The meeting on Tuesday between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and rabbonim of the hesder yeshiva system was described as “very positive” by HaRav Chaim Druckman Shlita, a senior representative of the dati leumi rabbinate and the hesder program. Rav Druckman’s words were echoed by the hesder organization spokesman, Rabbi David Stav, who is also a hesder rosh yeshiva, in Petach Tikvah.

Rav Druckman explained to Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) on Wednesday morning that Barak was quite receptive, seeking to listen and understand. He added the defense minister is aware that targeting a single yeshiva and ousting it from the system will have ramifications, not necessarily in the direction he would prefer, adding that is why Mr. Barak has summoned Rabbi Eliezer Melamed of the Har Bracha Hesder Yeshiva to meet with him in private for a clarification discussion.

“We had Gush Katif, Amona, and now the building freeze. If we oust a yeshiva from hesder, we add that and the dati leumi community simply feels ‘up against the wall’” stated Rabbi Druckman.

The rav stressed a number of significant points, that in the three ‘incidents’ in which soldiers expressed their refusal to remove Jews from homes in Israel, most of the soldiers involved were not from hesder and not necessarily shomer shabbos. He emphasized that he and most of the roshei yeshiva of hesder oppose protests in the military, stating there is place for such actions in the IDF.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)