Among the shuls where readers can find the international HaMizrachi magazine of the Religious Zionism movement is the Young Israel of West Hempstead, whose members are closely following Israel’s war against Hamas. Last Sunday, one of the voices in this movement, Rabbi Moshe Taragin, spoke at the shul to introduce the documentary Serving on All Fronts, on the participation of Yeshivat Har Etzion and Migdal Oz students in this war.
“He has a vast vocabulary, his warmth, sincerity, and generosity,” said Rabbi Joshua Goller, the Rav of YIWH. “It’s about his leadership. He and his rebbetzin are parents of eight. He’s a rock to the many chayalim serving from the yeshivah.”
Rabbi Taragin was raised in New York and studied at the Gush, as Yeshivat Har Etzion is popularly known. After completing his education at CUNY and Yeshiva University, he taught at the latter and at Columbia University, while serving as Assistant Rabbi at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue. He made aliyah to Gush Etzion, where he teaches at the Stella K. Abraham Beit Midrash for Women of Yeshivat Har Etzion.
“I come with a broken heart. There’s a bridge of tears linking our communities. More important than the tiers are the tears that piece our hearts.” He shared a story of a talmid asking the rosh yeshivah at the Gush on what it takes to be the “best boy.” He spoke of an incident in 1996 in which two military helicopters collided with each other in northern Israel.
“How did you respond to 72 soldiers dying? T’hilim. We watched 72 l’vayos in 48 hours. We cried. We shut the TV off. Is the ability to cry when your people suffer, is that a good boy?” Such incidents do not cross the minds of most Americans, but in Israel where everyone is seemingly connected, they are part of the nation’s psyche. “Stretch your religious imagination and ideas in Israel,” he said.
Rabbi Taragin then spoke of the importance in recognizing suffering and at the same time defending the land as a matter of honor.
“Don’t let religious ideology come before human sympathy. Who can imagine the manifold layers of suffering? I call this a war of tiers. An attack upon the Jewish people in their land on Simchas Torah is a chilul Hashem. Shabbos and Simchas Torah being weaponized against our people. Beyond the attack on the Jewish people there are bigger ideas at stake.”
In a time of war, unity is a top priority. On the streets of Israel, protests have grown in many forms: chareidim opposing the military draft, calls for Netanyahu to resign, and pressure to secure a hostage release, while rockets continue to fall on the country. There was one particular word that Rabbi Taragin noted that should be excised from public discourse.
“Any Jew who applies the word Nazi to another Jew is torn from heaven. Your vocabulary has to change. Fundamentalism is changing the face of Hashem in this world. Those fundamentalist Islamic enemies of ours are atheists. See through their facade.”
He then compared Hamas’ glorification of martyrs killed while engaging in terrorism, and the hundreds of Israelis killed on October 7 and in the following months.
“We don’t glorify death, we glorify life. We die for Hashem, my people, my family. We don’t want to die. P’sukim that describe death al kiddush Hashem speak of life. Our chayalim write letters of life. ‘Let Zeidy have some beer at the shiv’ah.’ We do not have a death wish.”
The documentary then began, sharing raw videos from Gaza in which Gush students and alumni shared their physical and spiritual struggles, along with the widows, orphans, and bereaved parents who spoke of their beloved family members killed in combat.
The roshei yeshivah at the Gush, Rav Mosheh Lichtenstein, Rav Yaakov Medan, and Rav Baruch Gigi, shlita, shared unique memories of their fallen students and the difficulties in burying them. Two such examples were Yakir Hexter of Jerusalem and Dovid Schwartz of Elazar, who learned at the Gush b’chavrusa, following in the example set by their fathers.
“Their sons profoundly identified with our yeshivah and relished the opportunity to continue their family legacy by studying in their fathers’ beis midrash,” Rabbi Taragin said at their funeral in January. “A part of our yeshivah has been torn away, and there is a gaping hole. As their rabbi, I mourn, holding back tears and clearing lumps in my throat.”
The video showed a photo of the two men across the table from each other, with their own gemaras.
“Tragically, my hopes and dreams for Dovid and Yakir have now been cut short. All that remains is a gaping hole of potential unfulfilled. In place of a future, there is only sadness.” As they were united in learning and defending their homeland, they were buried together.
Rabbi Lichtenstein quoted the teaching that soldiers should focus exclusively on their tasks, but instead urged them to maintain connections with their families. The video showed a minyan of soldiers in Gaza davening with special prayers on a baby girl’s naming, and a pidyon ha’ben.
Rabbi Medan welcomed home his son Elisha, who arrived in a wheelchair after losing his legs in combat. Despite this significant physical change, he smiled at seeing his family, thankful to have survived.
Rabbi Taragin noted that the October 7 attack inspired many secular Jews to think deeply about Judaism. “Non-Orthodox whose religious identity was tikkun olam. They’re recalibrating their Jewish identity. Anti-Semitism will end when history will end.” Concerning progressives who rally in support of Hamas, he described it as a worldview that is black and white. “Culture is broken and somehow these broken cultural narratives are dragged into this war. Why is LGBTQ protesting Israel? It’s very Marxist. It’s a dark way to view the world.”
In a Jerusalem Post opinion piece published last week, Rabbi Taragin remarked on the resilience and determination of his students. “Amazingly, 64 overseas students in my yeshivah have chosen to return for a second year, many of whom are planning to draft into the IDF, to protect our nation.”
He spoke of these students, many of them coming from American communities, as the “new tzadikim.”
By Sergey Kadinsky
