Two letters written in the 1980s by prominent Torah leaders Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman and Rabbi Elazar Menachem Shach clarify the original ideological position of haredi leadership regarding military draft deferments for yeshiva students.
Both rabbis emphasized that deferments are granted solely to those who are fully dedicated to Torah study and engaged in no other activity.
In a letter dated 2 Elul 5743 (1983), Rabbi Shteinman explicitly wrote:
"I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I will not issue a student certificate for deferment of military service except for one who does not engage in anything else other than his studies in the yeshiva and for whom Torah is his sole occupation. With great respect, Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman."
Another letter, written by Rabbi Shach in 1980, includes similar, and even stricter, language.
"It is self-evident and needs no proof that the right granted to a yeshiva student to defer his military service is solely on condition that Torah is his sole occupation, and that he engages in no material pursuits, whether during or outside yeshiva hours," he wrote.
Rabbi Shach further issued a clear call for yeshiva heads to act with utmost responsibility on this matter, writing,
"We hereby issue a great call to the heads of yeshivas and request that they be extremely careful, lest a mishap G-d forbid occur through them, and that only students for whom Torah is their sole occupation, as described above, be approved by them for military deferment - only they, and not those unworthy of this crown."
1 comment:
A reminder that the Chareidi public doesn't follow what The Gedolim(tm) say. They follow what they think The Gedolim should've said.
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