Hundreds of roshei yeshiva shlita gathered at the urgent kenos in Bnei Brak on Monday night the eve of 14 Teves 5774, along with the Moetzas Gedolei Yisrael of Degel Hatorah, to discuss the imminent passing of a new chareidi draft law. The kenos was headed by HaGaon HaRav Aaron Yehuda Leib Shteinman Shlita.
The main topic of discussion was to determine the level of cooperation of the chareidi tzibur in light of government sanctions against the same community for non-compliance with the draft law. The Shaked Committee, which is responsible for finalizing the law, is now trying to determine if the penalty for non-compliance will be penal, financial or possible components of both.
In the best of scenarios, avreichim may lose significant aid in the form of tax, rent and other discounts, as well as monthly stipends, all part of the package that permits them to live a modest lifestyle while devoting themselves to limud Torah.
The gadol hador did not mince words, telling the rabbonim “without Torah there is no nation. Without limud Torah and continued study there is no nation! They want to wipe out Klall Yisrael. We must seek to prevent this and fight against it so that this plan is not implemented.”
HaGaon HaRav Piltz, Rosh Yeshivas Yifrach spoke out against the gezeiros well, followed by a number of other prominent rabbonim and roshei yeshiva.
CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO ESSAY AT THE KENOS
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
1. They are already arresting people for draft refusal and putting them in prison – done by the IDF, with no civilian trial (Israel allows civilians to be tried by military courts, with due process derived from Kafka more than anything Anglo-American law would recognize).
2. Anti-zionist yeshivos don’t accept government subsidies. But if you want to take government money, be prepared to do their bidding. One should add that if one supports killing goyim, you should be prepared to do it yourself. This isn’t a problem for supporters of the Eidah hareidis since they don’t think that it is a mitsva to conquer the goyim (at this time), meaning from their perspective the war is illegal, and therefore they probably are conscientious objectors as usually defined – very much unlike those yeshivos and talmidim who are hawks (or as we say in American, “chicken hawks”, who are pro-war but don’t to get fight themselves).
3. The only meaningful financial sanctions, especially for the anti-zionist yeshivos, would be to seize money raised in America which would be a serious problem under international law. Treating hareidim worse than they treat Palestinian terrorists would not go well either within Israel or elsewhere.
Please keep in kind that we are dealing with the reality today, not in 1880. Nobody wants Uganda and today’s Zionists are very, very different from yesterdays.
Without the Zionists, yeshivos would be facing the butchers of Chevron in its day. The Zionist medinah is the biggest funder of Torah learning in the world.
The unfortunate reality is that after decades of seperation, secular Israelis don’t understand why they are financially supporting a population devoted to ideals they do not understand. Not serving in the army just adds to this confusion.
Regardless of the short term answer, the long term solution must be kiruv and ahavas yisrael. Today’s news is a result of decades of poor relations. And we are to blame.