The Guardian and the Observer (Guardian News and Media)

Monday, 3 March 2014

Ultra-Orthodox Haredim protest at law ending Israeli military exemption Reuters in Jerusalem | 669 words Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews have held a mass prayer in Jerusalem in protest at a bill that would cut their community's military exemptions and end a tradition upheld since Israel's foundation. Ultra-Orthodox leaders had called on men, women and children to attend the protest against legislation ending the wholesale army exemptions granted to seminary students, which is expected to be passed in the coming weeks, The issue is at the heart of an emotional national debate. Israeli Jewish men and women are called up for military service when they turn 18, but most ultra-Orthodox Jews, or Haredim, a Hebrew term meaning "those who tremble before God", are excused from army service. Police said hundreds of thousands of people had taken part in the prayer. Israeli media estimated 250,000 to 400,000 attended. The demonstration paralysed parts of Jerusalem, blocked the main entrance to the city and halted public transport as the streets around swelled with streams of men in black hats and coats. Rabbis wailed prayers over loudspeakers as the standing crowds swayed back and forth, repeating a plea to God to stop the law from being passed. "We want to show that we are united and we want to stop a bad thing that they are trying to force us into. The army is not our way of life. It is not run by our rabbis," said 18-year-old Mordechai Seltzer. Haredim say the study of holy scriptures is a foundation of Jewish life, that scholars have a right to devote themselves full time to the tradition, and that army service would deny them fulfilment of that religious edict. "The [new] law stipulates that a person who studies Torah might end up a criminal. Are we really going to allow it to become a crime to study the Torah?" said Guy, 43. Seventeen-year-old Israel, a seminary student who came to Israel from the US, said his community would not give in. "There are so many of us that they cannot fight us. We are not worried. We do not want to fight them, but we are not going to do what they tell us to do," he said. Haredim make up about 10% of Israel's 8 million people. They are a fast-growing and relatively poor social group. Most Haredi men are unemployed and live off state benefits, donations and their wives' often low wages. The ultra-orthodox community is resented by many Israelis who accuse the Haredim of burdening the economy and spongeing off the state while avoiding the duties that bind others. Changing the so-called secular-religious status quo in Israel has carried significant political risk in the past for its coalition governments, which have often relied on the support of ultra-orthodox partners. But now, for the first time in a decade, Israel's cabinet has no ultra-orthodox members and main coalition partners have pressed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to enact reforms under a slogan of "sharing the burden", so an ultra-orthodox backlash poses little danger of destabilising the government. A parliamentary committee has been formulating the new conscription bill for months. Though its supporters hail it as a historic step, critics say it will only be implemented in four years' time and by then a new coalition government that could overturn the law would be in power. "They don't need us in the army. This is a cultural show of force. The ultra-orthodox community is growing very fast and the other part of the country is worried. They want to get us into their army. Zionism is not about going into the army," said Maurice, 19, a seminary student from New York.

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The New York Times (The New York Times Company)

- Clip This Article at Location 684 | Added on Monday, 3 March 2014 14:48:35

Ultra-Orthodox Jews Clog Jerusalem Streets to Protest a Draft Bill Oded Balilty/Associated Press Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews held a rally Sunday to express opposition to a proposed draft law. By ISABEL KERSHNER JERUSALEM — In a formidable show of force, at least 300,000 ultra-Orthodox Jewish men flooded the streets around the main entrance to Jerusalem on Sunday, bringing much of the city to a standstill with a protest against a government plan that aims to conscript more of their numbers for military service and holds out the threat of arrest for religious draft dodgers. The rally, described as a mass prayer gathering by ultra-Orthodox leaders, was a largely peaceful expression of what many here are calling a culture war over one of the most significant challenges facing Israeli society. For decades, the ultra-Orthodox, known as Haredim, or those who fear God, have been exempted from military service as long as they were registered in a yeshiva, or religious seminary, and engaged in full-time Torah study. Mainstream Israelis, who are conscripted at 18, have come to view the enlistment of the fast-growing Haredi minority and its subsequent integration into the work force as imperative for the viability of the country and its economy. But for the disciplined ranks of ultra-Orthodox men who answered the call of their rabbis on Sunday, the proposed draft bill, and in particular, the call for criminal sanctions, is an abomination. All shades of Haredi sects, including old rivals, came together in an unusual display of unity and strength. Their spokesmen accused the government of turning Israel into the only country in the world where a Jew could theoretically be jailed for studying the Torah, though they acknowledged that in practice, that was unlikely to happen. “If this is the Jewish state, it is one that must have Torah at the center,” said Rabbi Mordechai Bloy, an educator of Haredi youth in Bnei Brak, a mostly Orthodox town near Tel Aviv, as he made his way to Jerusalem. “A Torah scholar must not be treated like a drug dealer.” Protesters’ posters carried slogans like “We will all go to jail” and biblical verses like “Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother,” a plea made by Jacob, who feared that his brother, Esau, might kill him. The police closed the main highway into Jerusalem for six hours, as well as the city’s central bus station, and deployed about 3,500 officers. Haredi leaders called on males from the age of 9 to attend and designated a separate zone for women to demonstrate, to comply with religious standards of modesty. Police estimates put the crowd at 300,000; organizers said it was twice as large. The popular demand for ultra-Orthodox men to be drafted has built up since Israel’s Supreme Court invalidated a law that allowed wholesale army exemptions for yeshiva students, ruling in 2012 that it contradicted the principle of equality. Many Israelis have been pressing for a more equal sharing of the burdens of citizenship. The ultra-Orthodox sector constitutes up to 10 percent of Israel’s population of eight million but is rapidly increasing because its members favor large families. Many Haredi men well past draft age opt to stay in religious seminaries, preferring study to work and living on welfare payments. Last month a government committee proposed a law establishing annual quotas for the drafting of yeshiva students for military or national service and calling for criminal sanctions against those who evade the draft if the quotas are not met by mid-2017. The bill stops far short of enforcing conscription for all Haredi young men, instead proposing a gradual increase in recruitment levels. Each year 1,800 outstanding students will be granted full exemptions. Thousands of yeshiva students beyond draft age will immediately be allowed to enter the work force. The Israeli Parliament is expected to pass the bill into law later this month. Yair Lapid, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, and Naftali Bennett of the right-wing Jewish Home party, who championed the ultra-Orthodox draft in their election campaigns, have already declared victory. “Since approximately 30 percent of first graders are Haredi, Israel will not survive as a country unless Haredim are incorporated into our economy and service,” Mr. Bennett wrote on his Facebook page this weekend, adding: “Everyone, including those who are shouting, because they are expected to shout, knows that not one person studying Torah will be sent to jail. Period. The law is balanced, gradual and good for all Israelis and for the Haredim in particular.” But critics of the proposed law say it will do little to equalize the burden and may even do harm. “Sharing the burden is just good copywriting,” said Rabbi Aaron Shushan, a teacher from Telz Stone, a Haredi community near Jerusalem, noting that many Israeli women do not serve in the army on religious grounds and that members of Israel’s Arab minority are exempted from service. Yedidia Z. Stern, a law professor and vice president of research at the Israel Democracy Institute, an independent research organization, wrote in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot on Sunday: “The experts on the Haredi sector — from its toughest critics to its sworn supporters — agree that the bill that is being prepared is a double failure: From a practical standpoint it is not effective, and from the symbolic aspect, it is offensive and drags us into a dispute between brothers. It’s hard to imagine a worse outcome.”

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