Featured Post
Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!
(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...
Dec 31, 2013
Chabadniks new status as civil servants
The Committee for Shivyon B'Netel today decided to approve the suggestion that Chabadniks who serve around the world as shlichim will be considered as if they are doing civil service.
There is already a format by which Israelis performing service around the world on behalf of the State of Israel are considered as if they are doing civil service, and now Chabad is being added to the list as an approved form of service. The criteria for this will be determined by the committee, and any yeshiva student meeting that criteria in his shlichus will receive the new status.
MK Elazar Stern said that the Chabad shlichim do a very important job around the world, voluntarily, and until now have not received recognition from the State of Israel for those efforts. The shliach out there doing his work should know that he is now a representative of the State of Israel. Stern also said that another achievement of this is that they will now have forged a connection between Chabad and the State of Israel, and the shlichus of the Rebbe will also now be seen by them as shlichus for Israel.
Stern had reservations because, even though Chabad has a large and strong presence in Israel and is very connected to Israel, the Rebbe sent boys out on shlichus around the world, but did not encourage going to Israel. Stern sees this as a way of strengthening that aspect of the connection between Chabad and Israel.
We all know the stories of how the Chabad shliach, doing great work in far-flung places around the world, is very often the actual representative of Israel, acting as a de facto embassy, helping people in trouble, and taking care of people in need. This solidifies that representation.
Will all the yeshiva bochurim suddenly run to become Chabadniks? not likely. You dont qualify as a civil servant just by being Chabad, but by being a Chabad shliach meeting set criteria... not everyone wants to live in far-away countries or cities, often with very few Jews, let alone other religious Jews... and the work itself is not easy either. These boys do phenomenal work around the world, and they deserve this new status.
There is already a format by which Israelis performing service around the world on behalf of the State of Israel are considered as if they are doing civil service, and now Chabad is being added to the list as an approved form of service. The criteria for this will be determined by the committee, and any yeshiva student meeting that criteria in his shlichus will receive the new status.
MK Elazar Stern said that the Chabad shlichim do a very important job around the world, voluntarily, and until now have not received recognition from the State of Israel for those efforts. The shliach out there doing his work should know that he is now a representative of the State of Israel. Stern also said that another achievement of this is that they will now have forged a connection between Chabad and the State of Israel, and the shlichus of the Rebbe will also now be seen by them as shlichus for Israel.
Stern had reservations because, even though Chabad has a large and strong presence in Israel and is very connected to Israel, the Rebbe sent boys out on shlichus around the world, but did not encourage going to Israel. Stern sees this as a way of strengthening that aspect of the connection between Chabad and Israel.
We all know the stories of how the Chabad shliach, doing great work in far-flung places around the world, is very often the actual representative of Israel, acting as a de facto embassy, helping people in trouble, and taking care of people in need. This solidifies that representation.
Will all the yeshiva bochurim suddenly run to become Chabadniks? not likely. You dont qualify as a civil servant just by being Chabad, but by being a Chabad shliach meeting set criteria... not everyone wants to live in far-away countries or cities, often with very few Jews, let alone other religious Jews... and the work itself is not easy either. These boys do phenomenal work around the world, and they deserve this new status.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
Chabad,
Civil Service,
shivyon b'netel
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts
They do work very hard. And this legislation recognises that fact. But does anyone seriously think that through this legislation Chabad shlichim will view themselves as emissaries of Israel? They are emissaries of the Chabad Rebbe and nothing else. There is no secondary agenda or alternate motivation.
ReplyDeleteof course they are emissaries only of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but they are serving the state of Israel by caring for Jews wherever they are across the globe.
ReplyDeleteAs emissaries of the state, will Israel now provide funding for some of their activities?
ReplyDeleteif it is considered sherut leumi, i assume they will get the same rights as sherut leumi (in addition to it being in place of their army service).
ReplyDeletesuch as?
Deletesherut leumi girls get a small monthly salary (allowance/spending money) as well as free buses trains, free entrance to museums shows etc. and a "pikadon" (depending how much time "served" to be used for education/college/etc. (all similar (but a bit less?) than soldiers
DeleteAnon, those are the benefits they get in Israel. Being overseas, each organization has its own contract.
DeleteWhat about Hotzoloh workers? Will they credit for their service for IDF? For milu'im?
ReplyDeleteI hope that will eventually be worked out. I dont know what the plans are, or what the criteria will be, but I dont see why they shouldnt be included in the program
DeleteA friend of mine was working on a project where ZAKA would fall under the jurisdiction of the IDF. The only practical difference was there volunteers would get credit for doing their army service. . The big rebbeim said they would discourage working for ZAKA if it became an official state service, so it was dead in the water.
Deletethats true. that has been the policy in general. maybe with the new draft situation that policy will be changed as being the lesser of two evils (from their perspective)
DeleteIt's nice the small things people think up during brainstorming sessions. Making Chabad workers official Israeli emissaries is very problematic and suddenly assumes that all permanent shluchim and other temp shluchim will get Israeli status, not by Israel, but by the foreign countries. Many of these Chabad 'workers' are not even Israeli. Have they thought this through properly? Will Israel no require Chabad Houses get extra security as per Malmab and other security service requirements?
ReplyDelete