Rabbi Shapiro at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY

On June 11, 2017, a massive protest took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews gathered to protest the Israeli government’s laws relating to the drafting of yeshiva students into their army. In this passionate speech, given in front of thousands of our brethren, Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro outlines some of the reasons why serving in the IDF is incompatible with Judaism and Jewish values. The Israeli army is not a normal army, with the objective of protecting its citizens. Rather, the IDF is an indoctrination camp which seeks to turn the Jew into a Zionist. The Rabbi’s speech ends with constructive advice for the Israeli government: repeal all the draft laws and leave us be, or build more jails because Orthodox Jews will gladly go to jail rather than join the IDF.