Knesset Passes Basic Law on Torah Study in Preliminary Vote

Knesset members celebrate after the approval of the bill for the death penalty for terrorists in the Knesset, social media documentation under Section 27A. The Knesset plenum on Wednesday approved in a preliminary reading the Basic Law bill on Torah study, put forward by MKs Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Asher. Fifty-six MKs backed the proposal, compared with 43 opposed, and it will be sent to the Knesset Committee to determine which committee will debate it.

The bill's sponsor, MK Moshe Gafni, said, "Torah study is what has sustained the Jewish people for thousands of years, it was the refuge of the people in all periods." The bill seeks to enshrine in a Basic Law the status of Torah study as a foundational value in the State of Israel. It also proposes that Israel recognize those who commit themselves to long-term Torah study as serving in meaningful service to the state and the Jewish people.

The text brought to a vote drew criticism, including over clauses that opponents say compare the contribution of Torah learners with that of those serving in the IDF and the security forces. The proposal came to a vote after a dispute within the coalition over the wording. Since changes could not be made before the preliminary reading, understandings were reached that the wording is expected to undergo significant revisions before it is brought for a first reading.

Despite the opposition, the bill passed the preliminary reading by a vote of 56 in favor and 43 against. Likud MKs Yuli Edelstein, Dan Illouz and Sharren Haskel voted against the proposal. During the vote, a disturbance erupted in the plenum, when MKs Yossi Taieb and Moshe Abutbul of Shas verbally attacked MK Illouz over his vote. As he voted, Illouz said about the proposal, "Against the law, against desecration of God's name, in favor of the Torah!" He said this while holding a copy of the Mishnah, which he customarily studies during votes in memory of his mother, who died this year. Ultra-Orthodox MKs moved menacingly toward him.

MK Moshe Solomon of Religious Zionism also voted against the bill, contrary to expectations. "The current wording equates someone who studies Torah with someone serving in the army. In such wording, which constitutes a desecration of God's name and harms the entire Religious Zionist world of Torah, I cannot support it. When the bill comes up for first reading, I will examine it according to the changes that are made and decide how to vote," Solomon clarified.

Former prime minister and chairman of the Yachad party, Naftali Bennett, addressed the ultra-Orthodox public in response to the bill's approval: "The Basic Law on Torah study that the government is pushing with all its might and that has already passed its preliminary reading will severely harm the State of Israel, and it will severely harm you as well. These are the facts: without a functioning economy and without an army, we simply cannot live here." Bennett added accusations against ultra-Orthodox public representatives: "Deri and Goldknopf are sentencing you to lives of poverty and dependence while they live in luxury villas and wear luxury brands, this is not Torah, this is a business model. And that must change."

Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid also responded to the vote: "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's a law about money." During the plenum session, after Gafni, the bill's sponsor, mentioned the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in his remarks as justification for the Basic Law on Torah study, Lapid attacked: "My father sat in the ghetto because there was no army for the State of Israel! My grandfather died in a concentration camp because there was no army for the State of Israel! This law is a law to fund evasion."

Yoez Hendel, chairman of the Reservists Party, argued that "the law of desecrating the Torah that passed today in the Knesset is a desecration of everything that is sacred here." "With the help of the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox and Arab parties, the sacred values of Judaism and Zionism were harmed. This is a watershed moment. Whoever studied Torah and does not report for war has not understood what he learned. Thousands of Torah learners who serve prove that there is no justification for evasion," he stressed.