Senior figures in the chareidi political leadership visited yeshiva bochurim being held in a military detention facility on Sunday, decrying what they described as the imprisonment of lomdei Torah whose sole offense was their desire to continue learning.
Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of Agudas Yisrael, and Knesset member Meir Porush traveled to a military prison where young chareidi men are being held after refusing to comply with IDF enlistment orders. During the visit, both men spoke emotionally with detainees and criticized the current enforcement policy.
“Our hearts are broken to see a 19-year-old boy, who completed Shas twice and has spent his entire life immersed in Torah, languishing in prison simply because he wished to continue learning in the yeshiva,” Goldknopf said. “It is extremely difficult to accept such a reality, especially under a right-wing government.”
He added that “every ben Torah must be allowed to continue his learning without interruption.”
In a separate statement, Porush said he had met “several young men who are being detained for the ‘crime’ of studying Torah,” calling the situation “heart-rending.” He noted that alongside visiting the prisoners, he has raised the issue in his work on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset. “I shared with them what is taking place,” Porush said. “We daven that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will help us and save us from this tzarah.”
The visit comes amid a growing confrontation between chareidi representatives and the defense establishment over the enforcement of draft orders against yeshivaleit. Chareidi lawmakers have made repeated visits in recent months to bochurim incarcerated for refusing induction into the IDF, framing the detentions as an assault on limud torah.
The effectiveness of the policy has been disputed. Testifying before the Knesset State Control Committee in mid-September, the head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate reportedly played down the impact of enforcement measures on enlistment rates.
However, a different picture was presented last week by Lt. Col. Avigdor Dickstein, who heads the chareidi division within the Personnel Directorate. Speaking to Kan, Dickstein said that the mass issuance of draft notices to chareidim, followed by enforcement steps including imprisonment, has been “unequivocally effective” in increasing enlistment numbers.
Chareidi leaders strongly rejected the claim, insisting that those behind bars are not criminals or draft evaders but talmidei chachamim devoted to Torah study.
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11 Responses
What does it mean “unequivocally effective”? Can he offer any numbers?
to say they are imprisoned for limmud haTorah is a complete lie. they ate imprisoned for various draft law violations.
They’re not letting them study Torah in prison?
Turns out the guy learned the whole shas twice. Community should support draft of those who are not learning and then such things will not happen.
Army does not know who is learning and who is not. Do you expect them to give draftees an exam on Shas. Maybe they should.
Well they’re not permitted to continue learning if they’re being drafted are they dr.goyy. so you could read between the lines and essentially it’s being in prison for their chosen activity whatever you want to call it
DrYidd, The goal of the Zionist state was always and still is to eradicate limmud hatorah (and all kiyum hamitzvos) from Eretz Yisroel
Can we please stop the ridiculous rhetoric? He was arrested for evading the draft. The government supports Torah learning like no one else in the world. If you take a hard line and are not willing to negotiate and you maintain your stance of “I would rather be arrested…” Then yes you will get arrested. Why not negotiate with the government and try to work out a plan so that your kids will not be in a spiritually dangerous situation and still contribute in a physical way to the defense of the country besides the spiritual way.
rebEmes, you are a purveyor of sheker. kish mich.
MosheR53, no entity has spent as much supporting limmud haTorah as the State of Israel. are you innumerate?
Dr.shmad, I don’t feel comfortable respecting someone that trashes all rabbinical figures constantly except the ones that fits his corrupt narrative. A public demeanor of authority is a Rasha and should be in cherem. Therefore no religious matters should be trusted with you
DrYidd, Rocky, et al – These are boys who were learning legally without any problems. The Supreme Court decided one fine day to (again) strike down the legal framework (established through lawful democratic process) defining who is exempt. That automatically made tens of thousands of LEGAL Yeshiva students into “draft dodgers”. Arrests are usually made by picking on those groups perceived as the ‘weakest’ such as Sephardim and boys who live outside the major Chareidi centers (to avoid demonstrations.)
Shimon you don’t understand that that’s exactly what they’re so happy about. Of course it was done under illegal and corrupt pretenses, criminalizing an entire Society within a few months because they didn’t suddenly comply? But that’s what these Wicked people celebrate. And supporting the most corrupt Attorney General on Earth in her Endeavor to starve and destroy the Torah. Some of these commenters are worse than our biggest enemies