Levayas and shivas

I just returned from a levaya at the military cemetery. I found the experience sickening. A kid is dead because rebels against HaShem replaced avodas HaShem with militarism and the task of combating one's yetzer hara with that of battling the "enemies of the Medina" which they imagine under every rock. But the whole ceremony consists of militarism and talk of battling the anti-Semites for which it is worth giving up one's life. Soldiers carry the coffin that is wrapped in a flag. They stand at attention through the whole ceremony, standing next to other flags. It's flags and flags and flags. The father said that his son "gave his life fighting evil" and battling those who want to commit genocide. These people lock themselves deeper into folly no matter what happens. Aveira goreres aveira.

I had some bochurim from the Brisk yeshiva over for Shabbos. They see themselves as anti-Zionists. I shared with them the words of the Brisker Rav that two things are certain: 1) Zionism is idolatry. 2) Everyone in Eretz Yisroel stumbles in Zionism. I told them buying into paranoia about Israel's enemies and exaggerating about the threats is a form of Zionism. This is not to say that there are no threats, but last time I checked Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Qatar assisted Israel in its conflict with Iran. Last time I checked, Israel has not engaged in a real war in half a century. That means war against an opposing army. We learned recently that Hezbollah doesn't even have much of an army. How many times have you heard that they have enough missiles to level every inch of Eretz Yisrael. Well, Israel has been bombing them for a year, killing thousands, eliminating villages, and Hezbollah doesn't seem able to do much about it. So this line that "Israel is surrounded by enemies that seek to annihilate it," is not fact based. It's become a kind of mythology. 

One bochur said that the army must remain in Gaza because we have to eliminate Hamas. I told them that you don't have to eliminate Hamas. All you have to do is watch the fence. And you will never eliminate Hamas because it will regrow. Not that they have an army with tanks, planes, air defense systems or anything like that. There's no point in endangering the soldiers by having them stomp around Gaza. 444 young men have been killed and more than 10,000 maimed. Such madness. Eradicating Hamas has become the sole focus in life of Israelis and Zionists. And everyone seems most willing to risk the lives of other people in pursuit of this unachievable aim. 

I showed them the data from Benny Morris about how the Hagganah's forces outnumbered that of the combined Arab armies in the war of '48. The Arabs sent token forces. Egypt sent 5,500. It doesn't matter if their population was 20 million. (And no it was not 90 million. Today it's 90 million.) There was no real attempt at genocide. And again in '67 the Israelis had a far stronger military. I showed them the Satmar Rav's strongly worded statement that there was no miracle in any of the wars and that it's Zionist propaganda to claim that there was.

Not a word I said was heard or accepted. The only change in their minds was that they started to look at me as if I were a nut. And these are so-called anti-Zionists.

And so, I keep finding myself at funerals and shivas for soldiers. At the one today, the sisters of the niftar were howling with grief. I remember them from when they were little girls. It's painful to see people you knew as children going through this.  I remember the niftar from when he was in cheder. And now he's gone. 

Today, a soldier returned from Gaza and killed himself. I know what those kinds of shivas are like too. I was at one for a soldier who killed himself a few months ago. He had just returned from Lebanon and Gaza. You think we should just do whatever to the Arab population. You know what that does to a person to have killed children? These guys lose their minds as you sit in your chair typing out your jingoism on Yeshiva World News.

Zionism was a crazy idea and the country that was founded by force because of it is crazy. It's as if the whole society is in the grip of idol worship and they are sacrificing their sons to a false god.

Does the Brisker Rav have to be right about everything?

I wound up leaving the funeral early and finding my way home. Last night I couldn't sleep. My stomach is churning.