Knesset Passes Basic Law on Torah Study in Final Votes

The Basic Law: Torah Study was approved Monday evening in its second and third readings in the Knesset plenum, passing by a vote of 63 in favor and 52 opposed.

The bill's explanatory notes state: "In this Basic Law bill, it is proposed to anchor the value of Torah study in a Basic Law as a foundational value in the heritage of the Jewish people and in the State of Israel, in order to establish formal recognition of it as such."

The bill's sponsor, MK Moshe Gafni, addressed the plenum: "The declaration regarding the value of Torah study in Israel is critically important. In the early years of the state, there was no need for this law. In recent years, reality has become very difficult — and we will not yield on this matter. This is our very existence, and we will protect Torah learners so that they have a place of honor. This law grants that honored place to Torah learners in the State of Israel."

MK Yitzhak Goldknopf said: "We did not return to the Land of Israel for convenience or quality of life, but because this is the land that the Almighty promised our forefathers — and it is our right by virtue of the Torah. This law is for the State of Israel, and it is meant to remind Jews of what should have been self-evident: that Torah study is a foundational value upon which the Jewish people have relied throughout every generation."

MK Yinon Azulai said: "In the Jewish state, perhaps there should have been no need to make explicit a point like this — it should have gone without saying. But there are things that apparently must be written down. The Jewish people endured exiles, wars, and pogroms. Yet they always remained alive and enduring — and all of this is by virtue of our holy Torah. This is our pride and our glory."

MK Benny Gantz said: "Torah study is something done out of free will and love of Torah. Jewish families studied Torah in the ghetto and in the death camps, and we will continue to study Torah. The fact that a Torah study law is being passed in the Knesset of Israel — with the direct or indirect purpose of legitimizing draft evasion — harms Israel's security and our fighters, and is a disgrace to the Torah and to those who study it."

Ahead of the vote, the heads of the opposition parties — together with MKs Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel — issued a joint statement calling on coalition members to vote against the bill: "We call on coalition members of Knesset to act responsibly and not vote in favor of seriously harming the IDF during wartime, in direct contradiction to the chief of staff's stark warning." The signatories added: "The roll of shame of those who support the draft evasion law will stand forever before the eyes of Israel's citizens who serve and work."

The statement was signed by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Liberman, and Yair Golan, as well as Tropper and Hendel. The party leaders also asked Benny Gantz to add his name, but he declined, choosing instead to issue a separate statement of his own.

Shas Chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri fired back at the opposition statement, dismissing it as entirely unrelated to the substance of the law. "The joint statement by the opposition leaders against the law to prevent the arrest of Torah learners — a law that does not harm the IDF in any way — was issued for one purpose only," Deri said: "to torpedo the law splitting the role of the attorney general and preserve the power of the judicial junta."

Last week, coalition factions reached an agreement under which Basic Law: Torah Study would be declarative in nature only — meaning it would not in practice equalize the legal standing of Torah learners with that of those serving in the IDF. It was further agreed that the law's language would include a clause establishing that Torah study constitutes "a foundational value in the heritage of the Jewish people."