Our readers are all familiar with the fact that due to the recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling, learning in yeshiva will no longer grant bnei yeshiva an exemption from the army, as YWN has reported extensively.
However, there is an important detail for dual citizens to make note of. YWN spoke to Rabbi Nechemia Malinowitz of Eretz HaKodesh, who explained, as he details in the video below, that those who are citizens of a different country and also have Israeli citizenship – making them dual citizens – can still obtain a ben mehagrim status. A ben mehagrim – literally “the son of an Israeli citizen” who now lives abroad – is eligible for an army deferment of between one and four years in order to study in Israel.
As Rabbi Malinowitz explained, the aforementioned Supreme Court ruling does not affect those with a ben mehagrim status.
However, Rabbi Malinowitz points out that you must maintain your ben mehagrim statusyou’re your ben mehagrim status expires, it will be very difficult to transfer to a ben yeshiva status. Therefore, dual citizens are urged to maintain their status as bnei mehagrim.
[Note that in order to receive a draft deferment based on ben mehagrim status, one must be registered as an Israeli citizen and have a mispar zehut (Israeli ID number). Check with the Israeli parent or parents as to whether their teudat zehut has or had a sefach (addendum) with the child’s name and mispar zehut. If the ben mehagrim was never issued a mispar zehut, he will need to obtain one. To do so, the Israeli parent(s) must go down to the nearest Israeli consulate to have the child registered as an Israeli citizen. An appointment should be made in advance. The parent(s) should bring their Israeli identification documents, the child’s original birth certificate with an apostille, and his foreign passport.]
For more information, you can reach out to the Igud at 02-673-1149.
WATCH:
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3 Responses
I would like to maintain my Ben gvir status
Perhaps our community should be encouraging more Bnei Yeshiva to study in America (or elsewhere in golus). Yeshiva students spend a great deal of money, which creates a multiplier impact on the local frum communities, and in fact almost all that money is spent of frum businesses (rental housing in a dorm or apartments, shopping in frum stores, etc.). From an economic perspective, building up Limudei Torah in Golus makes sense.
“Eretz HaKodesh” claims to be the “chareidi” part of the heretical WZO, which every gadol (yes, the Rav Chaim Kanievsky zatza”l alleged heter was of course nonsense) absolutely forbade joining.
It’s nice that this man provides helpful information, but it is a chilul Hashem to even mention that EH organization.