Rabbi Asher Deutsch, leader of Peleg Yerushalmi, dies at 79

He previously served as the head of the Lithuanian 'Ponevezh Yeshiva' for 46 years, and has been influential in draft dodging among yeshiva students.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF DECEMBER 16, 2024 17:09

Head Rabbis of Ponevezh Yeshiva (Ponevitch) Rabbi Asher Deutsch. (photo credit: YAAKOV NAUMI/FLASH90)

Rabbi Asher Deutsch, the leader of the haredi hard-line political organization - Peleg Yerushalmi - and Yeshiva lead, died at the aged of 79 on Monday.

Rabbi Deutsch, who was born in Bnei Brak, has been battling an illness for the last year, KAN  reported. 

His funeral will be held on Monday at 8 p.m. Israeli media warned of traffic congestion ahead of the funeral procession, which is expected to block major thoroughfares in Bnei Brak starting at 5 p.m.

Chason Ish Street will be entirely blocked, including all streets leading to it. Southbound traffic will not be allowed from Beit Shammai Street, and northbound traffic will not be allowed on Chason Ish Street from Sderot Yerushalayim Street in Ramat Gan, according to Israeli media.

POLICE CONFRONT haredi demonstrators blocking a road in Jerusalem, protesting against efforts to draft haredim into the military, earlier this month. (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Rabbi Deutsch has led the Jerusalem Faction, also known as Bnei HaTorah, since the death of its founder, Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, in 2017.

Refusal to enlist

He previously served as the head of the Lithuanian 'Ponevezh Yeshiva' for 46 years and has been an influential force in leading draft dodging efforts among yeshiva students. Students of the yeshiva are known for protesting enlistment by blocking roads, often leading to arrest.

In August, Deustch said, "It is the legal right of thousands of Jews to demonstrate in front of the recruitment office gates."

Last year, the Jerusalem Faction protested after a Ponevezh Yeshiva student did not show up to the IDF draft office when called up. 

"Due to his criminal arrest, the rabbis of the 'Committee for the Salvation of the Torah World' will go to the residence of Rabbi Asher Deutsch, and get his decision on the nature of the major campaign that is facing the public," said the faction at the time. 

"The Torah world will come out en masse to protest and cry 'oppression' for the souls of young Israelis who are languishing in the terrible frameworks of the army as a result of the criminal conscription law. And as our great Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach instructed us: 'To shake the entire world about the arrest of the prisoners of the Torah world who do not report to the conscription offices.'"