Into The
Secular Worl
A compromise means
tens of thousands of Israeli
haredi men soon could ente
the army and workforce.
ERIC SILVER
Israel Correspondent
I
n their coalition negotiations
with Ehud Barak, the political
rabbis of United Torah Judaism,
the standard-bearers of Ashkenaz
ultra-Orthodoxy, did something they
have not done since lining up with
Menachem Begin in the 1970s.
They demanded no ministerial
appointments, no chairs of Knesset
committees and
no kickbacks from
the public coffers.
They said nothing
about Reform
Judaism or the
conversion law.
Instead, they
focused exclusive-
ly on the issue of
army service for
Haredi soldier
yeshiva students.
in training
And they negoti-
ated not just on
behalf of their five haredi (fervently
religious)
legislators, but also of the
0 b
17 from the Sephardi Haredi politi-
cal party, Shas.
It's because Prime Minister Ehud
Barak, the author of a controversial
1998 bill to draft all yeshiva boys for
military service, wanted their parties
inside the tent — to facilitate the
peace process and 13 " heal the woun
JEWELERS
Breathtaking Jewelry
An authorized TAG Heuer dealer
32940 Middlebelt Rd. (at 14 Mile Rd. in the Broadway Plaza)
Farmington Hills, Michigan • Visit our website:www.greis.corn • (248) 855-1730
7/9
1999
26 Detroit Jewish News
in the nation."
As a result, everyone compromise_
Now haredi youths not destined to
be great Torah scholars will be drafted
at ages 18 or 24, even though the ar
b
doesn't really need them and they're
likely only to guard Jewish settlement ,
1
More significantly, up to half the
30,000 yeshiva students under 37, cu?'
rently spared the burden of conscrip-
tion if they stay in the yeshiva, will (
quit the study hall at age 24 and go to
work. Until now, they had either stud
ied reluctantly, or taken jobs illegally
se as not to lose benefits from the
yeshiva, doled out by the government
But all is not joy. The deal did no
satisfy the younger activists of the led t
liberal party Meretz, who continued
(