup their strength, these two soldiers used to study the day yomi.
When the war was over, I set out for home in my car after weeks of being away. I drove past the Meron junction, where I spotted a pair of yeshivah bochurim trying to hitch a ride. I stopped for them, despite the protests of my friends who were riding with me.
As we traveled, I asked these two bochurim, “Tell me, what did you do while the war was going on? Did anything change in yeshivah? Did you learn all night as well?” (TMM-bold added) It was important for me to know if they had actually done anything they could on a spiritual plane to help their brothers on the battlefield. From their sheepish expressions, I understood that I had missed something. It was bein hazemanim at the time (TMM-bold added)
Now I know that there were many yeshivas that didn’t take off, whose students and faculty fortified themselves with extra hours and discipline. But I also have friends who organize vacations for the chareidi community. I asked them if there were fewer vacationers during that time, and I understood that although many opted to stay home, many others went on their bein hazemanim vacation as usual. That’s what drove me to act.
What do we have to say to that?