A source from Rabbi Sorotzkin’s yeshiva told Walla: "It was in the spirit of Purim." However, social media erupted with sharp criticism after it emerged that the yeshiva received 26 million shekels in state funding in 2023.
MK Gilad Kariv reacted angrily during a Knesset Constitution Committee session: "A yeshiva head educates his students—who could defend the country’s borders—not only to evade service but also to mock those who went to fight and protect. He should have opened his son’s draft-dodging wedding celebrations with a moment of silence for the fallen, but instead, he mocks bereaved families. Shameless arrogance—you should hang your heads in shame."
Opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X: "There’s nothing Jewish or religious about draft-dodging. The October 7 government grants them exemptions at our children’s expense, and no one in Likud will stand up and say, ‘Enough, this isn’t our way.’ A national disgrace."
MK Elazar Stern added: "They don’t believe in our rule—but they do believe in our money and blood."
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman commented on the wedding footage: "Don’t enlist? Don’t vote," referencing his party’s proposed bill to strip voting rights from those who evade IDF service.
