Addressing what will soon be new IDF draft realities for chareidim, the head of Badatz Yoreh Deah HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Machpud Shlita feels that Shas MK Ariel Atias will have less koach to address this than the Ashkenazi chareidi MKs.
According to a Maariv report, chareidi Sephardi rabbonim and roshei yeshiva fear enforcement of the new law will be focused primarily on Sephardim; talmidim and yeshivos along with residents as the Ashkenazi talmidim and yeshivos will have more power fighting on their behalf.
Rav Machpud is quoted by Maariv saying “The Sephardim will be used to fill induction quotas because they do not have anyone to fight on their behalf”. The rav points out that chareidi MKs on the Shaked Committee include Moshe Gafne and Meir Porush for the Ashkenazim while Atias represents the Sephardim, referring to the latter as “a mezuzah who won’t have koach against the others”.
The rav points out Yahadut Hatorah MKs have already announced if there are criminal sanctions “They will burn the streets down” but they are willing to live with economic sanctions. This leads the rav to fear the induction quotas for chareidim will be met by pulling Sephardi talmidim from their yeshivos.
Maariv adds that a “chareidi source” who was involved in the Shaked Committee and earlier efforts such as the Plesner Committee admits the roshei yeshivos of the high end Ashkenazi yeshivos are quite calm for they realize their talmidim will not be pulled into the military.
The report explains the new law will address an annual draft quota, and negotiations will not take place with each individual yeshiva but the state will seek to fill the quota.
HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen Shlita, a member of the Shas Moetzas Gedolei Yisrael shares Rabbi Machpud’s concerns regarding Sephardi talmidim being used to fill the induction quotas since they will be easier prey than their Ashkenazi counterparts.
Kikar Shabbos quotes a source in the Sephardi yeshiva world saying “The chareidi MKs toiled to save the talmidim from the Chevron, Ponevezh, and Mir Yeshivos, but sold out the Sephardi Torah world for the most part along with graduates of Sephardi education systems.”
In a kenos of Yemenite rabbonim addressing the new draft law, Rabbi Aaron Hadash of the Shaked Committee is quoted “What do the Ashkenazi chareidim fear? We seek to fill the induction seats with baalei teshuvah and Sephardim from the distant communities.”
Maariv quotes a Yahadut Hatorah official saying “We will fight for each and every talmid and it does not matter if he is Ashkenazi or Sephardi or what area in the country he is from.
Maariv reports no response was received from MK Atias.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Assuming that this is what is being planned, I find it hard to believe that HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Machpud Shlita actually said such a thing. Or if he said it, that it was for public distribution. If the only source for this statement is Maariv, then I do not believe it at all.
This segregating secs is sickening!
Enough division!!!!
Why can’t the rabbonim put their skin color aside and fight as one.
It is so disheartening, to see MK from shad or YH spilling their garbage onto the streets instead of working together, one goal, LHashem ulTorahso
The non-zionist Sefardim have been less vocal, and more importantly, the leading Sefardi gedolim have always been involved with zionist political parties (such as Shas which has always be in the Kenesset and seeks to fully participate in the life of the medinah). To effectively oppose conscription, one must be able with a straight face to say you would rather be a Second class citizen under Muslim rule than under a Zionist regime that conscripts yeshiva students.