Shaked: “Draft Bill Will Help Torah World Flourish”

Chareidi army enlistment will be good for chareidi society and for the yeshiva system, MK Ayelet Shaked of Bayit Yehudi declared today.  

Those who oppose the bill either do not understand it, or are actively holding the chareidi community back, she accused.

Shaked addressed the Knesset as debate began over a bill on chareidi army recruitment that was created by the Equal Burden of Service Committee, under her leadership. The bill is up for debate this week as part of a marathon voting session on multiple controversial bills.

She began by praising the chareidi community for its role in rebuilding the yeshiva system, and Torah scholarship, following the Holocaust. However, she said, today’s reality is different from that of the post-Holocaust years.

“The [chareidi] community is a larger part of the population, and, correspondingly, so is the group of those who were not built for life-long Torah study,” she said. However, she continued, they lack other options, saying “many chareidi men do not learn [Torah], and also have no profession.”

The bill will allow the “Torah world” – yeshivas and their students – to continue at full strength, while putting those who are better suited for employment on a productive path, she said.

“Whoever says otherwise either is unfamiliar with the details of the law, or is trying to paint a false picture because they don’t really want to protect the Torah world and move the chareidi community forward,” she charged.

During her speech to Knesset, Shaked took hareidi MKs to task for their harsh criticism of her. Turning to Shas MK Aryeh Deri, she said, “You called me a traitor. You declared that ‘Ayelet Shaked has betrayed the Torah world.’

“In what Torah world, in the name of what Jewish value did you slander me personally like that? You have some chutzpah. I demand that you apologize,” she announced.

Read more at Arutz Sheva.

{Matzav.com Israel}