If we are “”ULTRA”, who is plain ORTHODOX?
Degel HaTorah spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando celebrates release of draft dodgers from military prison, claims Haredim ‘find ourselves in exile among Jews’
Addressing a gathering in honor of two draft evaders released from military prison on Sunday evening, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah party claimed that those enforcing the conscription of Haredi men into the military are fighting against God and Torah.
“When a yeshiva student is placed in prison solely because he wishes to study Torah, it is not he who is in prison! The Torah itself, God forbid, is in prison,” Rabbi Dov Lando declared during a celebration in honor of yeshiva students Yitzhak Revivo and Yair Saadeh.
“Let everyone who is complicit in this crime of casting the holy Torah, the Torah of God, behind bars know this: you are not fighting flesh and blood; you are fighting the Torah and the one who gave it, blessed be his name,” the 95-year old rabbi added.
RABBI Lando, the chairman of Degel HaTorah’s ruling Council of Torah Sages and one of the most prominent rabbinic leaders of the so-called “Lithuanian” stream of ultra-Orthodoxy, is a steadfast opponent of Haredi conscription to the Israel Defense Forces. He accused Israel of declaring “war” on yeshiva students via his Yated Neeman mouthpiece in August after the IDF began arresting draft evaders.
He has also ordered yeshiva students to ignore call-up orders, prompting Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman to file a criminal complaint against him last May.
According to RABBI Lando, yeshiva students are forbidden from speaking with military representatives. Those who have been declared draft dodgers and are liable to arrest must avoid any contact with the authorities, and those looking to travel abroad must first clarify their status with the Vaad HaYeshivot (Yeshiva Committee) — the Haredi community’s primary vehicle for coordination between ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and the Defense Ministry in matters of service deferments.
A Times of Israel investigation published last year found that the committee, on whose board RABBI Lando sits, has been advising yeshiva students who contact its advice line to “not report under any circumstances and do not cooperate” with the authorities.
Under Israeli law, someone inciting others to evade service during wartime is liable to a prison term of 15 years. https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-ultra-orthodox-rabbi-those-enforcing-haredi-draft-are-fighting-against-god/
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