Two Bills for Lomdei Torah in the Works

The chareidi public is focused on two bills on the Knesset table, which they would like to see passed before the Knesset goes on recess next week.

The first is the Basic Law: Torah Study. The anti-religious elements have made a huge fuss over this law, which serves to demonstrate how important it is. After all, if they are so fiercely opposed to it, then there is some actual benefit to the law. Last Wednesday, the law was approved by the Knesset in its first reading by a vote of 63 to 53. The Arabs abstained, unwilling to become involved in the Jews’ internal conflicts. Even the prime minister entered the Knesset chamber to vote in favor of the bill. Several members of the coalition, however, voted against it: Yuli Edelstein, Sharren Haskel, and Dan Illouz. It is perhaps not surprising that they broke ranks; Edelstein will no longer be in the Likud party in the next Knesset (more on that below), and the other two will not be in the next Knesset at all. After it passed its reading, the law was returned to the House Committee to be prepared for its second and third readings (which are conducted at the same time). On Sunday, the committee approved the law by a majority of nine to six, and it will be brought for its second and third readings next week.

Another bill supported by the chareidim is meant to halt the arrests of yeshiva bochurim and kollel yungeleit. The original idea came from the cabinet secretary, Yossi Fuchs, who wrote to MK Boaz Bismut, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and asked him to advance the bill. His letter explained that the criminal enforcement would be halted by the bill for “anyone who is proven to be a yeshiva student (not a chareidi who does not learn in yeshiva) along with effective oversight.” At first, many doubted that the bill would pass, but it is still progressing. Aryeh Deri was the first to embrace the idea, on the grounds that the current situation, in which every yeshiva bochur faces the threat of arrest, is intolerable. When Rav Dov Landau endorsed the idea, everyone else joined him in supporting it.

Bismut has already begun moving the law through the process. First, he published the text of the law, which was somewhat long. I will quote the first line: “Out of recognition of the importance of Torah study, a temporary special arrangement shall be put in place for yeshiva students for whom Torah study is their occupation.” In essence, the law calls for the brutal, inhumane arrests to be halted. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has already begun its deliberations, and if nothing unusual happens, the law should pass all of its readings by next Wednesday. The main opposition, as usual, comes from the legal advisors. The legal advisor to the Knesset argues that the law will never be accepted by the court because it does not include sanctions. To that, the chareidim respond: Let the law pass, and let petitions be filed with the Supreme Court, and there will be a simple response—that nothing is changed during an election period. This will buy us at least half a year of quiet, if not a full year. It is even possible that the frozen government funding for yeshivos and kollelim will be renewed. Let us daven for the bill to succeed!

If the Reform Movement Is Against It, It Must Be a Good Thing

In case anyone had any doubt about the urgency and importance of the Basic Law: Torah Study, one need only take a look at the pile of objections that landed on the House Committee’s desk to understand just how significant it is. Just take a look at who is behind those objections: the Center for Judaism and State Policy at the Hartman Institute (whose members argued that Torah learning is important only when it is used for practical benefit, but the study alone is worthless), the Movement for Quality Government (which denounced the bill as an assault on the principle of equality and an effort to bypass the Supreme Court rulings on that subject), Brothers and Sisters in Arms (which called the bill “a moral and political capitulation”), and the deputy attorney general, who decried the accelerated legislative process. The only one who sounded somewhat fair and not driven by preconceived bias was the Knesset legal advisor, who wrote, “You will have to be especially careful to maintain a high standard of propriety in the legislative process.”

There is a certain disingenuity in the attacks on the bill from some of these sources, who are busy decrying the original text of the bill when it has already been changed. This might point to the fact that their arguments against the bill in its current form are weak. The first clause states that Torah study is a “foundational value in the heritage of the Jewish people”; to this, the words “and the State of Israel” were added. The second clause, which originally equated lomdei Torah with IDF soldiers as citizens performing a significant service for the state, sparked angry reactions from many quarters and has been erased. In its place, the bill now states, “The purpose of this law is to recognize Torah study as a foundational value in the State of Israel to create a counterweight to other Basic Laws.” But in spite of the changes to the text, the bill’s opponents continued railing against its original form.

