The Roshei Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hevron (located in the Givat Mordechai neighborhood of Jerusalem) recently decided to increase the severity of punishment given out to students who study for and receive a driver’s license. The Roshei Yeshiva held a meeting among themselves with regards to the topic after they discovered that two of the better students in the Yeshiva had acquired a driver’s license.
Following the meeting, Rosh Yeshiva Hagaon HaRav David Cohen decided to expel the students from the Yeshiva. The students received the message on Wednesday. They packed up and left the very same day.
In previous years, Chevron Yeshiva was considered to be one of the more lenient Chareidi Yeshivos with regards to students obtaining driving licenses and other bureaucratic issues regarding the state of Israel. However, in recent years, under the leadership of Rabbi David Cohen, the Yeshiva has taken a far more stringent stance on such matters.
Three years ago, the Yeshiva mandated that all students sign a form stating that they are aware that they are prohibited from obtaining a driver’s license as long as they are a student of the Yeshiva.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
I know that less people in Israel have cars than those in America, but is it true that avreichim can’t drive, or is it just buchrim?
What’s the point of this article? You want everyone to give an opinion about it being a normal rule or not? Not sure why its a news item.
@Ruthie:
Yeshiva World News is not for Yeshiva people and it’s not world newsworthy either.
Why in the world is this news ???????
……. And the point of the article?
And why the heck would this be news?,a lot of yeshivas have this rule,especially the chasidic ones’
in my opinion these rules are idiotic and serve no purpose at all,but every yeshiva has the right to post rules it feels is right for their schools
The rule has nothing to do with the State of Israel. It’s there as a method of keeping the boys in bais medrash and not spending time running around. Many decades ago, in Mir Yeshiva New York the bochurim were prohibited from owning cars for the same reason.
Birdson: Just bachrim. It is a pretty common rule in most Israeli yeshiva gedola, even relatively lenient or “open” yeshivos. This has been a rule in Chevron for some time. they even asked bachrim to sign on it. Makes sense to go to a yeshiva where you are committing to toeing their line, whatever that is.
Only bachurim are not allowed to have licences as Rav Shach had made this rule years ago. He felt that bachurima can be wreckless, take chances in a country where the drivers and not so safe on the whole, and that they shoudl bee busy with better things than 28 lessons of driving (that is manditory to obtain a license) while they are still learning.
Wait a moment. What exactly is the yeshiva’s reason for this policy? Between the article and readers’ comments, I see at least 3 possible reasons: (1) bittul zman, (2) unsafe roads, and (3) dealing with the Israeli government. Does anyone know if the yeshiva itself has explained the policy?
The issue is not really news hear in the US, however, YWN shares lots of news with Israeli news chanels.
There are multiple reasons why yeshivha guys (single) are prohibited from getting their license in Israel. However the actual concept and psak was instructed by Rav Shach Zatzal. The gedolim felt that since driving is not as needed and, as mentioned, the process takes a long time, and the cost ranges from $1,200 – $2,000!!!. This has caused bachurim to go into debt and take shady jobs to pay for it.
I can go on and on as to the reasons it is not allowed in Israel (and why it should be allowed as well), but understand or not, if the gedolim in the previous genaration (and now) felt it was a problem who are we to agree or disagree.