Following the report on Tuesday that the IDF is sending orders to thousands of Chareidim on Sunday, the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah of Shas issued instructions to Sephardi bochurim not to respond to draft orders at all.

In recent days, the members of the Moetzet held a number of meetings about the issue. According to a Kikar H’Shabbat report, the Sephardi Rabbanim fear that the IDF will avoid starting up with Chassidish bochurim and send most of the draft notices to Sephardi bochurim who “are easier to draft.”

On Wednesday, the Moetzet issued instructions that as long as no Chareidi draft law regulates the status of bnei yeshivos, bochurim should not respond at all to recruitment orders, not even to the first summons, and shouldn’t report to induction centers.

HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Yosef, who recently ended his term as the Chief Rabbi, said at a kenes in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening that “whoever receives a draft order should tear it up. He’s a soldier in the army of Hashem. He shouldn’t be afraid of them and definitely shouldn’t listen to them. If they take him to jail, his Rosh Yeshiva will come with him.”

“It’s chaval that they don’t understand – the Torah protects us throughout the generations. How did Am Yisrael survive 2,000 years of galut? We survived only due to the Torah. We didn’t have a country or anything else. How did we survive? Through the Torah HaKedoshah. They don’t understand these things.”

At the beginning of his speech, HaRav Yosef said: “Kol Hakavod to the army that they’re doing their hishtadlus. We appreciate what they do but without Torah – what will be? Instead of increasing the budget for yeshivos, they’re sending draft orders.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)