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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Former chief Sephardic rabbi: Even Haredi ‘deadbeats’ are exempt from IDF service
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Then-Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef sells the hametz (leavened food) of the State of Israel ahead of the upcoming Passover holiday, in Jerusalem, April 21, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
In a recording published by the Kan public broadcaster, the former Sephardic chief can be heard appearing to say all ultra-Orthodox men should be exempt from mandatory military enlistment, even those not engaged in full-time study at a yeshiva.
“All learned persons [sons of Torah] are exempt from going to the army, even if they’re deadbeats and don’t study,” Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef says. “There are female soldiers, officers and profanity. There are terrible things there — don’t go there, period.”
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