New Gov’t To Grant 48,000 Yeshiva Student Draft Exemptions

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bochurimAnalysis of data for deferring military service by age which the State Prosecutor filed with the High Court of Justice last summer by Hiddush for Religious Freedom and Equality found that 48,000 yeshiva students will receive a full exemption from military service under the sharing the burden structure that will be applied by the new government.

Hiddush found that 26,000 of the 48,000 yeshiva students will receive an immediate exemption from the draft, and 22,000 students will receive an exemption over the next four years. Hiddush said that, for the sake of comparison, each year’s intake of 18-year old Jewish men is 46,000.

Hiddush found that since the coalition agreement states that the duty of military service will only come into effect in four years, the current situation in which non-binding service targets will persist. The paragraph in the coalition agreement on the exemption of yeshiva students states, “From August 1, 2013, and for a four-year transitional period, yeshiva students who have not been drafted and students aged 22 who have not received an exemption from military service will be presented the options for service. The students who opt not to be drafted will receive an immediate exemption from service.”

Hiddush says that this paragraph was a compromise made by Yesh Atid. The party’s original proposal offered a full exemption from the draft for five years to all yeshiva students from the age of 18. The party’s platform stated, “In the first stage, yeshiva students in Israel will be allowed not to be drafted into the IDF from the age of 18 and they can go to work immediately.”

According to Hiddush, this sweeping exemption for yeshiva students over the age of 22 appears to contradict another paragraph in the coalition agreement, which the NPO says lays out very ambitious IDF draft targets for charedi (ultra-orthodox) men, such as 3,600 inductees in 2016. Many charedi inductees are over 22, but after receiving the exemption it is doubtful if they will have an interest in serving. It is also highly doubtful if, under these conditions, the IDF will be able to meet the draft targets or even come close to them.

Hiddush director Rabbi Uri Regev said, “The number of mass exemptions only highlights the questions raised in the coalition agreements. The logic in granting the exemptions now is not clear, but the duty of service will only apply in the next term in four years. At this stage, the agreements increase discrimination between Jews, rather than reducing it.” He added, “It’s an illusion to think that incentives alone will bring yeshiva students to the draft boards en masse, and that it will be possible to meet the draft targets.”

Rabbi Regev called on Yesh Atid to reconsider the coalition agreements, saying, “The duty to serve should apply immediately, on the basis of the IDF and national service’s capabilities.”

Source: GLOBES ISRAEL

{Matzav.com Israel}


7 COMMENTS

  1. Ultimately, it is beautiful that these young students get to study. Of course, their service in the IDF would have been a positive learning value for understanding G-ds place in society in a sense they may never have fathomed; but still all in all, their innocence will be protected.

  2. #2:
    #1 is referring to the fact that the residents of Tel Aviv and in particular the affluent North Tel Aviv neighborhood have unusual success in draft-dodging, and of those who do enlist, the lowest percentage of combat/intelligence soldiers and the highest percentage of “jobnikim” (i.e. clerks and such).

  3. Thanks Mr I mean Reform Rabbi Regev. Now start recruiting the secular people, and if you survive without being killed I think you will be able to bench gomel. Oh I forgot Mr I mean Rabbi Regev you don’t believe in the same God as we do, so you wont be benching gomel.

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