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Dec 11, 2012

Rav Shteinman Opposes Civil Service

It's not just the Yair Lapids and Tzippi Livnis who are against the [temporary] solution of bringing 1300 haredi men into civil service while relieving them from the IDF draft. The haredi rabbonim are also against this solution.

It seems that when they say yeshiva boys who are learning should be exempted from the army but those not learning should be drafted, they dont really mean it. or maybe they mean those young men should actually be drafted and not be given the alternative of civil service.

Rav Shteinman was quoted in the Yated railing against this new plan. He said the goal is to destroy the foundations of our existence, and the yeshiva students should beware of attempts to seduce them by the government.

I would posit that any yeshiva student who goes against the grain and decides to volunteer for the civil service is someone who is already not learning much or is already looking for something else to do instead of learning. For somebody who is serious about learning and wants to continue learning in yeshiva despite the financial hardships, I don't know what the civil service offers that is so attractive that would seduce any such person to leave the yeshiva. It does offer the possibility of clearing up the army service requirement that would then allow them to get an education or vocational training and look for a job, but, as mentioned, the people being spoken to by Rav Shteinman are not the people who will be "seduced" by this option of civil service.

Rav Shteinman was always considered a supporter of the Nahal Haredi option for those yeshiva students who no longer found their places in the beis medrash. One would think civil service (not even national, but civil) would be an even more acceptable solution.



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1 comment:

  1. There are a few ways to spin this.

    1. They are in favour of boys not learning to do National Service because it is impossible for someone in their community no to be learning.

    2. They are against the incentives of the program as it may convince people to go who otherwise not go. Any program should be less attractive than living on a Kollel stipend. That way only the true outcasts in their community will join.

    3. We are in the middle of elections. Say what people want to hear now. We will worry about the truth and details later.

    ReplyDelete

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