Far-right yeshiva head: My duty is to tell troops to refuse orders
Har Bracha is one of two yeshivas funded by Defense Min. which encourage refusal of settlement evacuation orders.
By Anshel Pfeffer and Chaim Levinson Tags: Israel settlements Israel newsThe head rabbi of a far-right West Bank yeshiva declared Monday after his school was ousted from the Israel Defense Forces hesder program that he encouraged his students to refuse settlement evacuation orders because he had an obligation to "speak his inner truth."
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, whose Har Bracha Yeshiva's status was revoked late Sunday, wrote in an article published on Arutz 7 that he had skipped a critical hearing on the matter with Defense Minister Ehud Barak because he would not give in to "governmental pressure."
"Although I knew by the Defense Minister's rudeness that this could cause the end of the arrangement with Yeshiva Har Bracha," wrote Melamed. "And despite all of the harsh significance that it entailed, I was obligated to stick to my independent principles and not give in."
Yeshivas involved in the hesder program, which combines Torah study with army service, are funded by both the Defense Ministry and the Education Ministry.
In the wake of Barak's decision to revoke Har Bracha's status, hundreds of former hesder soldiers from across the country wrote a letter to IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, threatening to boycott their reserves duty unless the move was rescinded.
Har Bracha is one of two West Bank yeshivas which encourage Israel Defense Forces soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate settlements that last year received more than a million shekels last year from the Defense Ministry as part of the joint hesder program. The rabbi of the Alon Moreh Yeshiva has a similar policy regarding evacuation orders.
Last year, the Defense Ministry gave NIS 24 million to each yeshiva involved in the hesder program.
Har Bracha yeshiva will now lose the NIS 700,000 it receives every year from the Defense Ministry because Barak revoked its status as a hesder yeshiva.
Barak ordered the Israel Defense Forces Sunday night to oust the yeshiva from the hesder arrangement. This is the first time a yeshiva has ever had its hesder status revoked.
The NIS 700,000 the yeshiva will lose accounts for 20 percent of its budget.
Barak's decision stemmed from the fact that the yeshiva's head, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, had repeatedly urged his students to disobey orders to evacuate settlements. The defense minister had sought to meet with Melamed before making a final decision, but Melamed refused to come to his Tel Aviv office.
The ouster will not take effect immediately, in order to give students who wish to remain in the hesder time to transfer to another yeshiva. But sources in the hesder world predicted that very few students would do so - and that additional students would join the yeshiva as a show of support for Melamed.
Last week, Rabbi Haim Druckman, who heads the Or Etzion hesder yeshiva, had tried to broker a compromise under which all 62 hesder yeshivas would issue a joint statement denouncing demonstrations in the Israel Defense Forces. It was a series of such demonstrations, in which some of Melamed's students held up signs denouncing the evacuation of settlements, that prompted Sunday's decision.
Sources involved in Druckman's effort said that Melamed was leaning toward accepting the compromise. But then, Barak summoned Melamed for a hearing at 7:30 P.M. Sunday night, without waiting for his decision, they said. And when the rabbi refused to come, saying he "doesn't work for the defense minister," Barak decided to approve the ouster.
Though most hesder rabbis oppose urging soldiers to disobey orders, they also object to Defense Ministry intervention in how a yeshiva head runs his own yeshiva. They therefore plan to hold a meeting to decide on protest measures against Barak's decision.
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It is interesting that you have enough interest in the ME to write at a blog site, but not enough interest to read about what you enter into the site. International law and treaty absolutely do not support Jewish settlements in all the land west of the Jordan river. International law says precisely the opposite, and no treaty supersedes international law. On 14 May 1948, Israel declared statehood under UN resolution 181. UN 181 specified detailed precise borders over which territory Israel had sovereignty in Palestine. When Israel occupied the rest of Palestine in1967, and refused to withdraw from occupied territory, it became in violation of UN resolutions 242,452 and 465. When it built in the West Bank and annexed Jerusalem it was in violation of articles 49,53, and 147 of 4th Geneva Convention, and thus placed Israel in jeopardy of being prosecuted in the International Criminal Court in the Hague for a war crime.
"Internatinal Law and treaty supports the settlement of Jews in all the land west of the Jordan." That is not true.
