Knesset Gives Preliminary Approval to Basic Law: Torah Study

The Knesset plenum today, Wednesday, approved in a preliminary reading the proposed “Basic Law: Torah Study,” submitted by Knesset members Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Asher. Fifty-six Knesset members supported the proposal, compared with 43 opposed, and it will be transferred to the Knesset Committee to determine which committee will discuss it.

Minister in the Finance Ministry responsible for rehabilitation of the north and south, Ze'ev Elkin, responded on behalf of the government and said that “the comparison between Torah scholars and those who serve will be removed from the proposal.” “Torah study is a fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people. The government’s position is to support the proposal. A revised version will be brought for additional approval in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation before the first reading. Without this amendment, the law will not advance.”

Shas chairman MK Arye Deri welcomed the approval of the proposal and said it was a historic step “on the way to the State of Israel’s recognition of the supreme value of the holy Torah and the enormous contribution of Torah scholars to the people of Israel.” Deputy minister Israel Eichler said that “the fingers of most representatives of the Israeli public in the Knesset in favor of Torah study, this is a day of sanctification of God’s name. This is a declaration of holy war against the blasphemers of God, the pursuers of Torah, and the enemies of its students.”

Former prime minister and chairman of the “Together” party Naftali Bennett responded to the plenum’s approval of the proposal and said the law would harm the State of Israel “severely.” “This is not a political issue, it is a matter of life and death. These are the facts, without a functioning economy and without an army, we simply cannot live here.” Opposition leader and partner in the “Together” party Yair Lapid also condemned the approval of the proposal. “What does this law have to do with Torah study? This is a law to fund evasion. This is not a law about Torah, it is a law about money,” Lapid said.

Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the “Yashar!” party, called the bill “a deal for a few more weeks in power” and said it was “a summary of the history of the most detached, most irresponsible and most shameful government.” “Instead of strengthening the IDF in a full-scale war, the government is doing the opposite and harming the strength and spirit of the country. The 7 October coalition has no respect for the lives and security of Israelis and certainly no public trust.”

Earlier today, Likud minister Dudi Amsalem attacked the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, her deputy Gil Limon, and the judges of the court in light of their opposition to the Basic Law: Torah Study. “They are acting in an antisemitic action,” he said.

Amsalem said this in an interview with “Kalman-Lieberman” on Kan News on Reshet B. “I see this as a desecration of God’s name. I see that the value of Torah has become a concept that is basically used to persecute people,” Amsalem said regarding the law that equates the status of Torah students with those who serve in the IDF. “The term ‘Torah study’ has become a person whom you can hit when he comes out of a bus station, slap him and walk away. The blood of all the haredim has been abandoned. Anyone who studies Torah has become an enemy of the nation.”