The Knesset voted 63-52 on Monday to pass a deeply divisive Basic Law declaring Torah study a “foundational value” of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, following 10 hours of speeches and opposition filibustering, and despite resistance from the opposition, legal officials, reservists and some coalition lawmakers.

The legislation makes Torah study the only value explicitly enshrined in one of Israel’s Basic Laws, giving it quasi-constitutional recognition. Haredi parties have pushed to pass the law as part of their broader effort to preserve blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men, while opponents argue it effectively elevates Torah study above all other national values.

While the final version of the legislation no longer explicitly equates Torah study with military service following pressure from Likud, opponents argue that even in its pared-down form, the law grants constitutional recognition to Torah study alone, elevating it above other national values while tens of thousands of reservists continue to serve in the ongoing war.

In Israel, which lacks a formal constitution, Basic Laws have quasi-constitutional status.

“Today, a historic step has been taken in the State of Israel,” said United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni, who co-sponsored the bill. “This Basic Law will serve as the state’s moral compass and express the recognition that Torah study is not merely the heritage of the past, but the foundation upon which rests the present and future of the Jewish people on their land.”

Shas party chairman Arye Deri celebrated, “This is a victory for the world of Torah and a clear answer to the ousted attorney general and everyone who sought to persecute and humiliate yeshiva students. You will not succeed in breaking the Jewish spirit. The holy Torah will prevail!”

“I never dreamed that we would have to legislate a Basic Law to establish that Torah study is a foundational value in the State of Israel,” said United Torah Judaism chair Yitzhak Goldknopf before the plenum.

Likud MKs Yuli Edelstein and Dan Illouz voted against the legislation. Both have long opposed the bill and recently announced they are leaving Likud over the issue.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was absent from the vote, prompting Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot to write, “Coward. Here’s another stain, one that won’t be erased.”

The legislation is the first of several contentious measures expected to advance this week as part of a larger political deal struck last month between Netanyahu and his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners to break a legislative deadlock and solidify their alliance before the election.

Under that agreement, the coalition is fast-tracking further legislation demanded by the Haredi parties, including bills temporarily freezing arrests and sanctions of draft dodgers, and restoring the Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly over kosher certification.

In return, the Haredi........

© The Times of Israel