The High Court’s recent ruling may be presented as a victory for "the law" or "equality," but in practice, it masks a grave moral injustice. When the court orders the revocation of basic benefits-such as daycare subsidies for infants, property tax discounts for the needy, and housing assistance for young couples-it crosses a red line. In an attempt to settle the debate over conscription, the justices are using small children as a means of punishing their parents.
The most fundamental principle of justice is that every person is responsible for their own actions alone. As the Torah explicitly states in Devarim:
"Lo yumtu avot al banim ve-banim lo yumtu al avot, ish be-het’o yumatu" > ("Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; each shall die for their own sin" - Devarim 24:16).
It matters not whether one believes the parents' conduct is right or wrong; a child did not choose where to be born or their way of life. When a child is denied a safe daycare environment or shelter, the blow falls upon one who has not sinned. The Prophet Yechezkel emphasizes this:
"Ha-nefesh ha-hotet hi tamut, ben lo yisa be-avon ha-av ve-av lo yisa be-avon ha-ben" > ("The soul that sins shall die; a son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and a father shall not bear the iniquity of the son" - Yechezkel 18:20).
Our Sages taught that the world does not endure through physical or political might, but through the innocence of children studying Torah. In Masechet Shabbat (119b) it is said:
"Ein ha-olam mitkayem ela bi-shvil hevel pihem shel tinokot shel beit raban" > ("The world only exists for the sake of the breath of school children... we do not interrupt the study of school children even for the building of the Beit HaMikdash").
If even for the Beit HaMikdash-the pinnacle of holiness and nationhood-we do not disrupt their lives, how can we harm their education and routine over a political dispute regarding the draft?
The Torah’s gravest warning is directed at those who harm the defenseless. In the Book of Shemot (22:21-22) it says:
"Kol almanah ve-yatom lo te’anun... ki im tza’ok yitz’ak elai, shamoa eshma tza’akato" > ("You shall not mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me, I will surely hear their cry").
Some may argue these children are not "orphans" and thus the verse does not apply. However, the Sages clarified in the Mechilta: "I only have the widow and orphan-from where do we learn regarding all other people? The text says: 'You shall not mistreat'-in any case."
The Torah mentions the orphan as a prime example of the weak who have no protector. When the High Court imposes economic decrees on a child because of their parents' actions, it effectively turns them into a "social orphan" (yatom hevrati)-voiceless and defenseless against the power of the judicial system. Eicha Rabbah (2:11) states: "There is no wall that can stand against the cry of a child." When Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave the Torah, He accepted no guarantee from the patriarchs or the prophets-only from the children.
How can a Jewish state harm the very children who are the guarantors of its existence?
The justices love to speak of "equality," but in reality, this is "refined selectivity" (selectiviyut mehuderet)-discrimination in the guise of equality. There are groups in the population who do not serve in the military yet continue to receive full state assistance and subsidies across all sectors. When the court chooses to impose economic sanctions specifically on one community, it is not justice; it is an attempt to coerce a change in lifestyle through economic pressure.
Judges who do not live a life of Torah struggle to see that Torah study is perceived as a spiritual shield for the nation and the land. Punishing tender children for their parents' loyalty to their faith and conscience is an act without moral justification.
The Court likes to declare itself all-powerful and beyond reproach, from the power to strike down laws to canceling government decisions not to its liking. Yet there is no dispute that the Court has no right to strike at the bread and education of young children. Daycare subsidies or housing aid are not "gifts"; they are responses to basic human needs. The injustice caused when large families are plunged into deep economic distress is infinitely greater than any political "sin" attributed to the parents.
When the distress of children is used as a tool in a public debate, a clear moral line is crossed. Justice that harms innocent children is not justice.
Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz is a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council.