In case there was any doubt—and there really was no doubt—a position paper from the Reform movement has made it absolutely clear. The Reform movement will always oppose anything that is good for religious Jews, and anything that they endorse should be seen as a massive red flag. They are destroyers of the Jewish nation, invaders in Hashem’s vineyard, and enemies of the Torah and those who study it. They are so absurd and so obsessed with their battle against Judaism that their warped logic can be almost amusing. In a document expressing their opposition to the law, the Reform petitioners add that it should include their own “Torah” as well: “In light of the principles of equality and freedom of religion, the Torah study mentioned in the proposed law should be interpreted as applying not only to the Torah study of the chareidi community but also to that of all streams of Judaism, including the liberal sects.” It is hard to be certain whether this is more comical or tragic.

The Treasury Opposes the Law

As soon as the Knesset committee finished approving the new Basic Law for its second and third readings, an unnamed official in the Treasury released a vehement statement against it: “The Treasury warned today [Sunday] about the potential repercussions of the Basic Law: Torah Study that was approved last week in its first reading in the Knesset and clarified that the approval of this law will lead to a 16-percent increase in taxes. According to a position formulated by professionals in the government, the law being advanced by the coalition will increase the burden on the serving and taxpaying public, perpetuate a situation in which chareidi men do not enlist, and cause additional funds to be diverted for the benefit of the chareidi public.”

Now, I have a few questions. First of all, who is this unnamed official in the Treasury, and who are the government professionals warning about this dire outcome? Was this leaked statement backed by the finance minister? Betzalel Smotrich, the minister of finance, released his own statement claiming that the warnings and concerns are unfounded. In principle, though, the chareidim are leery of the minister of finance, who hasn’t been doing anything to put the brakes on malicious acts by the Treasury, such as the Tax Authority’s move against yeshivos this week.

On Sunday, the secular media reported the following: “Dozens of yeshivos attended by draft dodgers [as the media cynically refers to yeshiva bochurim] received notice from the Tax Authority last week, on the instructions of the attorney general, that they would no longer be able to receive tax credits on donations. This refers to millions of shekels in donations that make it possible for these yeshivos to operate. In the notices to the first yeshivos, which will be followed this week by dozens more Torah institutions that will receive similar letters from the Tax Authority, their administrations were asked to clarify whether any of their students haven’t regulated their legal status with IDF authorities. Some of the institutions that have already received tax benefits will have to commit to refrain from accepting any more students who are evading IDF service.”

I mentioned this malicious idea to you before it was put into practice, and I commented that it is unlikely to have too much of an impact on yeshivos, since they are supported primarily by foreign donors, mainly in America, who receive their tax credits from their own governments. As I noted in the past, the warped logic in this directive is unfathomably evil. Why should a small number of students classified as draft evaders cause an entire yeshiva to lose its status? In any event, these are the facts, and this move by the Finance Ministry is part of the reason that the chareidi community is very uncomfortable with Betzalel Smotrich, despite the yarmulke that sits on his head.

“A Little Faith Won’t Hurt”

The United States of America is celebrating its 250th birthday, and far be it from us to belittle the importance of the festivities, the date, or the country itself. Even Toras Avigdor, the weekly publication of Rav Avigdor Miller’s teachings, mentions America and Columbus this week. I would also not belittle President Trump.

The Knesset joined in the festivities, lighting its building with the colors of the American flag. Those colors appeared on the Chords Bridge at the entrance to Yerushalayim as well.

Prime Minister Netanyahu called President Trump to wish him well on the occasion, and the two decided to schedule a meeting in the near future. In America, it was reported that Trump hung up the phone and said with satisfaction, “Bibi knows who the boss is.”

Personally, I was moved by an event that you might not have heard about. The event was held on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and attended by high-ranking officials in the American army and government. Now, the reason for my emotional reaction was that the event featured a piano performance by Alon Ohel, a former captive in Gaza. I spoke with Alon’s mother in March 2025, when she was visiting Washington, and I wrote about our conversation in this newspaper. I was thrilled at the thought that Alon Ohel, who has since been released from captivity in large part due to President Trump’s efforts, made it to one of the farthest places imaginable from the tunnels of Gaza—an American aircraft carrier in Washington. The guests at the event included the commander of the US navy and the American ambassador to the United Nations. During the reception on the ship, Alon put on a joint performance with an American singer before an audience of thousands.

