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I Fully Support Haredim — But They Must Find a Way to Contribute to Israel’s Defense
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Two weeks ago, I was on stage at the Saban Theater in Los Angeles for a major Keren Olam HaTorah event. Rabbi Dov Lando and other senior Israeli yeshiva leaders joined about 40 to 50 local rabbis, and approximately 1,500 Haredim from across LA filled the hall.
The event’s goal was to raise urgently needed funds for full-time Torah learners in Israel. Their government stipends have been cut, and now they are struggling to afford basic necessities.
Let me be clear: those families need help. Their poverty is not “self-inflicted.” They’re part of a system that leaves almost no room for dissent. Anyone who deviates — even slightly — risks social ostracism.
And, to be fair, most Haredim in Israel sincerely believe they are engaged in the holiest project a Jew can undertake: sustaining the world through Torah study. Their idealism is real, their devotion is genuine — and their commitment is breathtaking.
And American Haredim have responded with remarkable generosity. Over $100 million in private donations has flowed to these Israeli families from the United States.
A few days after the L.A. event, Jerusalem saw the so-called “million-man protest” against Haredi conscription.
Hundreds of thousands of Haredim from across Israel gathered to oppose efforts to draft them into the IDF. Sadly, the protest ended in tragedy when a young man fell to his death from an unfinished high-rise.
The protest’s message was clear: we will not enlist or take part – this is not our fight.
But here is the core issue: Haredim cannot expect to live in and benefit from a country facing real threats without also sharing responsibility for its defense and future.
That approach may have worked when the Haredi community was tiny. It does not work when Haredim make up nearly 14% of Israel’s population and are growing exponentially.
And it does not work when the country is at war and manpower is stretched, and you go about your lives as if the country is not at war, while relying on IDF soldiers and the Iron Dome to protect you.
And it certainly does not work when every other sector — secular, religious-Zionist, traditional, even new immigrants — sends its children off to defend the nation.
Haredim claim, not unjustifiably, that Israel is the land of Jewish heritage and therefore they are entitled to live there, whether or not they serve.
But Haredim didn’t flock to Eretz Yisrael under the Ottomans or the British. It was no less “the land of Jewish heritage” then.
Haredim began to come in large numbers — and continue to do so — only once there was a Jewish state. They are right to come. Israel is the greatest blessing for the Jewish people in two thousand years. And let’s be frank — had Israel not prevailed in 1948, and the Arabs had won, there would almost certainly not be a thriving Haredi community in Eretz Yisrael today.
Which means — labels aside — Haredim are part of the Zionist story, whether they embrace the word or not. They may not sing Hatikvah or fly the Israeli flag, but they chose the state, and they benefit from it in countless ways.
And let’s say this out loud: no one has ever supported Torah study in all of Jewish history more than the State of Israel. Not even close. Tens of billions of shekels over decades — buildings, stipends, housing allowances, childcare subsidies, food aid programs, and more.
Haredim will tell you, sometimes indignantly, that the support was given reluctantly. Maybe so. But the broader reality remains: if someone pays your bills for decades, reluctance doesn’t erase support. And if you benefit from a state’s stability, security, hospitals, emergency services, roads, schools, and subsidies, you are a stakeholder, whether or not you wave a flag on Yom Ha’atzmaut.
So while Haredim don’t call themselves Zionists, they do live in Israel by choice. They rely on Israel’s institutions. They expect Israel to protect them. Functionally, they are part of the Zionist project.
Which leads to an uncomfortable truth: a community that demands support and respect while signaling indifference to Israel’s broader challenges should not be shocked when such respect is not forthcoming.
Most Israelis don’t hate Torah, nor do they reject the idea of full-time Torah study. But they do hate feeling like suckers. Watching their children serve — and sometimes die — while others march declaring “this is not our army” is painful. It breeds resentment.
Recent statistics reveal that around 75% of Israeli families have at least one child serving in the military, highlighting the widespread burden of military service. This stark contrast between those serving and those who declare their disconnection from the army becomes a tangible source of tension.
And resentment, left unchecked, becomes anger, and eventually a division so deep it threatens the foundations of the state.
To be fair, the blame does not sit solely on one side. There is enormous prejudice toward Haredim in Israel — ignorance, mockery, at times outright hostility — and it’s destructive. But here’s the trick, and it’s hard for everyone: if you want others to respect your contribution, you need to acknowledge theirs.
Torah protects. We believe that. But soldiers protect, too. Medics protect. Pilots protect. Intelligence analysts protect. Volunteers who pull bodies from rubble protect. Israel’s safety is not theoretical — it’s literal.
