A New Chareidi Party Challenges the Status Quo: The Draft, Daas Torah, and Israeli Society, with Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein (303)

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The Chareidi draft issue has become one of the most contentious questions in Israeli society, and the established Chareidi political parties have largely presented a united front: protecting the existing system and opposing efforts to draft Chareidi men into the IDF.

But a newly formed Chareidi political party, HaTzibbur HaChareidi, is offering a very different approach.

Its platform says that those who genuinely devote themselves full time to Torah study should be protected and allowed to continue learning, while those who don't should serve the country in some capacity. But the party's challenge to the Chareidi status quo goes well beyond the draft. It argues that many working Chareidim, Chareidim who have served in the army, and those who want greater participation in Israeli society are no longer adequately represented by the existing Chareidi political establishment.

Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein is supporting HaTzibbur HaChareidi, and in today's conversation we discuss what this new party stands for and whether it has a realistic chance of changing Chareidi politics. We talk about the draft, who should qualify as a full-time Torah learner, whether yeshiva attendance should be monitored, Chareidi service in the IDF, Daas Torah, government funding, and the relationship between Chareidi society and the State of Israel.

Rabbi Adlerstein describes the party's vision as a "new old Yiddishkeit." The question is whether that vision can offer a genuine alternative to the Chareidi political status quo.

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