Religion & State
The Torah study law
The Basic Law making Torah study a value of the state should stay in force.
The Knesset passed the Basic Law 63 to 52 on 13 July 2026. Opponents say it will give legal cover to draft exemptions.
What is at stake
On 13 July 2026 the Knesset passed, 63 to 52, a Basic Law declaring that "Torah study is a fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people and in the State of Israel". Basic Laws carry quasi-constitutional rank and colour how every other statute is read.
The case for
- Torah study held Jewish identity together for twenty centuries without a state. Writing it into the Basic Laws says what the state is.
- The text creates no exemption and mentions none. It states a value, as the Basic Law on human dignity does.
- Israel already protects property, freedom of occupation and the state's national character by Basic Law. Torah study was not among them.
The case against
- It passed at the precise moment the Supreme Court was requiring yeshiva students to be drafted. The timing says what the text does not.
- A value written in at constitutional rank becomes an argument before the judges. That is where it will be used.
- A Basic Law passed 63 to 52, without a broad majority, lacks the consensus a constitutional text demands.
Both sides get the same number of points at comparable length. That is a rule of this site, not a coincidence.
What the next Knesset could decide
The Knesset. A Basic Law is repealed the way it is passed, by a Knesset vote — this one is not shielded by any supermajority requirement.