Our sages taught us not to rely on miracles. The concept of hishtadlut alongside emunah — effort alongside faith — aligns our spiritual devotion with the practical needs of defense. The spiritual battlefield matters, and so does the physical one. It cannot just be someone else’s problem. It’s everyone’s problem.
Thankfully, things are shifting. Quietly, beneath the noise, something else is happening. Not mass enlistment and not ideological surrender, but something subtler — and perhaps more profound. In a move unimaginable a few years ago, the Belzer Rebbe has backed a pilot IDF track for married Hasidim from his sect, the second-largest Hasidic group in Israel.
About 150 men are already in. They serve in noncombat roles — intelligence, communications, logistics — and they return home nightly, remaining full-fledged Haredim in every way. They don’t carry guns, they don’t do basic training — but they are inside the IDF framework. The program even includes pre-academic training and technician or engineering diplomas.
Let’s not underestimate what this represents. It isn’t surrender, and it isn’t capitulation. It is a bridge — modest for now, tentative perhaps, but real. And like all bridges, it begins with a small span, just enough to show that two sides can, in fact, meet somewhere in the middle. The Belzer Rebbe isn’t waving a flag. He’s opening a door.
And perhaps, just perhaps, this is a glimpse of the Jewish future we need: a future where Torah remains uncompromised and civic duty is not ignored. The million-man march may have mattered this week, but history may well remember far more the quiet courage of those 150 Belzer Hasidim who chose a different path. With God’s help, that is the future awaiting the Haredim of Israel.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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With the last hostage released, is American Jewish unity over?
When the remains of the last Israeli hostage in Gaza returned to Israel this week, Scott Spindel, a lawyer in Encino, Calif., finally took off the thick steel dog tag he had put on after the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023.
His friend Lauren Krieger, an orthopedic surgeon, did the same. And he pulled down the last of the names of the hostages remaining in Gaza that his wife, Jenn Roth Krieger, had placed in the window of their Santa Monica home.
During the nearly 28 months that Israeli hostages remained in captivity in Gaza, Krieger, 61, and Spindel, 55, consistently argued over Israel’s war in the strip.
“Lauren would say that we probably were a little too extreme,” Spindel, whose daughter serves in the IDF, told me in a telephone interview. “I don’t think we blew up enough buildings.”
But those differences paled beside their mutual concern over the fate of the hostages.
“Unfortunately,” said Spindel, “it took tragedy to pull us together.”
So it was across the American Jewish landscape. Then, the body of Staff Sergeant Ran Gvili, the 24-year-old Israeli police officer killed on Oct. 7 and taken by Hamas terrorists back into the enclave, was returned to Israel — the last of the hostages to come home.
Jews from across the political spectrum unpinned yellow ribbon buttons from their lapels, removed the hostage posters from their synagogues, and folded up and put away the blue-and-white flags displayed as a symbol of the missing Israelis.
The marches and vigils American Jews held on behalf of the hostages — small but meaningful echoes of the mass rallies that roiled Israel — came to a quiet halt.
Jewish unity is forged in adversity. Without it, we are apt to find enemies among ourselves. And as painful as the hostage saga was, it unified an otherwise fractious American Jewish community in a time of crisis.
Without that common concern, are even deeper rifts our future?
“As committed and connected as we were,” said Spindel, “it doesn’t change the fact that we also were still divided about solutions.”
A family in distress
Across the United States, synagogues of all religious and political bents regularly joined in the same Acheinu prayer for the release and return of the hostages.
“Our family, the whole house of Israel, who are in distress,” the prayer begins — a wholly accurate summation of the totality of Jewish concern.
Surveys showed that the hostages unified American Jews even when Israel’s Gaza campaign divided them. An October 2025 Washington Post poll found that a plurality of American Jews disapproved of Israel’s military actions in Gaza — but a whopping 79% said they were “very concerned” about the hostages.
There have been other moments in recent Jewish history when calamity created unity. The 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, for instance, brought together the vast majority of American Jews in mourning, even those who opposed his policies.
And, of course the brutal Oct. 7 attack, which claimed almost 1,200 lives, created a near-universal sense of shock and sorrow.
But the hostage crisis may have had an even deeper emotional — and perhaps political — impact.
“Even for people who were not affiliated Jewishly, those hostages struck a deep, deep chord,” Krieger told me. “It felt personal. I don’t think we’ve had that level of collective trauma in our lifetimes in that same way.”