Many Israelis identified strongly with Alon Ohel when he was in captivity, perhaps because he was very young or because he lost his vision in one eye during his abduction, or possibly because he is a gifted pianist. Many people davened fervently for his return. Personally, I remained in contact with his parents. Since his return, Alon has played the piano at several events, including one in the president’s residence. At one event, Alon related that he often hummed a song by Israeli singer Alon Eder in captivity. The song is titled “Ketzat Ahavah Lo Tazik—A Little Love Won’t Hurt,” but Alon modified the words slightly for himself and murmured, “A little emunah won’t hurt.”

Shifting Alliances in the Political System

The world of Israeli politics never lacks excitement. I gave up long ago on getting any useful information from the polls, which are a mess of contradictions and rapidly changing results. There is only one thing on which all the polls agree right now: Bennett and Lapid are plummeting. What seemed to be a winning merger has turned out to be a bizarre arrangement that is dragging both of them down. Some have postulated that the merger is failing because they announced it too early in the game, but I feel that the explanation goes beyond that. It is, in fact, a completely illogical alliance between a man who has always defined himself as part of the far right and another who aligns with the far left. There seems to be nothing to unite them other than their shared bid to deceive the voters.

There are all sorts of new alliances under discussion right now, most notably one between Yuli Edelstein and Ayelet Shaked (and possibly Gilad Erdan as well). The basic idea is to establish a right-wing party that will not automatically rule out sitting with Netanyahu but will provide an alternative to the Likud for voters who aren’t particularly fond of the current prime minister, or even those who despise him. Edelstein, who was one of the senior members of the Likud party and often ended up at the top of its slate in the primaries, is one of the most reviled people in the Likud today. He announced officially on Friday that he would resign from the Likud and embark on a new path. It is no secret that he is referring to a joint venture with Ayelet Shaked, the former partner of Naftoli Bennett who has since become his political opponent and has a certain appeal to the right. As the minister of justice, Shaked succeeded in appointing several conservative judges. She and Edelstein hope to recruit some other well-known politicians from the past, such as former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, another former member of the Likud who recently admitted that he is examining the possibility of returning to politics.

Another union potentially in the works is between Benny Gantz and Dedi Simchi. A few words are in order here about Simchi, who is currently being sought after by multiple parties, including the Likud; in fact, Netanyahu has considered placing him on a reserved spot on the party list. For one thing, he is Yemenite, which is always a draw. Second, he retired from the army after years of outstanding service at the rank of brigadier general and then served as commander of the Firefighting and Rescue Service, where he was also highly successful—although the chareidim remember him most for his stubborn insistence that all firefighters, including chareidim, must shave their beards. Today, with a political playing field crying out for new blood, Simchi has become a phenomenon. One thing that is unique about the alliance between Gantz and Simchi is that they will not hesitate to appeal to right-wing voters. They are also not prepared to boycott Netanyahu or the chareidim. In fact, former communications minister Yoaz Hendel, who has positioned himself as an enemy of the chareidim, is debating whether to join the two, but they are not prepared to accept his insistence on announcing in advance that they would never sit in a government with the chareidim.

Eizenkot Welcomes Edelstein’s Departure from Likud

Another political figure who might be staging a comeback is former finance minister Moshe Kachlon. Kachlon has been examining a number of possibilities but hasn’t yet decided for certain whether he will return to political life in the current election. If he does so, it will most likely not be as a teammate of Shaked and Edelstein. The polls suggest that he is worth five to six mandates in the Knesset, which has led him to be viewed as a coveted political asset. However, no one should hold their breath at this point. Kachlon has a close friend named Yoav Raphael, who formerly served as head of the Beer Yaakov Council and, of course, is a personal acquaintance of mine. Raphael has told me with complete certainty that Kachlon will not run in the upcoming election.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Yashar party, Gadi Eizenkot, is the one who is in the best position to laugh, as the polls show him running neck and neck with the Likud party. He can take credit for attracting voters away from the party of Bennett and Lapid. And while they previously hoped to entice him to join them, the tables have turned and Eizenkot now has the upper hand, which means that they are now waiting to see whether he will call upon them to enter his party. But that seems unlikely; Eizenkot has no need for them.

