23 Members of Knesset from the Labor, The Movement, Yesh Atid, and Kadima parties favor extending the length of military service for Hesder Yeshiva students. At present they serve 17 months but the MKs want to extend it to 24 months. The bill will be presented to the Ministerial Law Committee next week.
The bill, which is being met with harsh opposition from the Bayit Yehudi party, is sponsored by MKs Amir Bar-Lev (Labor), Elazar Stern (The Movement), and Ofir Shelach (Yesh Atid).
At present, hesder talmidim sign on to the program for 60 months. Their first year is spend in limud Torah followed by 17 months of military service. They then return to beis medrash to complete the 60 months. The elected officials supporting the bill feel that the hesder arrangement is contrary to efforts behind ‘sharing the military burden’ since regular soldiers serve 36 months.
According to MK Bar-Lev, there are currently 1,000 hesder talmidim who benefit from the program outlined above.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Lo bashamiyim he. There is already a 6 year Hesder program (known as ‘Sheshsder’) in which the talmidim serve for 24 months.
Zerochance of happening
Just the start of goodcop/bad cop election politics
Seems reasonable to give them a break equivalent to a third of the time others serve in the actual military. It values their commitment to learning by cutting their time spent in the army but makes the point that the military burden needs to be shared more evenly by all. Why is there harsh opposition from the Zionist Bayit Yehudi party?
Can one of our DL commentators explain to me why ‘sharing the military burden’, I.E. “FULLY sharing the burden” (at least in the eyes of the Chiloni) is not a legitimate taaneh? If I would be Chiloni I’d be saying, “To H*** with their Yeshiva Chesder program! My kid doesn’t get to reduce his 36 months service to 17 in order to go to University! Why the favoritism to Yeshiva study that doesn’t help the economy one iota!!!” PLEASE EXPLAIN!?
and stern doesnt rule out moving to bayit yehudi
is this saying something