In recent months, as lawmakers have struggled over a proposed law regulating ultra-Orthodox military conscription, activists affiliated with some of the Haredi community’s most extreme sects have been distributing tens of thousands of shekels to yeshiva students arrested for draft evasion in a community-wide effort to discourage enlistment.

The issue made headlines across Israel last week when an organization affiliated with the hardline Jerusalem Faction calling itself “Notnim Gav” (Got Your Back) announced that it had held a “ceremony of appreciation” to celebrate the release of yeshiva student Meir Yonah after 18 days in military prison.

An extremist ultra-Orthodox group numbering some 60,000 members, the Jerusalem Faction regularly demonstrates raucously against the military enlistment of yeshiva students.

According to the group, Yonah was presented at the event with NIS 60,000 ($19,500) by rabbis and activists who had “decided to express the Haredi public’s appreciation for those who sacrifice themselves in a unique way.”

It added that the grant was significantly higher than that offered to other draft evaders — who often receive NIS 1,000 ($323) per day from the Satmar Hasidic sect.

“We wish donors would contribute for every young man. Furthermore, we tried to launch a grant program for every detainee but for various reasons, it hasn’t materialized yet,” a spokesman for the group lamented in an email.

Speaking with The Times of Israel, representatives of the Jerusalem Faction described a variety of activities meant to support draft dodgers and their families, including legal aid, certificates of appreciation and other initiatives whose goal is to “encourage the youth” to stay in yeshiva.

“The truth is, it usually doesn’t start with us,” said Notnim Gav activist Naftali Schlesinger, explaining that other Haredi groups or philanthropists will sometimes approach them to facilitate the transfer of funds but so far there has not been an organized effort.

“We wanted there to be one. For now, there isn’t,” Schlesinger continued, claiming that only six or seven young men have received cash grants so far.

“The goal is generally to strengthen all the yeshiva students who haven’t yet gone to jail. If they see that there are people who appreciate them to the point that they sometimes agree to give money for it, then it strengthens everyone. It’s not necessarily always for the boy himself.”

Among Notnim Gav’s programs are anti-enlistment hotlines in English and Hebrew,........

© The Times of Israel