For the time being, Eizenkot is playing to the right and the left at once; he is both in favor of chareidim and against them, and in favor of Netanyahu and against him. Upon hearing about Yuli Edelstein’s departure from the Likud, Eizenkot said, “I hope Yuli Edelstein will be a role model for others in the Likud who are not willing to endanger the security of the state to promote draft dodging for the sake of petty politics, and who are sick of the culture of lies and intimidation. I sat next to Edelstein when he was chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in dozens of committee sessions, as we worked to advance a true draft law that will strengthen the IDF. Together we passed one of the most important laws in the current Knesset: the National Security Strategy Law. We didn’t see eye to eye on everything, but his decision to prioritize what is best for Israel deserves all possible admiration and respect. The time has come for our leadership to look at nothing other than what is good for Israel.” Will these two politicians form an alliance? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, all the polls still show the Likud in the lead with 28 mandates, followed closely by Yashar with 19 or 20. What is infuriating about these polls is that they are somewhat disingenuous; they constantly tell us that the bloc of Netanyahu’s opponents is poised to overtake the bloc of his supporters. This, however, is a manipulation of the numbers, since it takes the Arabs (who are worth 10 to 15 mandates) into account in the anti-Netanyahu bloc. While the Arabs might support that side of the political map, it would be a very complicated proposition for Netanyahu’s opponents to put together a government that rests on Arab support. In light of that basic fact, Netanyahu’s proponents always beat the opposite bloc in any poll.

Supreme Court Calls for Repeat Election for State Comptroller

As I always say, it’s never boring here in Israel. Every week has its own surprises, and this week was no exception. The greatest bombshell last week was probably the Supreme Court’s decision to order a new election held for the position of state comptroller. I’ve written about this story in the past: The election was a contest between Netanyahu’s favored candidate, an attorney named Michael Rabello, and former Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron, who is considered a conservative judge but was favored by the opposition. In the first round of voting, Elron received the votes of 60 members of the Knesset. Since there was a minimum threshold of 61 votes for the first election, and Elron fell short of that minimum by a single vote, a second vote was held, with surprising results: This time, Rabello received 61 votes and Elron received only 57. This resulted in accusations that the Likud party ordered its Knesset members to document their votes behind the curtain; since the vote was required to be conducted by secret ballot, this evoked calls to overturn the results. At first, no one thought this would actually happen. It seemed unlikely that the judges would intervene in a parliamentary matter that was outside their purview; in fact, even the attorney general asked the Supreme Court not to overrule the results and explained why, after all was said and done, the proceedings were conducted properly.

Nevertheless, on Thursday, the judges dropped a bombshell by ordering the Knesset to repeat the election for the state comptroller. The decision was made unanimously by a panel of five judges, who explained that the fact that several MKs had taken pictures of their ballots impaired the secrecy of the vote, making it necessary for the election to be overturned and repeated. The reason they released their verdict on Thursday was that Rabello was scheduled to enter his position on Sunday, and they wanted to disqualify the election before he took office.

The coalition called for the Supreme Court’s decision to be ignored. Ben-Gvir declared, “Those who elected themselves, in violation of the law, are disqualifying the legal election held by the Knesset of Israel. The Supreme Court tramples on the Knesset in anti-democratic behavior that has already become routine. My most important task in my next term will be to promote sweeping judicial reform.” Knesset speaker Ochana met with Netanyahu’s staff to determine how to respond to the court verdict, while Netanyahu himself remained silent. This is the first time in the history of the country that there has been no state comptroller, with Rabello disqualified by the court while his predecessor has already completed his term. There is much talk of a constitutional crisis, and much speculation as to what will happen if the government chooses to ignore the court and to relate to Rabello as the state comptroller, just as the government does not recognize Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who was fired but reinstated by the Supreme Court.

