Drama in the chareidi recruitment system for the IDF as the head of the chareidi community in the IDF, Mendy Katz, announced his retirement at the end of the year from the IDF.
This is a surprising move because Katz is considered one of the first chareidi recruiters and the most senior of them. In the coming months, Mendy Katz will set up and manage the chareidi administration and then retire to civilian life.
When Katz arrived in his position, the annual enlistment figures were about 300 chareidim a year. From the time he took office, the enlistment grew by more than 1,000 percent, with an annual chareidi enrollment rate of about 3,000 enlisting.
In addition, Katz led the Badatz kashrut revolution in the IDF, established the chareidi track in Givati and Paratroopers and the Bina Green track in the Intelligence Corps. He also served as an IDF representative in an agreement with Chabad Chasidism.
Kikar Shabbos News adds Katz, who runs the chareidi sector in the IDF behind the scenes, receives generous offers in order to remain in the army, but his associates say he feels exhausted and that after the establishment of the administration he sees no challenge in the field.
Sources close to him say that Katz has been offered a number of political proposals and social initiatives, but has yet to respond to the proposals.
During his service in the IDF, demonstrations were held outside Katz’s house, both by the “Peleg faction” and by other extremist groups. At the demonstration held on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in front of Katz’s home in Bnei Brak,” protesters called on Katz to “Take off your yarmulke” and they sang songs of protest against him.
In another demonstration held in front of his house, the demonstrators called Katz a” traitor”, a “collaborator “and a “missionary”, and even threatened them that “you will find out that you are a coward.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
I personally had a son and a son-in-law that served a full 3 years in the IDF and came out as frum as all the frummers on the outside.
There is no excuse for religious boys NOT to go in, except that the education that they get gemora and more gemora is not sufficent to help them deal with the outside world.
Let them learn to be a beacon to light other non religious people to HaShem and perhaps they can take themselves out of the beis medresh and go to work!
The tone of the article seems to indicate that YWN is saddened by Katz’s departure from the post of chief missionary for the IDF among Chareidi yeshiva boys.
So, are we then to understand that YWN approves of the efforts to recruit Chareidim into the army? If not, it might be helpful to state clearly that you uphold the opinion of the gedolei Torah who feel that yeshiva learning is the priority for young Chareidi men.
YWN, you’re not phrasing it right. He’s not “head of the chareidi community in the IDF”, he is the number one recruiter of yeshiva bochurim. He is the head of the Department for the Integration of Chareidim to the IDF.
As YWN points out in their utter hypocrisy, “When Katz arrived in his position, the annual enlistment figures were about 300 chareidim a year. From the time he took office, the enlistment grew by more than 1,000 percent, with an annual chareidi enrollment rate of about 3,000 enlisting.”
Hold on, I thought there’s no Gzeiras Giyus? If you go to the Lishkat Hagiyus, you’re good to go. There has never been a better time for yeshiva bochurim than today, right?
It’s still a pretty new article, and there are no comments yet, so you can probably delete that paragraph and nobody will notice.
LK: I am glad that your family members stayed frum in the army. But, you know that many don’t.
You write, “There is no excuse for religious boys not to go in, except that” — THE RABBONIM ALSO HAVE A SAY IN THIS MATTER! If you feel more Chareidi young men should go to the army, you know that the only way that will happen is if the gedolei hador change their mind. So, arrange a meeting and try to convince them. Until that happens, you have no quarrel with the tzibur who chooses to follow its manhigim.
You write, “more gemora is not sufficent to help them deal with the outside world.” Not really sure what you mean here, because more gemora is more connection to Hashem, something that we’re supposed to be striving for, no? Does serving 3 years in the IDF help people deal withthe outside world? Learning how to kill people is training for life?
There is a place for men working and for men learning. They are 2 categories of people. You apparently think they should all be working. The Chareidi tzibur, guided by thegedolei hador, thinks differently. We don’t all have to be doing exactly the same thing. Some learn an hour or two a day; some learn 12 hours a day.
And in any case, do you really think the army wants all the Chareidim anyway??