Every yeshiva bachur knows the story by heart. A shepherd boy, still smelling of sheep, spends his nights composing Tehillim and his days guarding the flock with sling and staff. Torah and Tehillim are his entire world. Then he hears the giant cursing Hashem and His army. The soldiers tremble. The king offers armor. David refuses the sword, refuses the helmet. He runs toward the enemy with five smooth stones, a sling, and the name of Hashem on his lips. That is the David we call מגן דוד every day. The same hands that wrote “Hashem is my shepherd, I shall not lack” became the hands that cut off the head of the blasphemer. Torah was David’s profession and passion, yet when the nation needed him he did not say “My learning protects.” He ran forward.
Today the need is just as urgent. After two years of multi-front war the IDF is short thousands of soldiers. The army needs another 12,000 fighters and support personnel simply to rotate units and keep the country safe. Reserves are exhausted. Many soldiers have not seen their families in over fourteen months. Approximately 80,000 haredi men of draft age remain outside the system even though the legal exemptions ended more than a year ago. The threats from Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran have not gone away; they have grown.
We have tens of thousands of bnei Torah whose learning truly sustains the world. Their passion is real. Their yiras Shamayim is real. Their love for every Tosafot is real. That same fire can be redirected.
The same hands that tremble when they turn a page of Gemara can grip an M4 and stand on the front line. That is the greatest fulfillment of milchemet mitzvah and pikuach nefesh for a young, healthy ben-Torah. If full combat feels too heavy, the IDF has created hundreds of tailored tracks (Hesder, Nahal Haredi, Shachar, logistics, intelligence, and vital support roles). Even our precious brothers with physical and mental challenges serve with glowing pride in special-needs units. They pack meals, sort equipment, and contribute in ways perfectly suited to them, and the entire nation embraces them with love and gratitude.
If they proudly wear the uniform and serve Hashem through their effort, how much more joyfully can a healthy ben-Torah who masters Shas every day step forward and answer the call, whether on the front line or in support. Every moment in uniform is avodat Hashem of the highest order.
If front-line combat feels too frightening (and fear is human), the IDF has created hundreds of support roles designed especially for bnei Torah: intelligence sorting, logistics, search-and-rescue support, even cleaning bases with the kavana that every act is kiddush Hashem. There is no task “too low” when it protects the nation that learns Torah.
Blocking roads and shouting at soldiers who carry the burden alone is not the path of David. It is the path of the soldiers who stood frozen before Goliath.
To every bachur and avreich: the Ribbono shel Olam does not need another roadblock. He needs young men who will take the same love they have for Tehillim and turn it into the courage of David running toward the enemy with Hashem’s name on their lips. Sign up tomorrow. Choose the role that fits your strength. Wear the uniform with the same pride you wear your tallit katan. You will be learning the deepest Torah every single day because guarding the people of the Book is the protection of the Book itself.
And let us remember one more model. When twenty-four thousand fell in a plague of immorality and the leaders wept helplessly, Phinehas ben Elazar, a Torah giant among Torah giants, rose and took the spear. With one act of pure kana’ut he stopped the plague and earned the brit kehunat olam. Sometimes the greatest atonement comes not only from the beit midrash but from the one who steps out of it at the moment of national crisis.
May we all merit to serve Hashem with the heart of David and the courage of Phinehas, so that soon the same hands that served the nation in its need will carry the vessels of the Beith HaMikdash, speedily in our days.
#HarediDraft #DavidHaMelech #TorahAndArmy #KiddushHashem #IDFService
