Israel Matzav

Hesder army service extended from 16 to 24 months

As part of the 'equalizing the burden' drive that is attempting to draft Haredi yeshiva students, the hesder yeshivoth, which combine Torah study with army service, will see their total army service lengthened from 16 months to 24 months.

Under the Hesder program, youths study Torah in a yeshiva and serve in the army over a five-year period. The army service is generally split into two parts, with students learning Torah in yeshiva before and during their service.

As part of the “reevaluation” in Israeli society – or perhaps more correctly, among Israeli politicians and media figures – in which secular politicians are demanding that hareidi yeshiva students serve in the IDF, Hesder programs have not gone unscathed, and there have been demands that Hesder students serve more time in the army.

Previously, Yaalon and top IDF brass had resisted those calls, but leaders in the religious Zionist movement said Sunday that Yaalon's decision to change the rules and require new students to serve for 24 months was apparently a case of his capitulating to media pressure. “We didn't think Yaalon would so easily be swayed by the PR campaign against the religious public,” the leaders said. “We hope Yaalon will reconsider, taking into account the contribution of the Hesder institutions,” they added.

That's a bit of a surprise - they had previously talked about lengthening army service in hesder by a month or two, but not by eight months, which is 50%.

Labels: Haredim, hesder, IDF, Moshe Yaalon

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:17 PM