Another Court Ruling Disregarded

Putting aside the furor over the court’s ruling in the state comptroller case, if you thought that a head-on clash between the government and the judges hasn’t actually taken place yet, think again. This week, the government made an active decision to refrain from implementing a Supreme Court decision. It happens to concern a relatively trivial issue, but the principle of the matter is earth-shattering: The government has decided to reject a decision made by the judges.

Perhaps a little explanation is in order: There is an official entity in Israel known as the Second Authority Council. The government decide to change the composition of this council after several of its members resigned, leaving less than the two-thirds of its 15 members required by law. The court was petitioned against the government’s decision, and a panel of three judges ruled two weeks ago that the council appointed by the previous government will remain in place, and the government’s new appointments were invalidated.

At the cabinet meeting this Sunday, the government decided unanimously to ignore the court’s ruling. “You have no authority to violate the law; a ruling in opposition to the law will not be recognized, and any decisions made on that basis are void,” the official statement from the cabinet informed the Supreme Court. The government also approved a proposal by Communications Minister Shlomo Karai and Justice Minister Yariv Levin to refuse to recognize any decision, approval, appointment, or official act carried out by the Second Authority Council. The statement added, “This decision follows the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 17, which reinstated the Second Authority Council appointed by the previous government even though the number of serving members had fallen below the minimum required by law. The government has determined that the rule of law binds all branches of government, including the judiciary. A judicial ruling that directly contradicts the clear provisions of the law cannot confer authority that does not exist under the law, and therefore the government will not recognize actions taken pursuant to that ruling.”

Communications Minister Karai added, “The justices of the Supreme Court are not the Knesset, and being drunk on power does not grant them the authority to erase an explicit statutory requirement, even if it is inconvenient for them. The rule of law does not mean the rule of judges. Today, the government is making it clear that when the Supreme Court steps on the law, the state will not go along. The requirement of two thirds is a legal requirement, not a recommendation; a council that does not meet the threshold established by the legislature does not exist legally, and its decisions are worth as much as a garlic peel. This will be true in the future as well, for every attempt by the Supreme Court to violate the Knesset’s laws.”

Justice Minister Levin added, “The rule of law means that the law binds everyone, including the court. In a democratic state, the Knesset legislates the law and the court is obligated to implement it. When a court ruling stands in direct contradiction to the language of the law, it isn’t judicial review; it is an assault on the principle of separation of powers. The government has a duty to insist that the law, and only the law, will be the source of governmental authority. We will continue to use all legal means to restore the rule of law.”

Of course, brutal attacks on the government were heard from the other side as well. But my point is simply that the constitutional crisis and the power struggle between the branches of government is far from theoretical. The battle is here, and it is taking place before our eyes. Now we have only to wait and see what happens in the case of the state comptroller.

Judges Repeat Call to Drop Bribery Charge Against Netanyahu

As far as the residents of Israel were concerned, however, an even more explosive development took place last Monday, when Prime Minister Netanyahu entered the courtroom along with the prosecutors, with both sides preparing for a conflict over the question of how many weekly hearings to expect in the trial. To their surprise, however, Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman announced, “We didn’t plan to say this, but now that we have heard the prime minister’s testimony, our position expressed in June 2023 remains the same.” In June 2023, the judges advised the prosecution to drop the charge of bribery against Netanyahu, and the court repeated that recommendation. This, of course, quickly became a hot topic of conversation. The attorney general hasn’t responded yet, but there is no doubt that she will have to come up with some sort of response. Meanwhile, the prosecution is in a very weak position.

Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Chadad, said, “We announced in the past that we are not capable of holding five days of hearings in a week. This would force us to work on every Shabbos and holiday, in violation of the Law of Hours of Work and Rest.” Of course, this was an appeal to the sensitivities of the judge, who is observant. Chadad added, “The Eichman trial was held five days a week, but we are discussing private people. What do you want the prime minister to do? I said to him, ‘You have no real defense; you are facing a miscarriage of justice.’”

Netanyahu took advantage of the discussion to attack the prosecution again. “Out of thousands of hostile articles, they chose 315 articles [to make a case that he received favorable news coverage], and even those claims are being shattered now,” the prime minister said. “And now the Pegasus story has come to light as well…. They committed crimes out of their desire to unseat me. This is demonization that is a danger to the State of Israel and a danger to democracy. They have done things that should never be done; there were severe miscarriages of justice here.”

