Rabbi Meir Nahorai Warns Basic Law on Torah Study Weakens Torah and Eases Draft Evasion

Rabbi Meir Nahorai sharply attacks Israel’s Basic Law on Torah Study, arguing that its real purpose is not to strengthen Torah but to entrench draft exemptions and evasion of military service in the name of religious study. He says the law, passed in the Knesset, is “shameful” and harms the standing of Torah, while also risking alienating many Israelis from yeshiva learning.

He anchors his criticism in the coming Sabbath reading of Parashat Korach and the fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot, citing Rabbi Tzadok’s warning, “Do not make them a crown with which to aggrandize yourself, nor a spade with which to dig.” He also quotes Maimonides’ unusually forceful explanation that Torah should not be used as a means of livelihood or honor, saying those who benefit from Torah in this world cut themselves off from the next.

Nahorai says the law is unnecessary because the state has long supported Torah study through budgets, and he notes that yeshivot are flourishing. Even after the Religious Zionist Party supported the bill only after removing a controversial clause that would have defined long-term Torah study as “significant service” to Israel and the Jewish people, he says the legislation still distorts Torah and wrongly implies that only Haredi yeshivot count as Torah study.

He argues that the bill excludes religious Zionist institutions such as hesder yeshivot, pre-military academies and women’s study houses, while his own camp serves in the army and combines Torah with military duty. Nahorai says political compromises must not come at the price of core values, warns of spiritual damage and a deep trust crisis in religious communities, and urges lawmakers to work to roll the law back, insisting that only those who share in both obligations and burden deserve state rewards for Torah learning.