Everyone knows that the Hesder Yeshivas create the best soldiers. Barak is only cutting off his own nose....
The person you refer to was the honoured and well respected Orthodox scholar, Yeshayahu Leibowitz. He saw the occupation and the idolatry of nationalism and land over human values as a sickness which was lethal for the wellbeing of Judaism. He certainly was a lone figure in his milieu but hardly an inciter of civil discord. He was also the recipient of the Israel Prize which was very controversial. If only Israel had more like him in the religious camp.
Okay, Rabbi Melamed has his postition about the status of the Yishuvim in Judea and Samaria. He said as much about Gush Katif, too. Even before all of this was an "issue", a certain professor of chemsitry in Hebrew university called the IDF "Judeo-Nazis". He can't answer for himself, but as far as I recall, he wasn't called down for it by anybody. I figger what's good for that professor who called the IDF soldiers Judeo-Nazis is good for the rabbi. But considering who is charge of the infrastructure, its usually the Religious and the Right that gets bashed for "bashing the Army", while the Left is allowed to speak freely most of the time.
There are two reasons. One, the very government that is now demanding that the roshei yeshiva publically denounce refusal to obey military orders regarding settlements, is the very agency that engendered, germinated and cultivated this noxious weed. Second, the entire government knows only too well that this would lead to what might be the inevitable and that is a social/cultural civil war in Israel. One can only imagine the proportions of that possibility when it comes to implemention of a policy ordering the return to the pre June '67 borders and declaring EJ as the rightful capital of Palestine. Israel has created the problem it is now having to confront.
It just shows that Barak is an impulsive person. How can you have him as a leader,- a person not prepared to talk to the other side to find a compromise. If I was an Arab, this response of Barak would worry me no end. How can you talk or negotiate with an ego-centric, self-centred person like this? A person not prepared to find every way to find a compromise, to solve a difficult situation. Either you do as I say, or I will finish you off!!
According to sources within the yeshiva, usually 100 boys a year check out the yeshiva. Now they have 300 interested parties. Sometimes, to do the right thing is also beneficial on other levels too. Good for the rabbi, good for the yeshiva, and good for the Jews.
Will the Ramat Aviv 3 crowd now join the IDF? Don't see how a single religious soldier can serve when the IDF blatantly and openly violates Halacha and Human Rights - and demands that the drafted soldiers do it as well.
If the Israeli right shows unity now, barak is History ! Their is not one combat unit in Israel that want fall apart without their members from the Settlements.
Well done Barak. Even though i never voted for you (and never will) you, or the first time, stood up for something that you believed in, and what is good for the country. Even though i am a Yeshiva graduate, there is only 1 law in the country.
Why does our government permit Hesder yeshiva students to only serve 18 months in the IDF? Everybody, and I insist, EVERYBODY (exept those of course with medical problems)should serve the full IDF term - 3years for men, 2 years for women. Everyone serving in the IDF endangers their life to protect all Israeli citizens. Thus, to serve anything less than full time is Chilul Hashem, i.e., those serving less than full time are not really religious. G-d wants you to protect the Jewish people.
Well in case his royal holliness hasnt heard we have a system of law in this country and if he dosent like it then he knows where the airport is !
Judging by the behaviour of the vast majority of hassidic leaders during the Shoah, rabbis have little inclination to be martyrs - or even to spend some time in the slammer for their principles. If a few of the more hardline settler rabbis were locked up, their attitude would change very quickly. These are no heroes...
... to gamble the religious refusenik card... ... now he hasn't even got the courage for a face-to-face encounter with Barak... ... as for the 70,000 cash that he stands to loose, he knows full-well that the settlers with find him a donor to cover the deficit... plus compensation for the 'anguish'...
the wishes of the majority must leave the armed forces.plainly it is not at all acceptable to have people pressure the government against its wishes. the hesder yeshiva have decided for themselves.we have no choice but to tell them to go.
Illegal orders must be dissobeyed. That is the legacy of the Nuremberg trials. Internatinal Law and treaty supports the settlement of Jews in all the land west of the Jordan. If the government wishes to act illegaly then it should be removed. Israel needs to become a theocracy so that it can be ruled by people who love the Torah and the land of Israel.