Times of Israel

Confirmed: Shlichus to Count as IDF National Service

The work of 100 men serving overseas as emissaries on behalf of Chabad will count as national service, a Knesset committee decided.

The Special Committee for the Equal Sharing of the Burden on Monday voted to include the plan as part of legislation that would require most haredi Orthodox Israeli men to serve in the military or perform national service.

The legislation is being prepared for its second and third reading in front of the Knesset plenum.

The committee approved the plan, recommended by Elazar Stern of the Hatnuah Party, by a vote of 5 to 3. Stern was the chief education officer in the Israel Defense Forces and oversaw the expulsion of Jewish settlers from Gush Katif.

IDF officials objected to the plan, saying it would make it more difficult to draft other haredi Orthodox men and that it will not help integrate the men into Israeli society, according to reports.

Volunteers for Magen David Adom, Zaka and the Israel Police already receive the status of national service, which can be served in some cases in exchange for military service.

Upon the completion of national service, those who served in the military or national service receive an end-of-service grant that can be used for higher education and other specific purposes.

3 Comments

  • a man That oversaw the GUSH KATIF expulsion

    No good can or will come, he is a rasha,

    For those that will be all saying why so negative he is doing good? I’ll tell you probably do not know much about him, ask the former gush KATIF residents what try think about him, in addition in the Israeli religious Zionist groups he viewed as an Apikores.

  • Every Jew

    Every Yid is holy!!!! What Zionists think of Yiidishkeyt has to be taken into account since when?

  • The real

    question is what makes the frum any different if after they fight for Gush Katif they go and slander each other on public websites in the name of safety and in the sake of the “children.”

    That is the question, and so long as we fail to get its message nature will keep trying louder until we’L have to learn the hard way.