Uncategorized
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.
Uncategorized
Iran Opposes Grossi’s UN Secretary-General Candidacy, Accuses Him of Failing to Uphold International Law
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi holds a press conference on the opening day of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
Iran has publicly opposed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi’s potential appointment as UN Secretary-General next year, accusing him of failing to uphold international law by not condemning US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.
During a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, sharply criticized Grossi, calling him unfit” to serve as UN Secretary-General next year, Iranian media reported.
“A candidate who has deliberately failed to uphold the UN Charter — or to condemn unlawful military attacks against safeguarded, peaceful nuclear facilities … undermines confidence in his ability to serve as a faithful guardian of the charter and to discharge his duties independently, impartially, and without political bias or fear of powerful states,” the Iranian diplomat said.
With UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ term ending in December next year, member states have already begun nominating candidates to take over the role ahead of the expected 2026 election.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel’s relationship with Guterres has spiraled downward, reaching a low point last year when then-Foreign Minister Israel Katz labeled the UN “antisemitic and anti-Israeli” and declared Guterres persona non grata after the top UN official failed to condemn Tehran for its ballistic missile attack against the Jewish state.
Last week, Argentina officially nominated Grossi to succeed Guterres as the next UN Secretary-General.
To be elected, a nominee must first secure the support of at least nine members of the UN Security Council and avoid a veto from any of its five permanent members — the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France.
Afterward, the UN General Assembly votes, with a simple majority needed to confirm the organization’s next leader.
As head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog since 2019, Grossi has consistently urged Iran to provide transparency on its nuclear program and cooperate with the agency, efforts the Islamist regime has repeatedly rejected and obstructed.
Despite Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes rather than weapons development, Western powers have said there is no “credible civilian justification” for the country’s nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”
With prospects for renewed negotiations or nuclear cooperation dwindling, Iran has been intensifying efforts to rebuild its air and defense capabilities decimated during the 12-day war with Israel.
On Monday, Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), declared that the IAEA has no authority to inspect sites targeted during the June war, following Grossi’s renewed calls for Tehran to allow inspections of its nuclear sites and expand cooperation with the agency.
Iran has also announced plans to expand its nuclear cooperation with Russia and advance the construction of new nuclear power plants, as both countries continue to deepen their bilateral relations.
According to AEOI spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi, one nuclear power plant is currently operational, while other two are under construction, with new contracts signed during a recent high-level meeting in Moscow.
Kamalvandi also said Iran plans to build four nuclear power plants in the country’s southern region as part of its long-term partnership with Russia.
During a joint press conference in Moscow on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated Iran’s commitment to defending the country’s “legal nuclear rights” under the now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal, noting that Tehran’s nuclear policies have remained within the international legal framework.
Iran’s growing ties with Russia, particularly in nuclear cooperation, have deepened in recent years as both countries face mounting Western sanctions and seek to expand their influence in opposition to Western powers.
Russia has not only helped Iran build its nuclear program but also consistently defended the country’s “nuclear rights” on the global stage, while opposing the imposition of renewed economic sanctions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the reinstatement of UN sanctions against Iran as a “disgrace to diplomacy.”
In an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN), Lavrov accused European powers of attempting to blame Tehran for the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal, despite what he described as Iran’s compliance with the agreement.
Prior to the 12-day war, the IAEA flagged a series of Iranian violations of the deal.
Uncategorized
Eurovision Host Says It Will Not Drown Out Any Boos During Israel’s Performance
ORF executive producer Michael Kroen attends a press conference about the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, Dec. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisa Leutner
The host broadcaster of the next Eurovision Song Contest, Austria’s ORF, will not ban the Palestinian flag from the audience or drown out booing during Israel’s performance as has happened at previous shows, organizers said on Tuesday.
The 70th edition of the contest in May will have just 35 entries, the smallest number of participants since 2003, after five national broadcasters including those of Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands said they would boycott the show in protest at Israel’s participation.
