Overview
- Speaking Tuesday at the Kesav Sofer beis medrash in Jerusalem, Rabbi Aharon Teitelbaum warned that backing any compromise on the draft would be “handing over tens of thousands” to religious destruction, and said IDF service leads enlistees away from observance.
- At a Monday reception at the Badatz Eidah HaChareidis, he called the proposal a “Gzeiras Shmad” aimed at secularizing charedim and said voting for it constitutes an offense requiring yehareg ve’al ya’avor.
- He invoked a decades-old warning from the previous Satmar Rebbe about a future draft decree, asserting that the present moment fulfills that prediction.
- The visit featured a mass Jerusalem welcome combined with the completion of a new Sefer Torah, where he presided over the final letters and celebrations drew thousands.
- His tour includes meetings with leading rabbinic figures from Breslov, Gur and Belz and stops at Satmar institutions in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, with a large Shabbat gathering in Meron expected this weekend.