60 deans of Hesder yeshivas are convening and trying to formulate a uniform response to Barak’s removal of Har Bracha from the “arrangement.”
On the agenda are two very loaded questions. One is whether Rabbi Eliezer Melamed – head of the Har Brachah yeshiva – will sign a statement expressing his opposition to political protests in the army. Rabbi Melamed long ago wrote that he would have advised against holding such protests, though he added that once such a protest was held, its positive points should be recognized.
Rabbi Melamed has agreed to sign the statement, but his consent is under reconsideration in light of Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s statement Sunday morning that it will not change his decision regarding Har Brachah.
“Why should he sign,” some rabbis asked, “if it won’t make a difference?”
The second question is whether the Hesder Yeshivot Union will present a unified front in support of Har Brachah and against Barak’s decision. An unknown number of rabbis currently feel that this is a battle that should not be waged, while others feel that Barak’s decision, if left unchallenged, will render every statement made by a Hesder yeshiva head subject to “review” by the Defense Ministry.
The rabbis began their meeting around 9:30 AM, but by 1:30 PM had not issued a statement.
The head of the Hesder yeshiva in the Negev city of Arad, Rabbi Yinon Ilani, has already announced his position, however: “If the Hesder Union does not issue a strong, unambiguous statement to the effect that rabbis are not under the army’s thumb, our yeshiva will be forced to quit the Union, despite the heavy price we will have to pay.”
The Defense Ministry subsidizes Hesder yeshiva students to the tune of millions of shekels each year per yeshiva. A yeshiva that loses or gives up its Hesder status will thus lose a significant chunk of its financial base.
A group of Deans of non-Hesder religious-Zionist yeshivot have joined the head of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook, Rabbi Yaakov Shapira's initiative in sending an open letter to the Hesder Yeshiva Deans, by penning a statement against the closure of Yeshivat Har Bracha as a Hesder yeshiva. They are:
Rabbi Shabtai Sabato, Yeshivat Meor Tuviah in Mitzpeh Yericho
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, Yeshivat Beit El
Rabbi Yitzchak Ben-Shachar, Yeshivat Kedumim
Rabbi David Chai HaCohen, Yeshivat Orot HaTorah in Bat Yam
Rabbi Yitzchak Shapira, Yeshiva Od Yosef Chai in Yitzhar
Rabbi Uri Cohen, Beit Medrash Meretz, Mevaseret Zion