And a family divided
The hostage crisis bonded American Jews to one another, and to their Israeli counterparts, at a time when enormous political rifts were opening within their communities.
In the U.S., as in Israel, there were sharp disagreements over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war and whether he was even prioritizing the hostages’ safety.
And the encampments and protests against the war at college campuses — in which many Jewish students participated, and to which many others objected — created even deeper divisions over support for the Jewish state.
But if the hostage issue didn’t erase such differences, it muted them. Krieger and Spindel could frustrate each other in conversations about the conduct of the war, or American support for it. But in the end, they were both in that 79% that the Washington Post poll identified.
What will hold them — and the rest of us — together, now?
The hostage crisis provided something history unfortunately bestows upon Jews with regularity: an external enemy that transcended ideological differences. With it gone, American Jews return to what they’ve always been — a community bound by tradition, and riven by politics.
Krieger and Spindel have already resumed their arguments. But even though the dog tags are gone, they’re both still wearing Jewish stars on silver chains around their necks. When someone admires Krieger’s, he takes it off and gives it to them. He buys his metal stars in bulk on Amazon, and has given away dozens since Oct. 7.
“I want people to feel like I do,” he said, “like we’re a peoplehood worth cherishing.”
Worth cherishing — even though we can’t agree on much else.
The post With the last hostage released, is American Jewish unity over? appeared first on The Forward.
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Iran President Says Trump, Netanyahu, Europe Stirred Tensions in Protests
Amnesty International Greek activists and Iranians living in Athens hold candles and placards in front of the Greek Parliament to support the people of Iran, in Athens, Greece, January 30, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that US, Israeli and European leaders had exploited Iran’s economic problems, incited unrest and provided people with the means to “tear the nation apart” in recent protests.
The two-week long nationwide protests, which began in late December over an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and rising living costs, have abated after a bloody crackdown by the clerical authorities that US-based rights group HRANA says has killed at least 6,563, including 6,170 protesters and 214 security forces.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told CNN Turk that 3,100, including 2,000 security forces, had been killed.
The US, Israeli and European leaders tried to “provoke, create division, and supplied resources, drawing some innocent people into this movement,” Pezeshkian said in a live state TV broadcast.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced support for the demonstrators, saying the US was prepared to take action if Iran continued to kill protesters. US officials said on Friday that Trump was reviewing his options but had not decided whether to strike Iran.
Israel’s Ynet news website said on Friday that a US Navy destroyer had docked at the Israeli port of Eilat.
Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Europeans “rode on our problems, provoked, and were seeking — and still seek — to fragment society,” said Pezeshkian.
“They brought them into the streets and wanted, as they said, to tear this country apart, to sow conflict and hatred among the people and create division,” Pezeshkian said.
“Everyone knows that the issue was not just a social protest,” he added.
Regional allies including Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have been engaging in diplomatic efforts to prevent a military confrontation between Washington and Tehran.
The US is demanding that Iran curb its missile program if the two nations are to instead resume talks, but Iran has rejected that demand.
Foreign Minister Araqchi said in Turkey on Tuesday that missiles would never be the subject of any negotiations.
In response to US threats of military action, Araqchi said Tehran was ready for either negotiations or warfare, and also ready to engage with regional countries to promote stability and peace.
“Regime change is a complete fantasy. Some have fallen for this illusion,” Araqchi told CNN Turk. “Our system is so deeply rooted and so firmly established that the comings and goings of individuals make no difference.”
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CBS News Chief Weiss Touts Commentator Push, Draws Mixed Reaction in Newsroom
FILE PHOTO: Bari Weiss speaks at the 2022 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
Three months into her tenure, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss presented a vision this week to revitalize the nearly century-old broadcaster, in part by applying the same formula that fueled the rise of The Free Press – recruiting commentators who offer observations about news, politics and culture.
From adding 19 new commentators, including some drawn from The Free Press ranks, to introducing new podcasts, newsletters and live events, employees were variously energized or skeptical of the ideas presented by CBS’ new boss. Weiss’ notions about how to thrive in a post-Walter Cronkite era struck some as in conflict with the stated mission of doing great journalism, according to seven current and former CBS News employees and industry insiders.
In her presentation, Weiss also envisioned a galaxy of cross-platform stars, like New York Times columnist and CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin, whom she highlighted with a meme: “Sorkining.” The Dealbook founder is the author of several business books, executive producer of the Showtime series “Billions,” and maestro of the New York Times premiere live event, and a Davos fixture.
