Shavuot: The Debate And The Deeper Value
Har Sinai and Matan Torah stand at the seminal moment of Jewish faith. In a singular moment in history, Hashem spoke directly to three million people. Our faith is not built on the prophecy of a lone mystic, a private dream, or the vision of a single individual. It rests upon a staggering moment in which an entire nation stood in unison and heard the revealed voice of Hashem.
Yet even within this moment of absolute truth, not everyone heard the same broadcast. The Midrashclaims that Hashem delivered the Torah to each person according to his or her strength and capacity to absorb the word of Hashem.
Additionally, the Torah was perceived not merely in different quantities, but in different ways. The divine word is so eternal and transcendent that no human being can ever fully encompass it. Different perspectives within Torah are built into the system itself. This is not a flaw. It is part of the design of Torah.
Machloket is not merely the product of a once-unified tradition deteriorating across generations. The Midrash describes Hashem presenting Moshe with multiple pathways through which a particular item could be viewed as tamei, impure. Moshe was then presented with multiple pathways through which that same item could be viewed as tahor. Halacha demands a single course of action. An item cannot be both impure and pure in practice. Yet each position still reflects part of a broader divine truth which transcends the binary limits of human reasoning. That is precisely why we study every opinion in Shas, and not merely those adopted as normative halachic practice. Disagreement within halacha is part of the system itself.
Just as disagreement is woven into the halachic process, it is also built into the way Torah and mitzvot are applied within a particular historical and cultural context, what we often call hashkafah. Torah and mitzvot are eternal, applying equally in every generation. Hashkafah is the manner in which eternal Torah encounters the changing conditions of history and society. Hashem created people with different temperaments and dispositions, and different hashkafic frameworks may speak more deeply to different individuals.
Over the past two years, perhaps no issue has more sharply divided different communities than the question of Haredi non-involvement in the IDF. The debate always existed, but in times of relative calm it simmered beneath the surface. During the past two and a half years of war, especially amid a severe shortage of manpower, the issue has erupted into a painful and divisive argument. It has moved from theory to lived reality.
Chazal teach that a machloket that is l’shem Shamayim, sincere and rooted in noble values, will endure. Part of their message is that ideological debates do not disappear easily. Arguments driven by petty interests or political maneuvering quickly dissolve once the emptiness beneath them becomes exposed. But debates about Torah study, religious culture, and service in the army touch upon profound values. These are not shallow disagreements, and they will likely take generations to resolve.
Shavuot is not the moment to stake out already voiced positions. There is a lot of pain and strife surrounding this issue. Additionally, most people’s positions are already hardened. My own views can easily be traced to where I live and teach.
Instead, Shavuot is a time to clarify the common and larger Torah values that stand at the center of this debate. The first and foremost of these shared values is the supremacy of Torah study. We must ensure that these common values, shared by all, do not become blurred by the intensity of the argument itself.
Everyone, both those who serve and those who do not, agrees to the larger value of Talmud Torah. It is a supreme value, equated with the entirety of Torah itself. Studying the will of Hashem in order to draw closer to Him is a transcendent experience, difficult to compare to any other human pursuit.
Torah study and Torah commitment are not merely personal religious experiences. They also protect our land and shape our national destiny. Without pointing to any single miracle, it is clear that our presence in the land of Hashem is supernatural. The degree to which we infuse this society with Torah and mitzvah observance shapes our security and our survival.
The current ideological debate is not about the centrality of Torah, but whether commitment to Torah study exempts someone from participating in the defense of our people and land.
Debates about deferring Torah study for other pursuits have occupied great Jewish thinkers throughout the generations: Rebbi Yishmael validated engaging in agriculture even at the cost of reduced Torah study, while Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai envisioned an ideal life fully devoted to Torah, supported by others. These discussions have unfolded throughout the centuries. However, the question of whether Torah study exempts military service, especially when there is no broad consensus about who qualifies for such an exemption, does not clearly surface in our mesorah. Whatever sources exist are fragmentary and inconclusive. Since the debate over military service is not clarified in earlier sources, it remains longstanding.
It is supremely important for those who combine Torah study with army service to reaffirm how central Torah study remains in their lives. History advances on two stages: the hidden metaphysical stage and the visible historical stage. Every page of Torah studied advances our nation and protects our land on that hidden stage. Those who serve believe that Hashem asks us to operate on both stages, strengthening the spiritual foundations of our people while also physically defending our nation.
There is a danger that those who serve and feel deep pain toward those who invoke Torah study as an exemption, may gradually become less attached to Torah study itself. In their forceful defense of integrating Torah study with military service, they may slowly weaken their own emotional connection to the supreme value of Talmud Torah.
On Shavuot we recenter Torah study as our supreme value, even as we divert some of its precious human resources toward protecting our people and defending our land.
Preserving the centrality of Torah also requires intellectual honesty about the achievements of the Charedi world. This divisive moment should not blur the extraordinary accomplishments of the post–World War II Charedi world. After the Holocaust, the Torah world lay in ruins. The destruction swept through the Jewish world, and Torah students and their teachers were not spared. Modern Charedi society viewed itself as carrying the responsibility of rebuilding that shattered world of Torah greatness.
In many ways, the explosion of Torah study over the past decades has been driven by the Charedi world. The broader Torah community has benefited immensely from the intensity, discipline, and publication of Torah knowledge which this culture generated. Regardless of how one views the current Charedi stance, ignoring these accomplishments would be intellectually dishonest and deeply unfair.
This painful moment cannot reshape our core values. Clarifying the difference between the values we share, such as the supremacy of Torah, and the areas in which we genuinely disagree can help ensure the amplification of those common values rather than their erosion through conflict and resentment.
There is another reason why clarifying terms is so important. Ideological struggles can create deep confusion and leave lasting scars. There is concern that this debate can lead to broader religious alienation. Charedim are highly visible representatives of Torah study and religious commitment, and for those who strongly oppose their current stance, frustration with this issue can gradually become frustration with religion itself. This danger is especially acute for younger people still forming their religious identity.
Our messaging must remain clear and unmistakable. This is not a debate about whether we value Torah study or how deeply we cherish it. It is a debate about how Torah study is balanced with what many see as the great mitzvah of protecting our people and defending our land. Clarifying this may help prevent that confusion and possible alienation.
Rabbi Moshe Taragin is a YU-ordained rabbi at Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush), a hesder yeshiva. His latest book, “Reclaiming Redemption, volume II: Faith, Identity, Peoplehood and the Storms of War,” is available at MTaraginBooks.com.
