Rabbi Meir Porush of the Agudath Israel faction of the haredi United
Torah Judaism (UTJ) political party has said that haredim who choose to
work or serve in the army aren’t his concern – or UTJ’s.
Rabbi Meir Porush
Haredi Political Party Says It Isn’t Here To Serve Haredim Who Work Or Serve In The Military
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
According to a brief report in Yeshiva World, Rabbi Meir Porush of the Agudath Israel faction of the haredi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) political party has said that haredim who choose to work or serve in the army aren’t his concern – or UTJ’s.
Speaking to the Israeli edition of Mishpacha Magazine, Porush reportedly responded to a question about haredi yeshiva students who voluntarily choose to stop full time study in favor of entering Israeli society by working or serving in the IDF.
Porush reportedly said that those haredim who have voluntarily stopped full time yeshiva study to work or serve in the army are not his responsibility or UTJ's . UTJ, Porush emphasized, is focused on addressing the truly urgent problems facing the haredi community – especially the looming draft of thousands of haredi yeshiva students into the military.
In other words, Porush wrote off the the smaller number of haredi yeshiva students who have chosen to serve their country (or, at least, get a job) in favor of the vast haredi majority which, based on orders from their rabbis, refuses to serve in the IDF and which heavily relies on welfare and other state subsidies to survive as a result.