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“Enabling students from Haredi yeshivas to follow a path that until recently was the domain of state high school students – symbolizes our shared responsibility to remember the Holocaust and build a better future. The Nazis did not distinguish between Haredi, religious, or secular Jews.” These words were spoken by Rabbi Menachem Bombach, founder of the Netzach Educational Network, which educates its students to be active Haredi citizens within Israeli society and focused on both their religious and secular studies.
“The Eternity of Israel will not Falter,” was the slogan of the Netzach Poland tour for Haredi yeshiva students, initiated in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Jerusalem Municipality and Beit Shemesh Municipality, to emphasize the memory and destiny shared by Israel’s Haredi and general populations. The participants visited the Auschwitz Concentration Camp and historical Jewish sites, including ancient synagogues in Warsaw and Krakow. They visited mass graves and monuments commemorating Jewish communities that were destroyed. They visited the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva and held a joint study session there. Rabbi Bombach recalls particularly moving moments during a memorial ceremony for the yeshiva students who perished.
“At Netzach we believe there is no contradiction between being Haredi in the 21st century and playing an integral part in Israeli society, and the journey to Poland we organized emphasized this,” says Rabbi Bombach. “The tour was one of the highlights in developing the identity of the Network’s students. During their years of study, they receive all the tools they need to succeed on any path they choose. Our graduates have demonstrated impressive integration while maintaining their Haredi identity. They make us proud in many ways: one of our graduates received the President’s Excellence Award three years ago. Last year, one of our graduates who serves in an elite Duvdevan unit got married and I had the honor of officiating at his wedding. I witnessed something very moving: there were his Haredi friends and standing alongside them were his brothers in arms. I believe that this event demonstrated the student’s success in preserving his Jewish character and identity alongside meaningful army service and connection with the broader Israeli society.”
In the coming years, we will see positive changes
The Netzach Network has already produced generations of God-fearing Haredi students – Torah scholars who are also change-makers. The Network includes elementary, high school, and post-high school educational institutions for boys and girls, and works to produce graduates with a well-defined sense of self, who maximize their personal and social abilities and do not alienate themselves from non-Haredi sectors of the Israeli population.
“I see courtesy and collaboration between the different parts of Israeli society,” says Rabbi Bombach. “It’s good that Haredi society shows an increasing willingness to act for the benefit of the wider community. We cannot dismiss the struggles, pains and frustrations that exist in Israeli society. The pain is real and comes from an authentic place, but we cannot solve the issue of Haredi enlistment overnight. This is an issue that requires strong leaders who know how to plan for the future and pave the way ahead while providing stability. I believe that, in the coming years, we will see positive changes in terms of Haredi involvement in Israeli society.”
Such changes for the better were visible in the period following October 7th. The Netzach Network undertook to assist in various ways with Israel’s war efforts. Its students adopted a community where many residents had been called up for reserve duty, doing everything possible to help their families and provide what they needed. “We established a “War Room” where students from our various educational institutions volunteered,” the Rabbi relates. “Week after week, they went out to do shopping for those in need, distributed food, and provided assistance and support. The girls from our “Darkei Sara” high school were sent to Eilat to help the evacuated families and give lessons to their children. This was a project for which we won the Ben-Gurion Prize.
“The latest prize was also awarded to one of our schools – Beit Yaakov “Netzach Israel” in Beit Shemesh – for their support activities during the war. We did everything possible to maintain our routine, while at the same time doing whatever we could to assist and support our Israeli neighbors. It was important to me that every student knew that there is a war going on and each of us is a partner in one way or another. We increased our efforts in Torah study, our active mobilization, and gave assistance in whatever ways we could.”
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