New recordings indicate Haredi rabbis see conscription law merely as way to buy time |
Senior ultra-Orthodox spiritual leaders appear to regard efforts to legislate and regulate Haredi conscription as a stalling tactic only intended to buy time, openly stating that they have no plans to allow Haredi youth to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces, according to recordings of conversations aired on Wednesday evening.
In the recordings broadcast by Channel 12 news, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, one of the senior leaders of the stream of ultra-Orthodox Jewry known as “Lithuanian,” says the law is meant to put off any real change, rather than fundamentally influence enlistment patterns.
“In the end, the law will fall after a few years, but we’ve gained years,” he is heard saying.
Meanwhile, Degel HaTorah spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando is also heard speaking, and even more bluntly, about the legislation, in response to a visitor to his home appearing to express concern over the bill.
“What they are saying is nonsense. It won’t happen. We will not go to the army,” Lando is heard saying. “No one will go to the army.”
At one point, Lando gets irritated, apparently by the guest’s repeated questions, and yells, “Nobody will go!”
Rabbi Shraga Shteinman, who sits on Degel HaTorah’s ruling Council of Torah Sages, appeared not to be concerned about the........