MK Moshe Roth today (Tuesday) submitted a bill for the Basic Law on Torah Study
"Torah study is a fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people," states the new bill that MK Rabbi Moshe Roth has placed on the Knesset table and will be discussed at the beginning of the winter session.
The coalition agreement with the Torah Judaism party stipulates that the government will promote a Basic Law that will regulate the status of Torah learners even before the budget is passed. In light of the delays in advancing the law, MK Moshe Roth, together with MKs Yaakov Asher, Eliyahu Baruchi, Moshe Gafni, Yaakov Tessler, Yitzhak Pindros and Israel Eichler, submitted a private bill that would determine the status of the value of Torah study and the unique status of Torah learners.
The bill states that "the State of Israel, as a Jewish state, sees utmost importance in encouraging Torah study and Torah learners," and accordingly, the bill's initiators propose "to properly anchor in Basic Law the great importance and value that the state sees in Torah study, and its desire to encourage Torah study."
The law also states that "those who undertake to devote themselves to Torah study for a significant period of time will be considered to have served the State of Israel and the Jewish people in significant service, and this will have an impact on their rights and obligations."
A central clause in the bill relates to a High Court ruling that sought to regulate the issue of recruitment of yeshiva students. The initiators of the law claim that the Basic Law on Torah Study will make it clear to the Supreme Court that the Knesset supports recognizing the centrality of the value of Torah study.
According to MK Rabbi Moshe Roth: "In the coalition agreement, it was agreed that this bill would be a government proposal, but this was not done in the agreed timetable. Therefore, we decided to submit the bill as a private proposal on behalf of the entire faction so that we could advance the bill immediately at the beginning of the winter session."
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