What is usually a celebration of national diversity, pop music, and high camp has become embroiled in diplomatic strife, with those boycotting saying it would be unconscionable to take part given the number of civilians killed in Gaza during Israel’s military campaign following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
“We will allow all official flags that exist in the world, if they comply with the law and are in a certain form – size, security risks, etc.,” the show’s executive producer, Michael Kroen, told a news conference organized by ORF.
“We will not sugarcoat anything or avoid showing what is happening, because our task is to show things as they are,” Kroen said.
AUSTRIA SUPPORTED ISRAEL PARTICIPATING
The broadcaster will not drown out the sound of any booing from the crowd, as happened this year during Israel’s performance, ORF’s director of programming Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz said.
“We won’t play artificial applause over it at any point,” she said.
Israel’s 2025 entrant, Yuval Raphael, was at the Nova music festival that was a target of the Hamas-led attack. The CEO of Israeli broadcaster KAN had likened the efforts to exclude Israel in 2026 to a form of “cultural boycott.”
ORF and the Austrian government were among the biggest supporters of Israel participating over the objections of countries including Iceland and Slovenia, which will also boycott the next contest in protest. ORF Director General Roland Weissmann visited Israel in November to show his support.
This year’s show drew around 166 million viewers, according to the European Broadcasting Union, more than the roughly 128 million who Nielsen estimates watched the Super Bowl.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led terrorists killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel.
Uncategorized
Antisemitism Allowed to Fester in Australia, Says Daughter of Wounded Holocaust Survivor
Victoria Teplitsky, daughter of a Holocaust survivor who was wounded at the Bondi shootings, stands at a floral memorial in honor of the victims of the mass shooting targeting a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jeremy Piper
Government authorities have not done enough to stamp out hatred of Jews in Australia, which has allowed it to fester in the aftermath of Oct. 7, said the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who was wounded at the Bondi shootings on Sunday.
Victoria Teplitsky, 53, a retired childcare center owner, said that the father and son who allegedly went on a 10-minute shooting spree that killed 15 people had been “taught to hate,” which was a bigger factor in the attack than access to guns.
“It’s not the fact that those two people had a gun. It’s the fact that hatred has been allowed to fester against the Jewish minority in Australia,” she told Reuters in an interview.
“We are angry at our government because it comes from the top, and they should have stood up for our community with strength. And they should have squashed the hatred rather than kind of letting it slide,” she said.
“We’ve been ignored. We feel like, are we not Australian enough? Do we not matter to our government?”
The attackers fired upon hundreds of people at a Jewish festival during a roughly 10-minute killing spree, forcing people to flee and take shelter before both were shot by police.
RISING ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS
Antisemitic incidents have been rising in Australia since the war in Gaza erupted after Palestinian terrorist group Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in an attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
A rise in such incidents in the past sixteen months prompted the head of the nation’s main intelligence agency to declare that antisemitism was his top priority in terms of threat.
“This was not a surprise to the Jewish community. We warned the government of this many, many times over,” Teplitsky said.
“We’ve had synagogues that have been graffitied, graffiti everywhere, and we’ve had synagogues that have been bombed,” she added, referring to a 2024 arson attack in Melbourne in which no one was killed.
Teplitsky’s father Semyon, 86, bled heavily after being shot in the leg, and now is facing several operations as doctors piece bone back together with cement, then remove the cement from the leg, which he still may lose, she said.
“He’s in good spirits, but he’s also very angry. Angry that this happened, that this was allowed to happen in Australia, the country that he took his children to, to be safe, to be away from antisemitism, to be away from Jew hatred.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “did nothing” to curb antisemitism.
Albanese repeated on Tuesday Australia‘s support for a two-state solution. Anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protests have been common in Australia since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza.
At a press briefing on Monday, Albanese read through a list of actions his government had taken, including criminalizing hate speech and incitement to violence and a ban on the Nazi salute. He also pledged to extend funding for physical security for Jewish community groups.