On Wednesday, August 1, 2012, as a result of the High Court of Justice ruling, there will be no more Tal Law. With the failure of the government to legislate a new law by the July 31, 2012 deadline, the chareidi tzibur no longer enjoys a legal draft deferment and as such, the IDF simply has to decide how many chareidi inductees it wishes to draft and send out draft notices.
Realizing the seriousness of the current situation and the political backlash that may follow, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin at the end of the winter session announced he will call as special summer session to address a new Tal Law if such a bill is presented.
The Defense Ministry seems prepared to send draft notices to 1,500 chareidim by the end of 2012 in addition to 1,200 entering national service.
Speaking to Israel Radio on Monday afternoon, when asked to address the new reality Defense Minister Ehud Barak stated “I imagine that I will turn to defense ministry officials to probe the matter and advise me as how to act”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
5 Responses
They “could” close down most non-zionist yeshivos, but the IDF hasn’t gotten this far by being suicidal. Especially in the middle east, there is “darwinian” (natural selection) process that weeds out governments led by fools, and so far, the Israelis have survived reasonably well.
“…With the failure of the government to legislate a new law by the July 31, 2012 deadline, the chareidi zibur no longer enjoys a legal draft deferment…”
So what. This will simply put us back to 1948, when the Medina was founded, and Ben-Gurion said he will not be the one to stop “Yavneh, VeChachomeah” from continuing to learn Torah.
The Brisker Rav always used to bemoan the fact that there was no official exemption, and that any minister could close all the yeshivos at any time and take all the bochurim to the IDF.
Yet, the yeshivos continued to function, BeChasdei Hashem, and they will continue to function, Law or no Law!
Akuperma…to what shred of evidence can you point to support the notion that “they” want to shut down yeshivos?
I mean, to all too many here anyone who differs with the right-wing agenda in a material way is made out to be an anti-semitic rasha with nefarious schemes to destroy the chareidishe velt. It’s exhaustingly stupid.
That many of the hilonim want to close down yeshivos – they say so in their own press. They are very open that they feel that “we” are their “misfortune.”
That the army wants to – I said they don’t. No matter how much the hiloni elite hate the yeshivos, they know it would lead to the destruction of the zionist state, and they aren’t suicidal.
We shall see… I suspect that the Defense Minister, through the Manpower Unit, has the discretion to issue criteria in the screening process of prospective recruits. He can pass along guidelines that anyone who objects to military service on religious grounds, as being inconsistent with his lifestyle, can be simply non-selected. The protest movement will file suit again, and the Defense Ministry will respond that it’s in the national interest to address the matter on the legislative level, because the Defense Ministry cannot handle large numbers of conscripts with an ideologically hostile attitude towards the military, and/or a lifestyle and weltanschaung that is steeply at odds with the military culture. We need to recognize that outside of the ideological and cultural battle, there are very definitive issues at play here. A military will not take on the burden of inculcating a large population of recruits who are belligerent and malcontent with the military. Similarly, a millitary could not and would not forcibly conscript a massive element of pacifists or conscientious objectors just to stick it to them. It’s counterproductive and draining on morale and resources. Just shev v’al ta’aseh. I suspect things will play out this way