Itzik Saidian, who suffers from Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and serves as chairman of the “B’Gova HaEinaim" (At Eye Level) organization, attacked today (Sunday) the proposed Basic Law: Torah Study during a Knesset debate.
Saidian called for granting supreme status to soldiers and female soldiers who served on the front lines and paid a heavy personal price.
“With all due respect to the value of Torah and military service, the correction that most needs to be made here is to give supreme value to those who went out to battle and were ready to die," Saidian said.
According to him, “There are people who, in practice-maybe 10% of the population-go out to battle. They saw their friends dying and they collected bodies. They sacrificed everything, not in theory, but on the line of fire. That should be the supreme value."
He added: “The first thing is the soldiers and female soldiers, they are the supreme value above everything. Those who were inside the fire, who were wounded and lost parts of their body and soul. They are the ones who walk in the street the next day and feel that the state has forgotten them."
The Basic Law: Torah Study is one of the initiatives promoted by the coalition as part of understandings with haredi parties. The goal of the law is to entrench Torah study as a foundational value in the State of Israel, so it can serve as a counterweight to the value of equality in future legislation, including laws concerning the enlistment of yeshiva students.
In the original version of the bill, a comparison between the status of Torah scholars and IDF soldiers was also included, but following public criticism that clause was removed.
In the updated version it states that “The State of Israel as a Jewish state sees supreme importance in encouraging Torah study and Torah learners, and views those who have undertaken to devote themselves to Torah study for an extended period as making a significant contribution to the State of Israel and the Jewish people."