MK Tzvi Succot: ‘Charedim Shouldn’t Apologize for Torah Study’

Amidst the recent debates over Israel’s new draft laws, MK Tzvi Succot from the Religious Zionist Party shared his perspective with Channel 12 News, emphasizing that the charedi community shouldn’t apologize for state funding for Torah study in a Jewish nation.

Succot advocated for the establishment of a military framework conducive to the charedi population, where fathers can confidently send their sons to the IDF without apprehension about their spiritual well-being.

“We need to remember that this is something that has not been solved for seventy years. The Chazon Ish and [David] Ben Gurion didn’t manage it, and we will not solve this problem in a day either. Nevertheless, specifically during wartime, we have the chance to start fixing this, and I think that Minister Smotrich is very much in the right in this regard. There are many in the charedi community who want to enlist, and if we can create a dialogue of trust and communication, this could bring many of them to realize that desire…

“We are facing a culture that for seventy years has lived in a certain way, and to tell them that they can change in a single day is exceptionally arrogant. Our mission is to make the change in Israeli society because what was true seventy years ago is no longer.”

Dismissing coercion as counterproductive, Succot warned against punitive measures that could exacerbate social tensions and foster anti-state sentiments. He advocated for the development of supportive structures to address the underlying social challenges. “We will only fill the prisons and create an anti-state. There is a social problem here that we need to solve, and the way to do so is through creating suitable infrastructures.”

On the correlation between Torah study and IDF service, Succot affirmed the merit of a Jewish state subsidizing Torah study. ‘’A Jewish State supporting Torah study is a good thing. I know many who study Torah who also enlist in the IDF, and most of them do full service. There is no contradiction between Torah study and military service, and supporting Torah study is not something that we should be apologizing for. We are not going to tell the charedi public to stop learning Torah. I think that the Torah is a supreme value, but we still must undertake this process in the charedi public.”

{Matzav.com Israel}