Drafting Yeshiva Bachurim - in Chu"l!

3 Adar Bet 5774

This may be the biggest news of the day yet...

Talmidei Yeshivos in the Ukraine being Drafted!

As the fighting in the Ukraine continues, Chabad talmidei yeshiva are receiving draft notices for the Ukrainian army. According to the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine and Chabad shaliach Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman, the situation is very serious.

Azman tells the Israeli media that “we are on the brink of war” and that the situation is most serious, hoping to see miracles in the month of Adar. He confirms that talmidei yeshiva are receiving notices calling them to serve in the Ukrainian army.

This is the army which is now under the control of Neo-Nazis, Hashem yerachem!

Washington's Role in the Ukrainian Coup & How it May Spin Out of Control

...Flash forward to 2014 and we had a new president, Victor Yanukovich who made the controversial decision to refuse E.U. membership for Ukraine in favor of closer ties with Russia. This sparked a massive backlash. Some of this backlash came from a contingent that wanted to join the E.U., but anger over the alliance with Russia was a much bigger factor. This anti-Russian sentiment played directly into the hands of Ukrainian Neo-Nazi groups such as Svoboda who capitalized on the backlash to strengthen their position and rise to power in the fray.

The Svoboda party which traces its roots to the Ukrainian partisan army of World War II, was loosely allied with Nazi Germany. Until 2004, Svoboda had been called the Social-Nationalist Party, which critics said was a deliberate reference to the National Socialism of the Nazis.

At this point even mainstream outlets like the New York Times are having to admit that Svoboda activists played an integral role in the barricading of Independence Square and the occupation of government buildings. In many cases their aggressive posture has enabled them to edge out the other factions and take the credit entirely.

The U.S. has known for some time that Svoboda was a key player. In the first week of February Victoria Nuland met with Oleh Tyahnybok the leader of Svoboda, and in the leaked phone call she specifically mentions Tyahnybok (you might want to listen to that audio again if you missed it).

And Nuland isn't the only high ranking U.S. official that met with Svoboda leaders. In December Senator John McCain (a CFR member) met with Tyahnybok.

So clearly the U.S. government knew who they were dealing with.

To put this in perspective a bit the leader of Svoboda, Oleh Tyahnybok, once called Ukrainian-born American film actress Mila Kunis a "dirty Jewess." and another top Svoboda member, Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn, a deputy in parliament, often quotes Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, as well as other Third Reich luminaries like Ernst Rohm and Gregor Strasser. These are real Neo-Nazis, and they have a real chance to rise to power in the chaos.

Russia has been repeatedly asserting that this is the case, calling the crisis in Ukraine a "brownshirt revolution" but the mainstream media has by and large avoided reporting on this angle....

Concluding the YWN article...

...According to Maariv, talmidim from the beis medrash of the Chabad Brodsky Shul are being inducted along with talmidim from Yeshivas Orach Chaim in Kiev, with the latter affiliated with Karlin-Stolin under the leadership of Ukraine Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich.

Rav Bleich is quoted saying “they only had to report to the induction center to register but at present, no one is being drafted”. According to members of the community, if there is a war they will be mobilized and they will have no alternative to serving in the army. Some of the talmidim are thinking of traveling to Russia to avoid being drafted Maariv reports, but they are aware the airport may shut down too.

Talmid Meir Povlovsky is quoted by Maariv explaining that if he is called up he is heading to Israel, explaining it is not possible to be religious in the army, which does not offer kosher food, nor may one observe halacha, one must be clean shaven and Shabbos is a day dedicated to cleaning.

Povlovsky explains it is “just like prior to WWII for those talmidim who are drafted will head to Israel but the question is when the gates will shut and it will be too late. Most of the Jews wait till the last moment to decide. At times, one must simply get up and make aliyah to Israel” he concludes.