Haredi MK's blast Bennett's plan for yeshivas

Several Haredi MK's have blasted Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett's plan to limit the number of yeshiva student exemptions from the draft to 1,800 annually.

MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Yaakov Litzman stated “He is violating the traditional and legal status of the bnei yeshivos who have declared Torah study as their profession”. Litzman added that despite efforts to set quotas and limit the number of talmidim who may continue learning, “The Torah world of the yeshivos will continue flourishing quantitatively and qualitatively and there is no power that will succeed to harm those who are committed to a life of Torah.”

MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Meir Porush added “Anyone with a hand or a role in the new arrangement that intends to harm bnei yeshivos and the current arrangement, the arrangement that existed to date will be remembered for eternal disgrace.”

“The eternal Jewish People have stood firm throughout history in the face of many trials and tribulations. There is no doubt that we will succeed in the face of these gezeiros as well,” he concluded.

Shas MK Nissim Ze’ev called Bennett’s plan “utter nonsense”, confident it will not be implemented as Bennett plans. Ze’ev feels it is impossible to limit of number of lomdei Torah to 1,800 annually, questioning how such a regulation will be enforced. “There is no way the Torah world and roshei yeshiva will agree to permit implementation of the program. The idea of a quota system is undemocratic and reminiscent of regimes of the past. There is a historical relevance to these decisions.”

Indeed, the problems with this system are entirely foreseeable. Which yeshivas will have the right to designate how many of their students? What criteria will be used? Based on past experience in this country, it is likely that many of the slots will go to students in non-Haredi yeshivas, that the slots will be handed out based on protectzia (connections), and possibly that the Haredi yeshivas will all be told by someone on the level of R. Aaron Leib Steinman or R. Chaimn Kanievsky not to participate.

But what's worst of all is that this system is not the answer to the country's problems except for those who seek to destroy the yeshivas. Reader Aryeh Z, whose sent me the link to this article, had some very pertinent comments about it, which I am reproducing below.

Twenty-five or is it already thirty years after the IDF professionals requested that the draft be ended and that it be made into a professional army, we still have the draft. Let it be clear, there is no military need for a draft. The draft exists as a means of political and social control. It wastes Billions of Shekels and tens of thousands of people every year.

There is constant bantering about how the Hareidi community needs to change due to changing circumstances. Nothing is said about the need for the Secular elites changing due to changing circumstances. And that is the real problem. Israel’s elites have yet to abandon their dream of creating a Communist utopia in Israel. A utopia populated with a docile and obedient proletariat that will work their fields and factories. For the most part, they do not have any theological or philosophical problems with Torah. It is just that it gets in the way of their plans. That is why they are willing to throw a bone or two to the Torah community in the hope it will help keep them docile.

So let us focus on the real issues. It is not the draft, it is not the Hareidim, it is not the economy, it is tyranny. It is on the desire of the few thousand “aristocrats” desperate to maintain their privileges and high standard of living. This is not all that different from what is happening in Syria, Egypt, Iran and North Korea. We are fortunate that, so far, our “aristocrats” have not resorted to mass murder to retain power.

Indeed.