The military court dealing with the haredi woman who was AWOL by never having filled out her paperwork to get her exemption from the army has sentenced her to 50 days in jail.

In addition, there was a notice in the news two days ago about 4 yeshiva boys who were arrested, also for being AWOL. They too never bothered to fill out the forms to get their deferments for learning in the army. Now there are reports in the haredia news websites about military police going to homes in Bnei Braq and searching for boys to arrest, presumably because they too never bothered to take care of their paperwork.

People don't seem to understand that the deferments are not automatic. the exemptions are not automatic. the army does not think to itself that just because someone is haredi he or she automatically will get a deferment or exemption. Each person who wants one, must fill out the appropriate requests and actually qualify for whatever reason. As a matter of fact, after the news broke of some yeshiva boys having been arrested for being AWOL after not having filled out the paperwork, the askanim who deal with these things sharply criticized the yeshiva boys who take these things lightly and dont bother following instructions.

The boys are AWOL. The askanim need to deal with it. they need to be punished. And the community needs to get its act together and stop thinking that just because someone wears a white shirt and black hat the exemption is automatic. Take care of your responsibilities, and things will almost always work out the way they are meant to. Ignore them, and learn that nothing works on cruise control.

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