Rare Letters Reveal the Position of Gedolei Hador: “Only One Whose Torah Is His Profession May Receive a Draft Deferment”
A collection of newly uncovered historical letters is reshaping the current conversation around the draft law by highlighting what the Torah leadership demanded decades ago. The documents—written by Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach and Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman—show that draft deferments for yeshivah students were always conditional: only someone fully dedicated to Torah study, with no outside pursuits, was ever meant to qualify. Even students who were ill and unable to keep a full learning schedule were to be removed from the arrangement.
These revelations come as lawmakers prepare to advance updated draft legislation aimed at protecting the status of Torah students. Debate has intensified around potential restrictions included in the proposal, such as limits on travel or other requirements tied to deferment eligibility.
However, the newly revealed letters demonstrate that such restrictions were standard for decades. As one senior educator explained, for many years—including during the era of the Tal Law—yeshivah students faced clear limitations, such as not traveling abroad. “It was always understood that draft deferment was intended only for those who genuinely sit and learn,” he said. “It’s unclear why some young men today are troubled by similar restrictions, whether involving travel or driver’s licenses.”
He added that a sincere student should not be bothered by such limitations. “If someone truly learns and wants to be part of the deferment system, he shouldn’t care about vacations or repeated trips abroad. And if he is bothered by those things, maybe he shouldn’t be the one endangering the entire Torah world.”
The letters from Rav Shach and Rav Shteinman make the standard unmistakably clear. In a letter from late 1979, Rav Shach, writing as president of the Vaad HaYeshivos, emphasized that the right to defer military service was only for a student whose full-time occupation was Torah study—one who engaged in no outside material pursuits either during or outside yeshivah hours. He urged roshei yeshivah to approve deferments only for those who truly met this requirement and instructed them not to include students whose health prevented them from maintaining the yeshivah schedule.
In another document from 1983, Rav Shteinman wrote in his own handwriting that he would issue a deferment letter only for a student who engaged in nothing other than learning in yeshivah and whose Torah study was truly his sole occupation.
These statements, penned decades ago, mirror the very discussions unfolding today. The message of the Gedolim was consistent and uncompromising: the deferment exists only for those whose lives are fully devoted to Torah study. If a bochur genuinely lives that life, the framework is designed for him. If he chooses a different lifestyle, it should not be at the expense of the broader Torah world.
{Matzav.com}
