R’ Moshe Hillel Hirsch Nixes Idea of Mass Protest Against Charedi Draft

BNEI BRAK (VINnews) — According to Israeli media, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch is strongly opposed to a mass protest against a potential Charedi draft law. (VIN News has independently confirmed this report from an extremely reliable source in the Charedi community.)

According to Kol Chai radio, the son of the Slonimer Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Berezovsky, visited the Slobodka Rosh Yeshiva, and requested that Rabbi Hirsch order preparations for a mass protest, like the “March of the Million” over 20 years ago.

Rabbi Hirsch rejected the idea, saying it would exacerbate the current conflict. He added that a massive protest could also lead to snap elections – which the Charedi parties do not want.

Rabbi Hirsch said, “…We must not bring about the breakdown of the coalition before we have exhausted every effort to pass a Draft Law by consensus.”

The group Peleg Yerushalayim has staged small but disruptive protests in recent weeks, blocking the light rail and obstructing highway traffic. It is not clear if they are following the advice of Gedolim, or any Rabbanim at all.

Last week, Rabbi Hirsch spoke to his students last week about the draft crisis.

Here is an excerpt of what he told them:

“Everyone knows what happened last week, that they completely revoked our right to to learn Torah in Eretz Yisrael for the time being. We’ll now need to be moser nefesh for Torah. We don’t know exactly how – how much they’ll be makpid on us…”

“…But one thing is clear, that the first thing we need at a time like this is that we’ll have mesiras nefesh for the Torah itself. That the Torah itself will turn into a korban. If the Torah itself turns into a korban, our limmud will be a korban. What’s the p’shat? Full sedarim without any bitul Torah. Learning Torah with mesirus nefesh. This surely obligates us, to learn Torah like a korban. And this surely could help to eliminate the whole problem – definitely.”