Religious historian and researcher Moshe Nahmani responded on Facebook to Israel's Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who said yeshiva students are the reason for the IDF's success.
Nahmani pointed out that nothing in the Tanakh supports the idea that the Torah study ensures protection or that yeshiva students are as important as soldiers. "During the Holocaust, millions of Jews perished not because they did not study Torah enough, but because we did not have a state or an army. The 1929 Hebron massacre and the October 7 attack happened because of military and political issues, not a lack of Torah learners. In recent history, there have never been as many Torah scholars as today."
Moshe Nahmani emphasized that the Torah is sacred and dear to the Jewish people and that a limited number of talented yeshiva students may be exempt from military service. "However, no religious sources demand to exempt the entire ultra-Orthodox sector from serving in the army or consider all ultra-Orthodox as the tribe of Levi, which was exclusively involved in temple service," the historian wrote. In his opinion, the study of the Torah and the observance of commandments have acquired mystical characteristics in the diaspora, turning them into a kind of amulet.
"Now that we have returned to our land, it is time to get rid of this concept," Nahmani concludes. "The Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox, and religious-Zionist sectors must rethink the importance of Torah study both on an individual and group levels. Yeshivas are important not from a mystical point of view, not as a means of protection, but as centuries-old institutions for studying and developing Jewish tradition. There is no need for tens of thousands of young men to study the Torah for 5-10 years. Throughout the entire history of the Jewish people, such a phenomenon did not exist, and for good reason." The historian suggests reducing the number of yeshiva students and improving the quality of education through in-depth study of the Tanakh, Jewish philosophy, and religious law
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