'Throw them in the toilet': Yitzhak Yosef urges students to 'tear up' draft orders

"What do we have without our Torah? Why did we come here—to become secular? If a draft notice arrives, tear it up. Do you have a toilet at home? Flush it down,” Yosef said.

By YAKI ADAMKER DECEMBER 5, 2024 12:29

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef during a shaharit prayer in the northern Israeli city of Tzfat, September 17, 2024. (photo credit: David Cohen/Flash90)

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the former chief Sephardi rabbi and a leading figure in the Shas party, told yeshiva students this week to take the IDF draft notices sent to them, “tear them up, throw them in the toilet, and flush them away.”

Yosef made these remarks during a discussion with students earlier this week, where he urged them “not to fear because the Holy One, Blessed be He, is with you.”

In a recording published by the Kikar HaShabbat website, Rabbi Yosef recalled a speech he gave during his tenure as chief rabbi.

“I declared that if we are not allowed to study Torah here, we will go abroad because we must study Torah," Yosef said in the recording. "What do we have without our Torah? Why did we come here—to become secular? If a draft notice arrives, tear it up. Do you have a toilet at home? Flush it down.”

Rabbi Yosef was recently appointed to Shas’s Council of Torah Sages, the party’s spiritual leadership. Those close to him hope he will eventually become the council’s president and lead Shas, following in the footsteps of his late father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef during a shaharit prayer in the northern Israeli city of Tzfat, September 17, 2024. (credit: David Cohen/Flash90)

Yosef’s remarks align with those of other ultra-Orthodox leaders

While Rabbi Yosef’s remarks were particularly blunt, his stance aligns with those of other ultra-Orthodox leaders from the Lithuanian, hasidic, and Sephardi communities.

These groups oppose any cooperation with the IDF, advocate ignoring draft notices sent in the absence of legal “Torato Umanuto” ('Torah study is his job') status, and call on yeshiva students to avoid reporting to draft offices altogether.

The ultra-Orthodox factions, Shas and United Torah Judaism are pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to advance a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service. However, no significant progress has been made on the legislation so far.