MK (Yesh Atid) Dr. Ruth Calderon was addressing the Knesset plenum and after finishing her address she stated “I wish to comment on something during the 27 seconds remaining to me, to address the daily chilul Hashem in which persons dressed as talmidei chachamim are here without a sefer in hand hour after hour.”
Meretz MK Michal Rozin:
Why does this bother you?
Calderon:
It drives me crazy and it is an embarrassment to talmidei chachamim and it is bitul Torah. I am calling on you to either bring a sefer with you or return to beis medrash.
Rozin:
Why are you trying to teach them – it is not your business.
Calderon:
I am that kind of a person. I cannot tolerate seeing this bitul Torah. That is how I am.
Rozin:
They must sit here and learn because they are chareidim?
Calderon:
Yes, because they are chareidim and because they are funded by their yeshivos and are supposed to be learning. They are funded with my money and this embarrasses the Torah.
This is a disgrace to the Torah. Let them remove [their chareidi] clothing here.
Micky Rosenthal (Labor):
Your actions are disgraceful.
Rozin:
They are here to listen. What’s the problem?
Calderon:
This is a disgrace for the Torah simple as that. There are tens of them daily.
Zahava Gal-On (Meretz):
Speak about to’eva – that was the only thing Ruth could speak about, that they are sitting here.
This shouting went back and forth with the MKs attacking Calderon, defending the “democratic right of these chareidim to be here”.
Acting Speaker (Shas) Yitzchak Vaknin tried to calm the players, adding to the criticism against Calderon. Vaknin said “certainly she does not have the right to say who can and cannot be here”. He added “the dozens of chareidim” that you speak of today is four of five.
MK Moshe Gafne’s turn came to address the plenum and he began by addressing Calderon’s actions. “I would just like to comment. I heard your comments regarding the chareidim who were here in the stands. I join in for I too do not think they should be here and I will tell you why. I speak to visiting high school students who are treated like royalty. When soldiers arrive I speak before them too and what do I say, the Knesset is everyone’s home and you are all welcome visitors. Everyone should come.”
“To the yeshiva students I say ‘you should not be here. For one thing there is the matter of bitul Torah and secondly, this is not your home. They hate you here.’”
Calderon:
Here you are loved. The issue is bitul Torah.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
The next law passed should be that minors cannot become members of knesset
A big Yishar Koach to MK Kalderon. She was 100% correct. I am sure that the Rosh Yeshiva of each and every bochur there would have said the same thing.
Yay!
Put the chareidim in the army,give them seforim in their hands,not guns!
This greeat tsidkonis of yesh atid could push for the IDF kolel-everyone will be happy!
Such a shame that the secular MKs did not stand at Har Sinia-apparently-we could have had the knesset kolel,with a few women “Dr’s to run the medina.
Calderon is right, We have no idea how much the punishment will be for every moment that a person wastes from Limud Hatorah.
A Fruma Yid must learn at every single moment that he posibly can. If he jokes about it than he is obviously not a true believer.
Now this was an interesting dialogue of back and forth…
If they are getting paid to sit in the Knesset and do Knesset work then they would be gazlonim if they spent their time there learning Torah.
Maybe all the religious MKs should bring sefarim to the Knesset chamber and learn from them whenever the debate gets boring.
agree to her entirely.
how do they know they are israeli? maybe they are tourists
Something is lost in the translation. The English version is totally incomprehensible.
ashrai ayin roasah zot. she always carries a sefer or academic text. at leasat one chareidi chever kenesset ought behave similarly. good observation