Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Vizhnitz Rebbe: Don't report for IDF draft
The Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Yisroel Hager, has called on yeshiva students not to report to IDF recruitment centers upon receiving their initial draft orders inviting them to begin the IDF screening process. The rabbi said he himself would take responsibility for the mutiny.
The Hasidic leader, who heads one of Israel's largest haredi communities, joined Lithuanian Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who released a similar order a few months ago.
"I heard about a number of alarming incidents happening there (at the induction centers), and I instruct everyone: Do not report - not to your initial draft order, not to the second one and not to the third one," the Rebbe said to his disciples in a speech he gave Saturday in Bnei Brak. "I have a responsibility for all of Israel, not just the Viznitzer hasidim, and I say publish these words as my own."
To those afraid of the repercussions of breaking the law, he said: "Any young man who refuses to report should tell them that the Vizhnitzer Rebbe told him to do so. I take full responsibility, and if they want they are welcome to come and arrest me. I am not afraid of jail, and if it is required we will go singing and dancing. This is a horrible edict (to enlist haredi students) and we must stand as a strong wall against it."
The Rebbe, who heads one of Israel's largest Hasidic sects, echoed in his words those of another important haredi leader, Lithuanian Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who also called on his students not to report for the IDF screening process and generally not to cooperate with IDF officials. A similar call was also published by the Ponevezh Yeshiva.
The Hasidic leader, who heads one of Israel's largest haredi communities, joined Lithuanian Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who released a similar order a few months ago.
"I heard about a number of alarming incidents happening there (at the induction centers), and I instruct everyone: Do not report - not to your initial draft order, not to the second one and not to the third one," the Rebbe said to his disciples in a speech he gave Saturday in Bnei Brak. "I have a responsibility for all of Israel, not just the Viznitzer hasidim, and I say publish these words as my own."
To those afraid of the repercussions of breaking the law, he said: "Any young man who refuses to report should tell them that the Vizhnitzer Rebbe told him to do so. I take full responsibility, and if they want they are welcome to come and arrest me. I am not afraid of jail, and if it is required we will go singing and dancing. This is a horrible edict (to enlist haredi students) and we must stand as a strong wall against it."
The Rebbe, who heads one of Israel's largest Hasidic sects, echoed in his words those of another important haredi leader, Lithuanian Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who also called on his students not to report for the IDF screening process and generally not to cooperate with IDF officials. A similar call was also published by the Ponevezh Yeshiva.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4323581,00.html
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