Yair Sharkey in an article about ultra-Orthodox mobilizing/News 12
There are few people in the Israeli media who understand the ultra-Orthodox world better than News 12 reporter Yair Sharki.
One look at the rounded Bibarite cap would be enough for him to distinguish between a Satmar Hasid and a Gurnik.
A look at the color of the socks above the fartal Shaykh will make it clear to him that the Haredi in front of him avoids the Hasidic stream, while a crease on the head of an Ashkenazi Haredi will make it clear to him that he is Lithuanian.
However, it is not his knowledge of ultra-Orthodox fashion that makes him such an effective journalist in covering the sector, but rather his deep understanding of the ultra-Orthodox psyche.
He understands what motivates them, what scares them and above all what distinguishes them from other believing Jews.
Sharkey decided to put all his knowledge of the ultra-Orthodox world to shame last night, when he went to survey the ultra-Orthodox recruitment cycle of November 2023. The goal was to check if there was a change in the motivation of the ultra-Orthodox to enlist, without coercion, after October 7th.
In the article it was possible to see that 30-35 soldiers were recruited for the ultra-Orthodox company, but in fact you didn't have to be an expert on ultra-Orthodox affairs to identify that among the recruits there were only two distinctly ultra-Orthodox.
One of them even enlisted before October 7.
Everything Else?
Religious or traditional Zionists.
Children who got stronger for the recruitment, and some who don't even meet this criterion.
The truth is, it is not clear if this paltry amount of "Orthodox" in the most talked about recruitment cycle of the last 50 years justifies a separate framework at all, but one thing is certain: it certainly did not justify an article.
"Identify as ultra-Orthodox".
From Yair Sharkey's article in News 12/screenshot, Keshet 12
In fact, the absolute majority of the recruits in the article could have enlisted in any other framework of the IDF. It is certainly worth noting the percentage of recruits among the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox. It is also interesting to examine the difference in the ratio of the few ultra-Orthodox who enlisted since October 7th. A very interesting kind of ultra-Orthodox, the kind who don't know about the mitzvahs written in the Torah.
Some of the participants in the article admitted that the reason they did not want to enlist in the first place was not related to religious matters, but rather to go to work.
This is an important issue in itself.
18-year-old children, some of them from low socio-economic strata, who try to evade military service for a very human reason: to help support the family.
On paper, the IDF has ways to encourage them to enlist, but they are extremely limited and adapted to the reality of 50 years ago. In any case, any connection between them and the institutionalized evasion of the ultra-Orthodox sector, which even during war continues to receive support from the weakest government in the country's history, is purely coincidental
. By the way, it should be noted that those who are responsible for normalizing the situation whereby ultra-Orthodox youths do not enlist in the army are not the ultra-Orthodox, but the secular politicians. For decades, there was mutual exploitation between the ultra-Orthodox and secular parties that gave rise to this distorted situation, which over the years became more cynical and more blatant. This is strange at all To talk about sectarian politics while our enemy across the fence is interested in murdering Jews whether they are ultra-orthodox or atheists, but naturally in a time of war so difficult, when every morning we wake up to more names of soldiers who fell defending the state, it is difficult to accept the fact that there is an entire sector in the Jewish public that 90% of him does not enlist.
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The poster boy for "Together we will win".
Haim Treitel from the article/screenshot, Keshet 12
This is why Sharkey's choice to go out and investigate the ultra-Orthodox phenomenon in the IDF is so important. What a shame that all he did was write a flattering article about Haim Treitel, an ultra-Orthodox soldier, who became a viral network phenomenon even before the article. Treitel is the example that it is possible to be a combat soldier , and also to be an observant ultra-orthodox. It's good that during another Torah storm over ultra-orthodox recruitment we will also get to know excellent guys like Treitel, who could be the poster boy for the slogan "Together we will win".
As it were, Treitel is exactly the reason why they established this framework, which includes designated times for prayers, Torah lessons and of course: complete separation from women, mercifully. But unlike Tritel, the other "Orthodox" in the article were not really Orthodox. Sharkey decided to give them an outing by asking them to take off their helmets and examine the caps on their heads.
In fact, the only thing that makes the soldiers In the article for the ultra-Orthodox, it is that they "identify as ultra-orthodox". To a certain extent, this is a playful clash between the progressive world that recognizes transsexuals as women for everything, and the ultra-conservative world of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. In reality, by the way, it doesn't work like that. Shreki streamed with the smoke screen created in the conversation Around the concept of "Orthodox", as if it is about some abstract and individual perception of reality, and not a very clear world, with very clear laws.
Sharkey knows who is Haredi and who is not.
He knows that the absolute majority of his interviewees in the article were not ultra-Orthodox, but he chose to flow.
In doing so, he sinned not only against the true ultra-Orthodox, who are facing a major crisis - but mainly against the viewers of News 12. Another victory for Progress, and in a place where we least expected to find it.
More on the same topic:
News 12
Yair Sharky
TV review
Haredim recruitment