Dec 9, 2013
Protests in RBS over arrests of yeshiva bochurim for being AWOL from IDF
this past week has seen the arrest of a couple of yeshiva bochurim who are officially AWOL from the army. While technically all bochurim are AWOL, since the Tal Law was rescinded and no new system has yet been put in place to replace it to allow yeshiva bochurim to continue learning instead of army service, , most bochurim at least have followed the guidance of Rav Shteinman who says bochurim should show up to the army draft board and go through the process, until the last stage of being drafted. These students just arrested followed Rav Shmuel Auerbach's guidance that bochurim should not appear before the draft board at all and should ignore all notices to that effect. Hence, the arrest of a couple of yeshiva bochurim, and we will probably see more...
The arrests sparked protests in various Haredi areas around the country, including RBS... here is some video from local photographer Yaakov Lederman
and some of his images..
(same comment for all the pictures - at least their hats are safe..)
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Can these boys now also be arrested for being AWOL? Or obtaining money by fraudulent means? Didn't they all sign a letter stating that Torah was their sole occupation? Or is protesting also part of Torah now? Those who can't learn, teach. And those who can't teach, protest?
ReplyDeleteAgree with Rabbi Sedley. And let me add that they get ARNONA discounts for being voluntarily poor that WE (i.e. tax-paying citizens of Beit Shemesh) must pay for - it used to be a 80% discount but the haredi mayor raised it to a 90% discount a few years ago. This protest happened at 2 PM on a work-day. So while we are in work paying for THEM, they have time in the middle of the day for this (on our dime) instead of going to work/
ReplyDeleteYou both know that a student in Israeli university is subsidized by over 20 000NIS a year. A student at a private college (non-university) has tuition of 20 000NIS because their subsidy is reduced. Many, if not most classes at Israeli university do not have any attendance requirement. Many courses I did had no work assignments the whole year, no mid-term and only one 100% final exam.
ReplyDeleteIf I played hooky to sit on the grass, or go to work to earn money while you guys were paying for my degree, did anyone care? Does anyone care that many students finish university and are not really prepared for the real world that our tax shekels were supposed to pay for? Did anyone care when we went on strike and didn't learn for several weeks?
No.
So if some Haredi students want to cut class one afternoon or many to protest the government, it seems quite fair. But they also should know that there is a price to that as well.
College is THREE years -- people don't stay in college in Israel for decades like they do in kollel. And college students do NOT get 90% arnona discounts. And there are no cities of 100,000 people where over 25% of the residents (probably more) get 90% arnona discounts for studying in college.
ReplyDeleteIf they have time for this, they have time to go to work. If not, tax-paying citizens should not be forced to subsidize this - I'd rather have lower taxes and spend the money on my kids.
Those demonstrating against these arrests perceive that their whole educational system is under attack by means of the draft and other measures. That could justify taking off some time from learning to protect the institutional framework of learning.
ReplyDeleteRAM -- let them demonstrate in the evening or on Friday -- that's what normal working people do. They are ripping off the taxpayer by taking a stipend to learn and then going out and doing something else. And you didn't address the issue of their rampant 90% arnona discounts for being voluntarily poor -- if they are so poor that others have to pay for their garbage collection, etc. let them GO OUT AND GET A JOB.
ReplyDeleteWhat are they saying as they protest?
ReplyDelete