After months of deliberations an 11-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Aharon Barak ruled that the system, under which the defense minister grants exemptions, was illegal. The court gave Parliament a year to pass legislation on the issue, adding that if none is passed the present system would be automatically canceled. The current situation has created an entire population that is not integrated into the labor market and is increasingly dependent on state stipends. Originated by the first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, to preserve the scholarly remnants of Orthodox Jewry that were almost destroyed in the Holocaust, the system applied to 400 students in 1948. But the number mushroomed over the years, as thousands of strictly Orthodox young men sought refuge from military service through enrollment in full-time yeshivas.
Significant numbers work, despite their official registrations as full-time students.
Other exemptions are given to Israeli Arabs and to people found unfit for service. After the ruling, legislators from Meretz and strictly Orthodox parties indicated that they were ready to negotiate a compromise bill that would regulate the exemptions and prevent abuses. Well, that depends upon the Rov. He actually got that from Malachi. CREN Do they have gideon bibles in j-b.