The Elon Moreh Hesder Yeshiva intends to fight against the IDF's decision to punish two soldiers from the yeshiva who protested against eviction of Jews, by kicking them out of the Hesder track.
Yeshiva Head Rabbi Elyakim Levanon told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news magazine that Defense Minister Ehud Barak is persecuting the soldiers out of personal and political motives. “How much more can these soldiers be punished?” he asked. “How much can they be persecuted? They were court martialled, they were jailed, and now their Hesder track is being canceled. What next? Soon they will hang them in the city square and then they will refuse to bury them. They have been punished already and they have paid the price.”
Rabbi Levanon said that if the Defense Minister thinks the soldiers are not good enough for the army, he should kick them out of the IDF altogether, but it makes no sense to punish them by making them serve 36 months instead of in the Hesder track, which usually includes 15 months of military service, interspersed between periods of Torah learning at the yeshiva.
Going hareidi?
Rabbi Levanon said that the security establishment seems to be intent upon pushing the Hesder yeshivas into a corner. “If they will not be interested in us we will go for other solutions... we will postpone the service like the hareidis do. A soldier will postpone the service until he has several children, then he will serve a few weeks or a month as reserve duty and that is all.”
"This is not desirable solution,” Levanon said. “We do want to serve the state, despite the fact that the present government is in power and that the present Defense Minister is the way he is, but in view of Barak's steps we already see a decline in the motivation to be partners. It is still not clear where this will lead.”