According to the existing law a girl who declares she cannot
serve in the IDF for religious reasons receives an exemption
from military duty immediately. Paragraph 24 of Security
Service Law allows an exemption to be revoked if the official
in charge of reviewing the case determines that the exemption
was obtained through deceitful means. But Subparagraph (5)
excludes exemptions given for religious reasons from this.
The government recently tabled a proposal to cancel this sub-
paragraph, a seemingly innocuous move that is actually a
veiled attempt to alter the longstanding status quo on
military service for religious girls, an issue gedolei
Yisroel zt"l fought against with mesirus nefesh
decades ago.
This exemption was one of Agudas Yisroel's greatest
legislative achievements. The exemption is available to girls
from traditional families as well, even if they are not
observant, but want to preserve their family's tradition,
avoiding the great spiritual pitfalls that threaten every
girl inducted into the army.
If the law passes, military officials or court judges would
easily be able to claim that a girl has no religious grounds
on which to object to army service, essentially handing down
a decree of spiritual destruction by forcing her into the
IDF.
Obvious Ploy
Nor is this an isolated incident. Justice Minister Chaim
Ramon recently announced that during the Winter Session he
plans to propose a law that would "solve" the problem of
pesulei chittun — mamzeirim, non-Jews and
others halachically forbidden to marry into Am Yisroel.
He claims the proposal would not be as far-reaching as
the legislation Shinui proposed during the previous term,
making it more amenable to the religious and chareidi
sectors.
The current government's election platform, it should be
recalled, included a pledge to solve the problem of
pesulei chittun, which can only mean some form of
civil marriage. The only question is how broad the
arrangements would be.
If the law passes it would be akin to a tear in a pair of
pants. At first there is just a small hole, but as time goes
by it keeps getting bigger and bigger.
At the beginning of the current term a group of MKs headed by
Yuri Stern (Yisrael Beiteinu) tabled a bill seeking to make
civil marriage an option available to all, regardless of
one's halachic status, and recently the bill was brought
before a ministerial committee. At first the Justice Ministry
supported it, based on the government's platform pledge, but
in the end the bill did not pass in the committee after
Meshulam Nahari of Shas issued a reminder that the coalition
agreement required his party's consent for any law drafted on
this subject.
Ramon then asked Stern and the other members of his group not
to bring the bill before the plenum until the Winter Session,
thereby forcing the coalition to vote against Stern's law and
allowing future cooperation to advance the government's
proposal.
Stern and his partners did not abide by his request, bringing
the bill for a plenum vote last week. Based on a decision by
the ministerial committee the coalition mobilized to reject
the bill and succeeded in having it defeated by a large
majority.
In a letter to Ramon, MK Rabbi Meir Porush made it clear UTJ
would do everything in its power to prevent him from gaining
Knesset approval for the law, saying it was obviously a plan
to introduce civil marriage into Israel in stages.
Chaim Ramon thinks the chareidi MKs are new to politics. He
believes by making a show of objecting to Stern's proposal
and making every effort to prevent the approval of a more far-
reaching law, chareidim will form a favorable impression,
quickly agreeing to legislate a somewhat more moderate law to
ensure the government does not change its mind and decide to
support the Stern law.
Jewish identity in the State of Israel must be absolute.
There is no room for any form of civil marriage, even for a
limited segment of the population. Even the argument a
minority of citizens finds a way to sidestep the law by
flying to Cyprus or another country does not justify making
changes, just as other laws are not done away with or altered
because they can be circumvented. The State of Israel must at
least preserve the fundamental values of Judaism and the laws
on marital status must remain consistent with the basic
Jewish way of life.
