'The entire purpose is to show that there are haredim who become soldiers' (illustration)
Photo: Yaron Brener
Haredim warned against Home Front Command's 'temptations'
Ultra-Orthodox newspaper calls on Jerusalem's haredi residents not to attend guidance sessions on how to defend themselves against rockets, claiming army's goal is to 'seduce' yeshiva students to enlist.
As the IDF battles Hamas terrorists in Gaza,
the ultra-Orthodox battle against drafting yeshiva students is continuing in full force.
The Home Front command has been sending haredi soldiers, who have been called "hardakim" (a derogatory term meaning frivolous haredim) on the ultra-Orthodox street, to instruct the haredi population on how to defend itself against rockets fired from Gaza.
But the leaders of the struggle against the draft law are asking residents not to cooperate with them.
The haredi paper leading the struggle has called on residents not to turn up for the Home Front Command's guidance sessions in the Jerusalem's haredi neighborhoods, claiming that the IDF is trying to show the haredim that some of them do serve in the army and thereby reduce the opposition to the IDF draft law.
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The unusual call was issued when haredi soldiers began showing up at local schools and synagogues to instruct the residents. They have even been offering separate guidance sessions for men and women for modesty reasons.
In the call, published by haredi daily Hapeles, the public was urged not to cooperate with the Home Front Command soldiers, as the instructions have already been published in the haredi press and there is no need for further guidance by the soldiers.
Prominent Lithuanian Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach was quoted as saying that he feared young haredi men would be tempted to join the IDF.
According to the leaders of the battle, the IDF is trying to show the young members of the sector that there are haredim who serve in the army and make them enlist too.
"They won't bring a secular soldier, because the entire purpose of the gathering is to show that things are not so bad and that there are haredim who have become soldiers and now have the honor of lecturing in front of yeshiva students," the newspaper claimed.
Meanwhile, the Maayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak has been subject to internal criticism in the haredi society after yeshiva students began volunteering to help the medical staff.
Rabbi Auerbach's students complained that the young men's emergency activity would cause them to neglect their yeshiva studies. Hospital officials said in response that they had consulted rabbis who ruled that the yeshiva students could be asked to volunteer as a life-saving mitzvah.