This week, someone published a list of criminal actions committed by the prosecution and police in the Netanyahu case: An investigation was opened without written authorization from the attorney general, the investigators examined things that they were not authorized to investigate, property was unlawfully seized, unlawful wiretapping was performed while the investigators lied to the court about it, the police eavesdropped on confidential consultations between an attorney and his client, written materials were changed retroactively, fake power outages were staged to prevent interrogations from being recorded, women in their eighties were summoned to testify needlessly and at least one of them had her banking activities blocked, Nir Chefetz was interrogated in a brutal fashion, searches were conducted in violation of the law, and the prosecution and police deliberately lied to the Knesset and the public in the spyware case.

And that isn’t even the end of the list.

A Visit to Rav Ovadiah Yosef

There is much more to report, but I am running out of space. For instance, there is an American youth who was arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran. He is widely described as an innocent, naïve young man, and I believe that this story will not end quietly; the Americans surely will not allow the Shin Bet to abuse him.

Israel has marked the passage of 1000 days since the October 7 massacre, and there is much to be said about that topic. Tens of thousands of people still suffer from PTSD from those events.

But this column has grown long enough, and I would like to end on a more upbeat note. Last week, there was a festive event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of Yechaveh Daas, the institute for Torah and halacha established by Rav Dovid Yosef, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel. It was an outstanding event that paid tribute to lomdei Torah, and there were thousands of them in attendance, both past and present members of the kollel. Rav Amir Krispel, who was in the kollel’s first group, said to me, “Rav Dovid has achieved the unbelievable. He took the best bochurim, paid them twice as much as any kollel, and placed extraordinary demands on them. Anyone who scored below 90 on a test was required to transfer to a different kollel. The institute was first established in Yeshivas Lev Bonim, run by Rav Aryeh Weinberg. We moved from there to Rechov Shaulson in Har Nof and then opened our current location at Rechov Agassi 1.”

Rav Krispel spoke highly of the director-general of the kollel, a son of Rav Dovid Yosef who shares his grandfather’s name. “Rav Ovadiah Yosef is exceptional,” he said. “Ever since he took over the management of the institution, Yechaveh Daas has been catapulted to new heights. Today, the institution runs 36 kollelim around the country, with almost 600 yungeleit and a rigorous program of study. The Rabbinate recently administered a test on the laws of aveilus, and 500 yungeleit from Yechaveh Daas took the exam. They needed to set aside a separate hall just for those talmidim. The yungeleit write compositions and publish seforim, and all of this is thanks to Reb Ovadiah’s efforts. After ten years, Rav Dovid took a pioneering step and founded the bais horaah. Until that time, there was no Sephardic bais horaah anywhere.”

Rav Amir Krispel used to oversee Rav Ovadiah’s hours for receiving the public on Fridays in his office in Yechaveh Daas. When I asked him if he could share an interesting story from those days, he replied, “Before Rav Ovadiah moved from Rechov Jabotinsky to Har Nof, he would receive questioners in the yeshiva on Rechov Chizkiyohu Hamelech. It moved from there to Yechaveh Daas. One day, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu and Rav Avrohom Shapiro showed up for a surprise visit, accompanied by the Bostoner Rebbe and Menachem Porush. They asked Rav Ovadiah to do something to combat the government’s plan to cede Chevron to the Arabs. Rav Ovadiah listened and said, ‘Call Avraham’ [his driver, Shlomi Avraham]. I said, ‘He is shopping in Machaneh Yehuda.’ Undeterred, Rav Ovadiah said, ‘Bring your own car.’ I had a rundown Subaru fit for a yungerman, but we got into the car and Rav Ovadiah said, ‘Drive us to Aryeh.’ We drove to Aryeh Deri’s house, and he came downstairs and entered the car. The rov asked me to step out, and they sat and talked for a while before we returned to the office. When we got there, Rav Ovadiah wrote a letter to the prime minister warning him that if the plan was carried out, the Shas party would leave the government.”