Shas chairman Aryeh Deri pushed back against demands that political leaders urge young Chareidi men to join the IDF, arguing that it is the military’s responsibility to create an acceptable path for enlistment and claiming that the army has little genuine interest in accommodating soldiers who remain committed to the authority of rabbonim.
In an interview with Kol Barama Radio, Deri said the IDF has demonstrated that it is capable of handling extraordinarily complex challenges and should therefore be able to address the enlistment issue without politicians calling on Chareidim to serve.
“I don’t need to call for enlistment,” he told Kol Barama Radio in an interview. “An army that knows how to bomb Iran can deal with this as well. The army doesn’t really want haredim. It’s a major headache for them. They want a secular army, not soldiers who listen to rabbis.”
Deri argued that the current uproar surrounding Chareidi enlistment emerged only after the IDF’s longstanding reliance on a smaller, technologically advanced military came under scrutiny.
According to Deri, the demand for Chareidi enlistment “was a deception all these years, and there was no problem. Now, after the failure of the concept of ‘a small, technological army was exposed,’ a storm has erupted.”
Turning to the question of which Chareidi men should be permitted to remain in yeshiva, Deri rejected the premise that authorities can determine which individuals are sufficiently accomplished in Torah learning to qualify for an exemption. He maintained that the right to devote oneself to Torah cannot be restricted to those deemed exceptionally gifted.
Regarding whether Chareidim should be allowed to remain in yeshiva, he asked, “Who is the Sanhedrin that will decide which young man should study and which should go to the army? Do we know how to determine who is a prodigy and who isn’t? The Torah was given to anyone who wishes to sit and learn it. Our struggle is for anyone who wishes to study Torah to be able to do so.”
Deri acknowledged that a separate question exists regarding young men who are not actually learning, but said that issue cannot properly be addressed until the IDF establishes frameworks approved by leading gedolei Torah and the legal status of those learning Torah is resolved.
“[What about] someone who doesn’t want to learn? As long as the army does not have genuine frameworks approved by the leading Torah sages and the status of Torah scholars has not been regulated, there is a problem.
Deri said only after those fundamental issues are settled and rabbinic leaders determine that appropriate conditions are in place should discussion turn to the status of those who are not learning.
“When the rabbis decide, after the status of those who study Torah has been regulated, then it will be possible to discuss what happens with those who are not studying,” Deri concluded.
{Matzav.com}
