After a period of instructing talmidim not to report to IDF induction centers, the Vishnitzer Rebbe Shlita is now changing his psak in light of a new agreement reached with the IDF.
As a result of the tenacious efforts of Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and MK Moshe Gafne, IDF Chief of Personnel Branch Major-General Orna Barvibai has agreed to permit chareidi inductees to have a medical exam conducted by their family physician. The move may not sound dramatic, but for the chareidi tzibur it represents an unprecedented step by the military to accommodate chareidim, permitting them to avoid the problematic issues of an induction center. One issue that had askanim and rabbonim concerned is the fact that military physicians checking inductees may be a male or female and they feel this was an unacceptable breach in tznius standards.
In line with the new written guidelines, Brigadier-General Gadi Agmon instructs induction center officials that the new policy applies to all chareidi inductees, and if the latter wishes, he may have a physical in an induction center but it must be carried out by a male physician only.
YWN-ISRAEL has learned that the military is moving ahead with its plan to induct chareidim following the abolition of the Tal Law and talmidim and avreichim alike should be aware that military police are indeed tracking down inductees who ignore orders to report to an induction center for pre-military processing. A growing number of people are being incarcerated as a result of their decision to ignore a draft notice.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
Maybe cooler heads will prevail.
Armies don’t want disloyal soldiers who don’t obey orders, and throwing people in jail over religious beliefs is extremely bad public relations – especially for a country that relies on supporters who support Israel for religious reasons. They easily accomodate those who are willing to serve (and obey orders), and limit sanctions for the rest to not funding them (i.e. treating them like Israeli Arabs who don’t serve in the army – but no worse).
or maybe, Palestinian War Bonds might not be such a bad investment after all — the only way the Israelis will lose is if they manage to defeat themselves – and they are giving it their best effort
Hopefully this will not backfire for the IDF as I am sure there will be private doctors selling letters to stop people from having to be enlisted.