Through the efforts of the Vaad Hayeshivos supplemented by other extensive efforts which were consummated with a decision to be implemented in the coming days, one of the basic formalities in the process of receiving military deferment under the framework of "Torah as an occupation" for yeshiva students has been overridden. This was achieved through the directed guidance of Torah leadership and the heads of the Vaad Hayeshivos.
A special synopsis of the chairman of the Vaad Hayeshivos, HaRav C. Kaufman, compiled together with the government security authorities, confirmed the agreement abolishing the present requirement of a brief personal interview of each student at the recruitment center which up till now had been a fast and firm stage in the army deferment of yeshiva students reporting to the first induction call for army duty. Avoiding this interview brings a considerable easement in the deferment process of said yeshiva students.
This interview had been a source of friction in the past, as it was sometimes used to try to entice yeshiva students to join the army, although in recent years this has not happened. Still, the interview was one source of personal contact with soldiers, sometimes female, which the Torah community preferred to avoid.
This precedent-setting decision requires students to fill out a special form in their yeshiva which will duly be sent by the yeshiva administration to the offices of the Vaad some two weeks before the date of reporting to the army induction center. This will replace the need for a personal interview which to date had been an inseparable step in the process of receiving a deferment.
Subsequently, this week the Vaad Yeshivos updated the procedure of this year's enlistment to adhere to the new agreement which will allow for a unified concentrated response to mobilization calls for each yeshiva by which all the student call-ups will be dealt with collectively at a designated time, easing the deferment procedure and expediting the whole process at the various induction centers. Telephone notifications with a detailed update were made to the parents of said students as to the dates of unified reporting to the army stations, while, concurrently, the Vaad Hayeshivos will ask the students in each place to be alert to the directives of their respective yeshiva administrations which are working together with the Vaad Hayeshivos to reorganize the deferment procedure.
The Vaad Hayeshivos has said repeatedly that students who comply with all the regulations have not been drafted to the army.
