Settler rabbis to tell Barak: Don't oust extremist yeshivas
Meeting called to discuss protests against settlement evacuation by yeshiva students in the army.
By Yair Ettinger and Anshel Pfeffer Tags: Israel newsThe heads of the nation's hesder yeshivas, which combine Torah study with army service, plan to urge Defense Minister Ehud Barak today not to remove the Har Bracha yeshiva from the hesder program.
The meeting, which will take place in Barak's Tel Aviv office, was called to discuss recent protests against settlement evacuation by hesder students serving in the army's Kfir Brigade, as well as statements by two heads of hesder yeshivas - Rabbi Eliezer Melamed of Har Bracha and Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh - urging soldiers to refuse to evacuate outposts.
Melamed, who also accused senior Israel Defense Forces officers of corruption and political bias, particularly outraged the IDF's top brass with statements he made, leading Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi to recommend ousting his yeshiva from the hesder program. Barak is now considering this proposal.
No yeshiva has ever before been ousted from the hesder program, though the defense minister is authorized to do so. Following the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, then-chief of staff Dan Halutz recommended removing four yeshivas whose rabbis urged soldiers to refuse to evacuate settlements, but then-defense minister Shaul Mofaz decided against doing so. Defense Ministry officials predict that Barak will ultimately reach the same decision, to avoid open conflict with the yeshivas.
The five yeshiva heads who will meet Barak today - members of the executive council of the Association of Hesder Yeshivas - plan to stress that Elon Moreh and Har Bracha are a tiny minority of Israel's 62 hesder yeshivas. Nevertheless, they will say, they oppose any effort to dictate what a rabbi may say to his students.
"In recent weeks, we have taken a public stance against demonstrations and refusal [to evacuate settlements] and sent an orderly letter to all the yeshiva heads," a senior association official said. "We've also spoken with the relevant yeshiva heads and told them there is no place for such acts. But on the other hand, we absolutely cannot accept threats against yeshiva heads. Freedom of expression is very important."
"The army has not severed ties with any university or lecturer who calls for refusal," he added, referring to left-wing academics who advocate refusing to serve in the territories.
Dr. Aviad Hacohen, dean of Sha'arei Mishpat College, condemned the proposed ouster as "bolshevism." It is also counterproductive, he said, as it will merely cause the hesder yeshivas to close ranks.
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Any rabbi anywhere who encourages a soldier to disobey the lawful orders of his military superiors is dangerous to Israel. A rabbi in a hesder yeshiva doing this is utterly unconscionable and should be patently illegal. Har Bracha and Elon Moreh should be given a choice: remove these extremist fools from power or be removed from the hesder program. If they choose not to discipline these rabbis, Har Bracha and Elon Moreh should loose all government funding. They choose to be yeshivas in the hesder system. They choose to put themselves under the thumb of the IDF. They should either respect the hand that feeds them or stop taking it's bread.
I didn't agree with some things but he still shouldn't have quit.
that appears once in a while in Europe isn't derived from Hitler or the Jews/Jesus thing. It's simply a game of economics. If some people in Europe want an edge on selling stuff to Muslim countries, all they have to do is bring up the Palestinians. So if you have anybody that thinks they can run amuck messing up relations with Muslims because they think they don't have to answer to the IDF or the Israeli Government, you need to fix that. It undermines trade with Muslims. Most Muslims are moderate. The extremist Muslims on the other hand are like the religious extremists of any other religion. I think they probably lose money when Muslims become secularized. So you see, a lot of conflict is just rooted in economics and whose ox is being gored at the time.
of the the law? These are serious charges in a democracy and usually lead to swift prison sentences, no ifs or buts. The quiet hand of the state needs to have these two rabbis 'redeployed' pronto to peripheral posts well away from any yeshiva or other post that they can use as a platform for their extremist views.
to his students... in a hesder yeshiva? if the rabbis want that sort of freedom of expression... they need to pursue it OUTSIDE the framework of the military...just as are the universities they use in comparison. barak is a fool if he DOESN'T remove this yeshiva from the program...along with any other whose rabbi is inciting his students to disobey his military superiors. what minimal benefit these yeshivas provide the idf is completely negated by these sorts of efforts to undermine the authority of government, the officers who are responsible to the orders they're given, and the discipline of the idf as a military entity.
so that yeshiva students will do their nationat service like every one else. there is no differance between citizens, we are all in the same bag having to face the same threats. our secular blood is just as red as theirs and they can thus go to yeshiva studies just as we do, AFTER THE NATIONAL SERVICE. by the way, they should pay for theirs schooling just as we do for ours.
I agree. The Rabbis should be ousted, not the Yeshivas.
Hard to tell the difference between the two when both schools of thought produce radicalized extremists. It just proves the point that religion is designed for primitives, not for those that live in the real and civilized world....