Reply To: What's wrong with the draft?

1. My initial post referred to drafting those Bochurim/Yungerleit who aren’t using their time properly. It was couched in diplomatic terms but what I really meant was those who are messing around. Going to Yeshiva used to be a personal decision and those who went didnt mess around. Now, the (Shidduch/societal) system mandates it. But not everyone is cut out for it. Perhaps those guys would be better off doing a year or two, then going to the army/getting a job etc.

I’d be amazed if any Gedolim advocate keeping these type of boys in Yeshiva if they are clearly not managing there. Maybe the Gedolim aren’t aware that these type of Bochurim exist?

2. Also, most of you (Kano’im) missed my point. I suggested that Bochurim should spend 3 yrs in Yeshiva then serve in the army. If this was the system / cycle, then the Yeshivas would remain full – those who left to join the army would be immediately replaced by the incoming year starting Yeshiva. Thus, Eretz Yisroel would have the constant protection of Lomdei Torah and Israel would have the constant participation of Chareidim in the Army. [To those who harp on about the Peritzus and Chilonius of the army atmosphere, I am sure that if Litzman et al told the Army ‘we are giving you 10,000 bochurim a year if you set up strictly chareidi units’ they would agree in a flash]