Yeshiva students can enlist in IDF, prominent rabbi's daughter says

Adina Bar-Shalom, the daughter of the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, said in an interview on ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Barama that some yeshiva students do not make productive use of their study time and could enlist in the Israel Defense Forces.

The remarks come in stark contrast with the sentiment held by many in the ultra-Orthodox community, who hold Torah study in the highest regard, that it would be a transgression to force Torah students to abandon their studies and become soldiers. Bar-Shalom spoke amid an ongoing public debate surrounding legislation aimed at compelling yeshiva students to participate in mandatory military service, from which they have so far been largely exempt.

"Many yeshiva boys wander from window to window, from cigarette to cigarette. We all know this," Bar-Shalom said.

According to haredi news website Kikar Hashabat, Bar-Shalom said that the government was on the verge of reaching a compromise on the draft law with leading rabbis. The rabbis, she said, agreed that less serious yeshiva students should enlist in the army.

Host Mordechai Lavi responded sharply, saying, "There are enough secular MKs who say this, when in reality, we know it is a minority. Now they will say, 'Look, even [Yosef's daughter] Adina Bar-Shalom says so.'"

Bar-Shalom was attacked for her statement on social media, where she was called "The new Amsalem," a reference to Rabbi Haim Amsalem, who split from Shas and criticized yeshiva students, to the outrage of the ultra-Orthodox public.