War or no war, rocket fire or no rocket fire, cease fire or no cease fire, haredim still refuse to serve in Israel’s military. An example of that mass draft-dodging was made clear again today when a hasidic rebbe ordered his followers to ignore IDF draft notices – even if it means going to prison.
Above: file photo
Hasidic Rebbe Tells Yeshiva Students To Ignore IDF Draft Notices
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
War or no war, rocket fire or no rocket fire, cease fire or no cease fire, haredim still refuse to serve in Israel’s military.
An example of that mass draft-dodging was made clear again today when a hasidic rebbe ordered his followers to ignore IDF draft notices – even if it means going to prison.
The Slonim Rebbe issued the order to his yeshiva students through his son-in-law, Rabbi Moshe Brozovsky, Yeshiva World reported.
Brozovsky told the yeshiva students in his father-in-law’s name that no individual student should report to any IDF draft center, even to the special haredi IDF induction center in Tel Hashomer, because some yeshiva students have a weaker composition and may be taken in by IDF propaganda while in an induction center.
If yeshiva students are given permission to report to an IDF induction center, Brozovsky reportedly said, they would be permitted to do so only in a large group and not individually, and would only be allowed to do so in response to the first IDF draft notice received and not in response to subsequent notices draftees receive from the IDF further into the draft process.
The rebbe’s policy closely mirrors that of non-hasidic haredi rebel faction leader Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who has also banned followers from answering IDF draft notices and from reporting to IDF induction centers.
Mainstream non-hasidic haredi leader Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman’s position is that his followers should respond to draft notices, but only to the first draft notice received. Once in an IDF induction center, Steinman ruled that his followers should only give the IDF their basic contact information and should tell IDF officials that they are full-time yeshiva students and will not serve in the IDF under any circumstances. He also ordered them not to fill out any forms or sign any documents given them by the IDF, while in an induction center or outside of one, and should also refuse to answer any subsequent draft notices.