Sep 3, 2020
the perfect storm brewing for the Haredi community
As they say, timing is everything.
If you thought the Haredi community was in a tight situation now with CoronaVirus spreading like wildfire, the Corona Projector (czar) announcing a lockdown on several Haredi cities, and the fighting over Uman and shuls for the High Holidays, it is actually much worse. There is a "perfect storm" converging on the Haredi community right now.
In just 13 days, I think 6 Knesset business days, the extension for the IDF draft law regarding the Haredi community is due to expire with a new law needing to be passed by then. I don't know if they have been working on a plan behind the scenes, quietly, but we definitely have not been hearing about it and there has been no public debate about any facets being proposed. I woudl suspect that from a politicians point of view they likely have the support for a favorable draft for the law, as all member sof the coalition continue to "need" the support of the Haredi parties and seem amenable to giving them pretty much whatever they ask for - but it is still a process and it is coming down to the wire. The plan has to be put together and voted on.
But worse than it coming down to the wire is what the Chief of Staff General Yair Kochavi said this evening. At an awards ceremony in the IDF, Kochavi said the right thing would be for all citizens to serve in the IDF or to at least do the alternative of national service. It is unfathomable that IDF soldiers need to bear the entire burden while so many others are free of any obligation. It is not right that IDF soldiers must endanger their lives while others are cultivating and padding their lives.
Being the head of the army (under the Minister of Defense), that is a pretty strong statement against any law proposal that might let the Haredi yeshiva students completely off the hook with easy ways out. He isn't a politician, but I am not sure a strong statement from someone like Kochavi can be completely ignored. A statement like that now, so close to the deadline for a law proposal, must be troubling for the Haredi politicians...
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Since perhaps the only thing surprising about Kochavi's comment is that he said publicly what almost everyone assumed would have been his opinion, I don't expect the Charedi politicians to be bothered in the least by what he said.
ReplyDeleteI wasnt aware of his opinion on the matter before. I didnt know that he was known for this
DeletePerhaps I wasn't clear and didn't mean to imply that his opinion was known in any specific sense. The assumption by Charedi politicians that that was his (as well as almost any non-Charedi's) opinion is what makes saying it unsurprising.
DeleteWell, there's a common charedi excuse that "the army doesn't want/need us." Apparently not true!
DeleteAren't they more concerned about the dangers of covid/corona? Do they still think they're immune the same way they think that the Beit Medrish will defeat our terror enemies?
ReplyDeleteit is hard to say because many are, but so many are not and the political (and the rabbinic leadership somewhat) leadership are busy fighting to open things up more, like uman and shuls and taking offense when anyone comments on the spread of corona in the haredi cities
DeleteIf everyone was to be truly honest, they know there is a war against the Charedi population (no secret). The secret is if they were to force the chareidim into service, taking away their time of study, then the IDF would lose its power. The power is in first, the study of Torah and then, the army of Israel. Together, H' is with us all the way, but as long as there are those in power waging war against the G-D of Israel and that is exactly what it is, H' will just hide His Face. There must be the love of H' and unity amongst the Jewish people in the Land of Israel!
ReplyDeleteSo the State of Israel has supported, fed, defended, healed, funded, underwritten, and even coddled and given preferential treatment to charedim for over seventy years, and you have the chutzpah to say there's a "war" against them?
DeleteBy the way, you do know other people in Israel apart from twenty-year-old chatedi kids learn, right?