Deputy Minister of Religious Services (Bayit Yehudi) Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan told Kol Berama Radio on Tuesday morning 19 Sivan 5773 that the coalition agreements state there will be no personal sanctions against bnei yeshivos failing to comply with new draft regulations. Ben-Dahan explains that the coalition agreements signed speak of sanctions against mosdos, not the individual talmid/avreich.
Ben-Dahan told radio host Mordechai Lavi that he does not believe that the final law will include sanctions against individuals, adding he does not have an explanation for efforts to include sanctions in the draft law.
Ben-Dahan quotes party leader Naftali Bennett as saying this was the Bayit Yehudi position before the coalition was assembled and the dati leumi party will stand firm on this point.
The deputy minister explains that even if one ignores the draft law, and yes, such a person is a law-breaker, he is still learning Torah and he and his colleagues will not be party to a law that states limud Torah is a criminal offense. Ben-Dahan insists the party is unified on this point and while he cannot explain the actions of Yesh Atid and others, he knows in Bayit Yehudi there is no dispute on the matter of holding individuals responsible under the law for failing to comply with a new draft law.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
So maybe Bayit Yehudi hasn’t been taken over by lemmings.
what are ‘lemmings’?
Rabbi Dahan is an honorable individual, whose word is trusted by many.
#2
Dahan indeed usually is.However he is a ‘useful idiot’
A lemming is a small rodent that has an (undeservd) reputation for engaging in mass suicidal behavior. For Bayit Yehudi to go to war against the Hareidim is suicidal since even if it doesn’t split the more religious elements off from the rest of the Dati Leumi camp, it guarantees that the Hareidim will seek alliances with the left wing (as in “save us from conscription, and feel free to dismantle the settlements”) or in a worst case scenario, with the Arabs (“save us from the zionists wanting to throw us in prisons, and we’ll support a one-state solution replacing the State of Israel with a Palestine based on the pre-1918 boundaries).
Not being a lemming, means they have backed down from trying to force a confrontation, that would be the certain result of throwing yeshiva students and rabbanim in prison.
Concerning post #3, will the YWN moderators kindly use more discretion as to the posts that are permitted here. I think a disclaimer and apology are in line.