“It’s like saying ‘Hey, Hollywood. Why can’t you just be like Leonardo DiCaprio?’ If people knew how to bottle that magic and make someone a star, they would do it,” said a former CBS employee.
An industry veteran said the idea suggested a lack of appreciation for the power of television, which has been making stars for generations: among them “CBS Evening News” anchors Dan Rather, Connie Chung, Walter Cronkite and Katie Couric.
The 41-year-old Weiss, who has no broadcast experience and has been described as a distant leader by six current and former CBS News sources, now has to deliver on her promise of capturing new and younger viewers – including political independents who don’t see themselves reflected in mainstream media. It is a daunting undertaking that has hobbled executives across broadcast and cable, including former CNN chief Chris Licht, ousted in June 2023.
One supporter sees the charismatic Weiss as a modern-day Katharine Graham, the legendary publisher of the Washington Post, who was undermined by underlings when she took over in 1963. Graham transformed the paper and led it through its Watergate-era heyday, and generally left editorial decisions to Executive Editor Ben Bradlee.
A current staffer, speaking on background, said, “People are saying, ‘Let’s give her a chance’ … I want to see her succeed. If she succeeds, we all succeed.”
CBS News and Weiss did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
PRIORITIES FOR CBS NEWS
Weiss, a former opinion journalist and media entrepreneur, joined CBS after parent Paramount owner David Ellison bought her five-year-old media company, The Free Press, for $150 million in October.
Some see Weiss’ playbook of expanding CBS’s journalism ranks with commentators as conflicting with other initiatives including breaking news and landing deep investigative stories, according to three current and former CBS News staffers and an industry veteran.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” said the former employee. “But is that what a news division is or are they craving something completely different? That’s fine but don’t pretend it’s a news division.”
Another current CBS News staffer talked about past failures to capitalize on new ways of reaching the audience, such as leveraging the power of the Paramount+ streaming service to promote news shows, observing, “We have done a wretched job of being on the internet.”
Weiss is also attempting to change the news network’s political orientation, appealing to a wider cross-section of Americans, according to her remarks Tuesday. Weiss said she wants CBS News to reflect the friction animating the national conversation.
In broadening its perspective to include more diverse viewpoints, CBS News could ultimately lay claim to the uncharted ground for a center-right broadcaster, said Integrated Media Chief Executive Jonathan Miller, a veteran media executive who has held senior positions at News Corp and AOL.
“We need to commission and greenlight stories that will surprise and provoke – including inside our own newsroom,” Weiss said in her address to employees. “We also have to widen the aperture of the stories we tell.”
On that front, CBS has had mixed results so far. Earlier this month, “CBS Evening News” broadcast a widely panned segment featuring U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in various meme-like situations, saluting him as “the ultimate Florida man.”
EARLY SUCCESSES
It has also seen successes, including Lesley Stahl’s interview with Trump son-in-law and Middle East advisor Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, within a week of brokering a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, and Norah O’Donnell’s “60 Minutes” interview with Trump. Paramount paid Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over its editing of an interview with his White House rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
It landed journalistic scoops, including interviewing the man who charged one of two gunmen who attacked a Jewish community gathering in Sydney, and exclusive video of Alex Pretti, the man killed by Border Patrol in Minneapolis, reading a tribute to a veteran who died in 2024.
Weiss announced that the network would bring in contributors with expertise in politics, health, happiness, food and culture, whom she encouraged staffers to use on-air. The roster includes Free Press columnist Niall Ferguson of the conservative Hoover Institution, as well as Casey Lewis, a former Teen Vogue and MTV editor who writes about youth culture.
“It’s great to have younger people, a diverse demographic and diverse ideology represented,” said Kathy Kiely, the chair in Free-Press Studies at the Missouri School of Journalism. “Newsrooms can’t do a good job unless we have that diversity in our ranks. What worries me is the emphasis on opinion over primary-sourced, reported facts.”
Weiss emphasized making content available online before it airs on TV to reach more viewers. CBS has long been in third place behind rivals ABC and NBC and, like most mainstream media, is struggling with audience declines as consumers migrate to social platforms.
Pew Research estimates about one-third of all adults get at least some news from podcasts. CBS News does not appear among Spotify’s or Apple’s rankings of the top 50 news podcasts.
One former employee expects the digital-first goal to be complicated because CBS hasn’t devoted sufficient resources to helping correspondents or anchors curate their social media presence or re-edit television interviews for YouTube or streaming.
Weiss encouraged staffers to think of the news organization as the best-capitalized media startup in the world.
“We are in a position, with the support of all of the leadership of this company, to really make the change we need.”