Religious Jewish leaders asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to support an expedited legislative process on a bill, titled "Basic Law: Torah Study," that would safeguard Torah study as a fundamental core value in Israel. The group included 25 religious Zionist rabbis who sent Netanyahu a letter on Tuesday.
Ultra-Orthodox factions are apparently unsure whether to submit the bill along with their votes for the state budget. The bill, initiated and formulated to help pass legislation on a new conscription bill as quickly as possible, comes in response to a 2017 High Court of Justice ruling that struck down the existing conscription law. The court gave the Knesset until this coming September to replace the law, triggering a race to ratify an amendment to the law before the deadline.
By defining Torah study as a fundamental state value in a basic law – which has special constitutional status – the ultra-Orthodox factions hope the new conscription bill will pass scrutiny by the High Court.
In the letter sent to Netanyahu, the religious Zionist rabbis say, "The proposed law is important to the State of Israel and you will have the great honor of having it ratified during your watch."
The rabbis who signed the letter include Rabbi Haim Drukman, the head of the Center for Bnei Akiva Yeshivot and Ohr Etzion Yeshiva; Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel; Hebron and Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior; Kiryat Shmona Chief Rabbi Zephaniah Drori; Petach Tikva Chief Rabbi Micha Halevi, and others.
In the letter, the rabbis asked that the bill not exempt yeshiva students from mandatory military service but only postpone such service, which the letter called a "mitzvah," a Jewish religious obligation. This is contrary to the ultra-Orthodox demand that yeshiva students be fully exempt from conscription. According to the letter's signatories, they "have no doubt that fortifying the standing of Israel's Torah and its study as a Basic Law will contribute much to the State of Israel, deepen our national awareness of the Torah and serve as another important pillar that will make us greater and hasten our redemption."
