Quote of the Day

It seems the claims (about sharing the burden) are convincing, for didn't God create everyone in His image, and why should this group serve and be subservient to the army's needs while another groups sits in the beis medrash and learns Torah? Where is the integrity?  It demands of us to understand the reason why the Torah learners are exempt from the draft.
[Chazal say] punishment only comes to the world because of the ignoramuses. It is clear to us that we are living here in danger from the enemies throughout the time we have lived here in Eretz Yisrael - all because of the ignoramuses (amei haaratzos) that the land is filled with. Those who ask why they must be drafted into the army and fight - one should say to them that this punishment, these security dangers, are theirs, because of their not learning the Torah.
Our right to sit quietly and complacently is only because of Torah learning. Without it, God forbid punishment comes to the world. Those ignoramuses have only themselves to complain to, for the punishments, for the dangers and for the need for the army, that they bring on themselves and on us.
  -- the Premishlaner Rebbe