The daily Yisrael Hayom quotes one of the rabbonim involved in Nachal Chareidi labeling the new Peri Committee law to draft chareidim a major mistake. According to the rav, who wished to be quoted anonymously, “One who learns Torah should not be drafted. Doing so will only destroy him. The Nachal Chareidi unit was not established for bnei Torah who are learning in yeshivos. There should not be a ceiling setting a maximum number of those studying Torah. Whoever wishes to learn should be permitted to do so. There is no problem monitoring this.”
The rav adds “Am Yisrael believes the Torah saves the nation and this is for certain. Any and all efforts to compel the induction of bnei yeshivos will result in damage. It may result in a situation that those who are not learning may also refuse to serve. This is a declaration of war. No one will report. We can only progress by dialogue. One who learns should not serve. One who does not learn should only serve in Nachal Chareidi or a similar program.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
Still don’t understand why is it only charedim who have to share the burden “equally”? Are charedim the only citizens in Israel? Why are there no santions for chilonim who dodge the draft? And for Arabs? Are they not equal citizens who get government benefits just like charedim? This racist “law” sounds just like the Nazis Judenrein.
When push comes to shove (and all relgious zionists have a strong incentive to prevent it from going that far), the IDF will be forced to disarm any hareidi units since they won’t be able to count on their loyalty. When confronted with having to chose between zionism and Ha-Shem, they will probably choose Ha-Shem – and in any event, the army won’t be able to rely on them choose zionism over Torah. It probably won’t get so far that anyone will have to choose, but the point when arrests of yeshiva students begin is when they’ll be forced to choose sides.
#1:
All non-charedi jews who don’t report (and sort out their status) currently already go to military prison, the law just makes an end to the exception for charedim.
Just boycotting Osem, Tenuva or other big companies headed by chilonim, for 1 month will stop the racism against charedim.
#3 There is no EITHER – OR.
Toras Hashem speaks of the Jewish people as a NATION living in Eretz Yisroel. Toras Hashem envisions the days of Mosiach by Yosef, who utilizes hishtadlut to build a sovereign Eretz Yisroel.
Keeper of the Keys: That is incorrect. Secular draft dodgers from Tel Aviv are not imprisoned.
#1. What you said is perfectly fine, except for the last line, which not only makes absoltely no sense, using those term speaking about Jews is disgusting and makes it meaningless.
Chachom please show a proof for your claim.
If someone dodges the draft in an illegal fashion they go to prison, if they dodge it in a legal fashion they don’t.
The above statement applies equally to all Jews, one dodging mechanism was recently declared unlawful, and government has not re-instituted it in some other form.
#3 & #6.
The law is that anyone who refuses to serve is imprisoned. The reality is that anyone who is determined not to serve can find a legal way out of it. It may cost money and present potential problems in the future (like not being eligible for certain government jobs) but it can be done. The main method used is to get some sort of medical exemption either physical or mental.
The upshot is that those who do serve are “passive volunteers” and they form such a wide slice of Israeli society that most Israelis make the mistake of viewing them as the whole of society.
The argument for forcible conscription of Haradim is fundamentally irrational and based on emotion, so it’s hard to argue back against it rationally. One example; party leader Lapid can’t possible explain to Finance Minister Lapid how the government is going to pay for drafting Haradim.
#8 and others: A draft DODGER is someone who avoids military service by doing something sneak and clever (or typically, “clever by half”). Israel has lots of draft dodgers. Someone frum, today, who stays registered in yeshiva while working to support his family, is a draft dodger. Other countries put them in the same class as tax cheats (not entitled to refugee status, but probably not extradictable).
However what Israel will soon face are draft RESISTORS. This is someone who walks up to them and tells them I’m not going to be in your army because ….. To many, these are traitors. They are a political threat. They are generally considered to be highly principled. International human rights laws protect them, especially if religiously motivated. Israel has seen only a small handful, generally on the far left. It is rare that a country has mass draft resistance and it always has serious political ramifications. While Israel has tolerated a few dozen communists or Neturei karta draft resistors, the prospects of perhaps 5000+ per year will raise very serious issues. Sneaky draft dodging is a nuisance for the government; open massive draft resistance is a serious challenge to a government.
#7- Better get used to such stuff on here. Some people post the most vile things I have ever read. This on a yeshiva website yet.