| | Chabad in Uniform
That is, military uniform. Critics of Chabad often point to its history of evading the Russian and Soviet drafts. If you were a religious Jew, would you join such an army? If you were looking forward to intimidation, humilitation, forced beard shaving, and sometimes forced converison, then yes.
In Israel, the stereotype of hasidim as draft-dodgers remains difficult to shake off. With many hasidim openly opposed to Zionism, the stereotype has some truth in it. Chabad stood apart. In the crucial formative years of the Zionist state, some Chabadniks traded their black hats for steel helmets. Their rebbe, Menachem Mendel Shneerson zt''l openly prayed for Israel's victory against the Arab invaders.
When there was no combat, they fought on the spiritual front, laying
tefilin on their less-observant comrades, strengthening the Jewish
identity of the nascent Jewish state.
Source: "Challenge: An Encounter with Lubavitch-Chabad in Israel"(1973)
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| | Posted 10/21/2007 11:44 AM - 52 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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