"The Torah does not exempt from conscription": Bezalel Smotrich attacks Haredi politicians
The Minister of Finance spoke with members of the Bnei Akiva movement and addressed the issue of conscription. Criticizing the position of the Haredi parties, he clarified that the Torah does not serve as a refuge from bearing national and military responsibility.
Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Religious Zionism party Bezalel Smotrich, during a Bnei Akiva movement event in which he participated alongside the movement's Secretary-General Yigal Klein, addressed the Haredi public's attitude toward combining Torah study and military service. Smotrich clarified that Torah study is not supposed to serve as a refuge from bearing the national and military burden, but exactly the opposite.
The minister referred to the verse "Who is the man who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house," and explained: "Who is that fearful and faint-hearted man who cannot join the ranks of war? It is one who fears the sins he has committed."
He then added: "The greatest righteous people, the greatest Torah scholars, the most diligent yeshiva students, are those who are worthy and come into the camp of Israel. They are the ones who come to that same camp where the Master of the Universe is present, who goes before it, and through whom He saves us from our enemies."
