all he wanted to do was learn Torah, and he was arrested

Another yeshiva boy was recently arrested for ignoring his initial draft notice, leading to protests around the country.

For some background - There has been a process in place for the yeshiva boys. It might change, it surely will change, with the new draft law in place, but for now the process has been in place. Yeshiva boys appear before the draft board upon receiving the first notice. They go through the process of interviews, tests, medical exams, etc. At the end of the process, they do not sign the final paper, thus not agreeing to be drafted... and then they are in the system like all the yeshiva boys. Most yeshiva boys do not get arrested, because they follow the agreed-upon system.

The few that have recently been arrested have been arrested because, upon advice from Rav Shmuel Auerbach, have decided to break with that system and ignore the initial draft notice completely.

The father of the young man recently arrested is obviously upset about his son being in jail, and this is what he had to say, as reported by Kikar: The feelings are clear, a person wants to sit and learn Torah, and they arrest him.. 

Even people who sit and learn Torah still have responsibilities in life. One cannot ignore paying the electricity bill and then complain when they shut off the power that he just wanted to sit and learn and they shut off his electricity. A person has to take his kids to school, to the doctor, call the plumber when a pipe bursts, provide for his wife (even if by agreement he doesn't work, but learns, he still has obligations to her, has to keep her happy and must work to make a marriage successful), make babies, pay the electricity bill, pay the water bill, pay the arnona bill, find a school for the kids and pay tuition, etc.

If the city puts a lien on your account because you have not paid your arnona bill, it isnt because you just want to learn torah, it is because you did not fulfill your responsibility. If your electricity gets shut off, the same. if your house floods because a pipe burst and you didnt bother fixing it, it is not because you just wanted to learn torah.

People, even people who learn Torah, have responsibilities in life. Most people in yeshiva and kollel figure out how to fulfill those responsibilities, or at least most of them, and still learn Torah. True, 16 year olds do not have too many responsibilities in life - but the few they have, they have to fulfill. They need to begin to learn responsibility and choices, cause and effect.

I don't blame this kid - he was following his rebbe's advice. If they in that community choose they prefer to be arrested than to respond to the initial draft notice, that is their prerogative. But don't blame it on learning Torah. He wasnt arrested because all he wanted to do was learn Torah. He was arrested because he ignored his initial draft notice. Just like if his electricity had been shut off it would not have been because he was learning Torah.

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