Addressing the Knesset today, Tu B’Shevat 5772, the 63rd birthday of the Israeli parliament, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin addressed efforts to compel chareidim to serve in the IDF.
Rivlin, a member of the Likud old guard, one with deeply planted Yerushalmi roots, told fellow lawmakers that efforts to cancel the Tal Law and compel chareidim to serve in the IDF will simply not succeed. “Anyone who believes the matter of chareidi military service can be solved by forcing a solution is simply throwing sand in the public’s eye. In a democratic society, the State of Israel, seeking to compel an entire sector will result in thousands of chareidim sitting in prison, not with thousands running for the hills”.
Rivlin was critical of the chareidi tzibur as well. “Anyone who believes that an entire sector of society is categorically exempt from pulling its share of the economic, security and social burden or a sector that believes it is entitled to additional privileges is also throwing sand in the public’s eye.
“The hot potato called the Tal Law if the umbilical cord attached to reaching a solution between the state’s majority and minority. We are not speaking about the chareidim alone, but any minority, also the Arab sector. Therefore, I say again, elections or fireworks will not solve the problem. The solution will be found by legislating appropriate legislation, together, by writing a constitution to address basic rights and responsibilities. This is the cure for our bleeding wounds.
“I believe that addressing the Tal Law is our constitutional challenge. Is we succeed in reaching compromise, an understanding regarding military service and national service in the chareidi sector, this will serve as testimony to our desire and that a divided Israeli society can agree on something.
“This will be a sign that Israeli society is willing to bravely take a look at the most painful questions pertaining to our identity and fate, and address these issues. This heralds that we are ready to write chapters of our constitution. With the writing of these chapters we declare those matters that we agree to agree on and those matters that we agree to disagree on”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
Many segments of society lacks the BRAVERY that Rivlin is appealing to. Too bad.
The chilonim in the government are really in a quandry.
On the one hand, they want to remove army deferments for chareidim to make them serve in the IDF. (Of course I hear no mention of the NON-frum who find ways to NOT serve in the IDF, and THEIR numbers of “draft-dodgers” -as we called them in the Vietnam War era- are far higher than the chareidi “draft dodgers”.)
But… On the other hand, they don’t like having frum soldiers in the IDF because it creates conflict with many of the non-frum ways they like to conduct things.
B’kitzur, – the government can’t seem to decide what it really wants.
Bottom Line… The Torani/Chareidi Le’umi population is GROWING, is already on the way to taking over the IDF, WILL be taking over the country in general, and the hard-core chiloni-leftists are scared out of their minds.
The Knesset Speaker spoke about “Anyone who believes that an entire sector of society is categorically exempt from pulling its share etc.”. I am waiting to hear an MK declare that those who engage in Torah learning are doing their full share of society’s burden that no one else is providing. Torah learning is certainly increasing our merits for protection and prosperity more than any other activity anyone else is doing. Torah learning should be recognized as national service, not as an exemption from doing our share. It should be recognized as a supreme national service with honors and gratitude.
As a charedi, I enjoy the position he takes; I feel its realistic and the next step is for both sides to sit down and work things out. This will take respect on both sides and it will be many months before they will succeed in breaking through the in-baked issues-within-issues that exist. But co-existence is the right thing.
Y GLAZIER, YOU SAID IT BEST!! YASHER KOIYACH.
#4 You are on target and the majority of Torah Yidden feel the same.
lets be honest. they know what they want and that is to take charedim into the army and proceed to secularize them. if they showed such intolerance to arabs they would be in big trouble but when they attack the jewish religion it is accepted
Y. Glazier, first let me see you convince your shver that he should support your learning(speaking figuratively, since i don’t know you). Then, we can talk about convincing a population, many who are secular for generations, to pay for the Chereidim to sit and learn.