In a landmark decision, the Knesset on Monday night gave final approval to the Basic Law: Torah Study, formally establishing that “Torah study is a foundational value in the heritage of the Jewish people and in the State of Israel.” The legislation, introduced by Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni, passed its second and third readings, making it one of Israel’s Basic Laws.

Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu did not participate in the final vote.

Celebrating the bill’s passage, Gafni described it as “a historic step in the State of Israel.”

“For thousands of years, Torah study has been the force that preserved the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora and across every generation,” Gafni said. “From this day forward, the State of Israel has also established, through a Basic Law, that Torah study is a foundational value in the heritage of the Jewish people and in the State of Israel.”

He continued: “The matter has now come to pass. The Jewish state is reconnecting with the eternal values upon which the Jewish people were built throughout the generations. This Basic Law will serve as the nation’s moral compass, expressing the recognition that Torah study is not merely a legacy of the past, but the very foundation upon which the present and future of the Jewish people in their land rests.”

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri also welcomed the legislation, declaring: “Moshe is truth and his Torah is truth! Today we have written a historic chapter in the State of Israel. For the first time, the Jewish state recognizes the supreme value of the holy Torah and the status of those who dedicate themselves to its study.”

Deri added that “the Torah is the foundation of the Jewish people’s identity. It sustained us throughout thousands of years of exile, inspired our longing to return to the Land of Israel and establish an independent Jewish state, and continues to give meaning to our existence here today.”

He went on to say: “This is a victory for the Torah world and a clear answer to the ousted attorney general and to everyone who sought to persecute and humiliate the bnei yeshivos. You will not break the Jewish spirit. The holy Torah will prevail.”

MK Yaakov Asher likewise praised the law’s passage, quoting Rav Saadia Gaon: “As Rav Saadia Gaon said, ‘Our nation is a nation only through its Torah.’ This is the path on which we were raised and which has accompanied the Jewish people for thousands of years—the Torah is the source of our existence, our identity, and our strength.”

Asher emphasized that for the chareidi community, Torah study is “a way of life,” adding that “the world of the yeshivos and batei medrash is the pure flask of oil of the Jewish people and the place where the chain of generations that sustained our nation through even its most difficult periods has been preserved.”

He concluded by citing the verse: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.”

{Matzav.com}