The new conscription law, approved by the Knesset at the end of the winter session, exempts yeshiva students aged 22 and over from military service.
The concern in the Haredi sector was that the new recruitment centers - the military training centers - would present the recruits with temptations that might cause some of them to see military service as a possible option. The meeting of the Haredi MKs, members of the 'Shaked Committee' - Ariel Atias, Meir Porush and Moshe Gafni - with Defense Minister Moshe (Bogi) Ya'alon led to a series of agreements between the IDF and representatives of the Haredi public, and the Chief of Staff of the Defense Minister, Haim Blumenblatt, sent a letter to the MKs, in which he summarized the meeting with the minister and presented a document of understanding. Among other things, it was decided to cancel the temptation option, and to adapt the center where the Haredi recruits would report to their character and education.
Several young men, over the age of 23, who reported yesterday to the Tel Hashomer recruitment office to receive exemption from military service, talk about a modern and tidy place, when they turn to the "Yeshiva youth section.".
""We didn't see a single woman in the entire area, the whole story from the time we arrived until we received the exemption only took a few minutes," they tell the Haredim10.
According to them, "The procedure was very simple. They checked each of our names based on our ID cards on the computers, asked: 'Do you want an exemption? Sign.' We signed. They told us: 'It will arrive home in the next two weeks' - and home.".
One of them, surprised by the speed of the process, spoke with one of the soldiers who greeted him. He learned that the man was a Chabad follower, part of a group of religious soldiers who were tasked with welcoming yeshiva students to the recruitment office, so that the entire process would be comfortable and appropriate.
""There is no doubt that what we saw is the best proof that what we could achieve through dialogue, we would never have achieved through demonstrations," says Havrach.
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