🔗 Share this article

A looming political storm over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military is jeopardizing the administration and splitting the state.

Popular sentiment on the matter has shifted dramatically in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now possibly the most volatile political challenge facing the Prime Minister.

The Legal Battle

Lawmakers are reviewing a piece of legislation to abolish the deferment granted to Haredi students engaged in yeshiva learning, established when the the nation was founded in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by Israel's High Court of Justice in the early 2000s. Temporary arrangements to maintain it were finally concluded by the bench last year, compelling the administration to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but merely about 1,200 men from the community reported for duty, according to military testimony given to lawmakers.

Strains Spill Into Violence

Tensions are erupting onto the public squares, with elected officials now debating a new legislative proposal to compel ultra-Orthodox men into national service in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

Two Haredi politicians were harassed this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are enraged with the Knesset's deliberations of the draft legislation.

In a recent incident, a special Border Police unit had to extract army police who were surrounded by a sizeable mob of community members as they attempted to detain a man avoiding service.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new alert system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through Haredi neighborhoods and call out demonstrators to prevent arrests from happening.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," said one protester. "You can't fight against religious practice in a Jewish country. It doesn't work."

A World Apart

However the changes affecting Israel have failed to penetrate the walls of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in a Haredi stronghold, an religious community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, young students learn in partnerships to discuss Judaism's religious laws, their distinctive writing books contrasting with the lines of white shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see a significant portion are studying Torah," the head of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, explained. "Through religious study, we protect the soldiers on the front lines. This is how we contribute."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and Torah learning protect Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its military success as its tanks and air force. This tenet was acknowledged by previous governments in the past, the rabbi said, but he admitted that Israel was changing.

Growing Popular Demand

This religious sector has grown substantially its proportion of Israel's population over the last seventy years, and now represents a sizable minority. A policy that originated as an deferment for several hundred yeshiva attendees turned into, by the beginning of the 2023 war, a body of some 60,000 men left out of the national service.

Surveys indicate approval of drafting the Haredim is growing. Research in July found that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - encompassing a significant majority in the Prime Minister's political base - backed consequences for those who declined a call-up notice, with a solid consensus in supporting withdrawing benefits, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who live in this nation without serving," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, regardless of piety, [it] should be an excuse not to fulfill your duty to your state," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to study Torah all day."

Views from Inside the Community

Support for broadening conscription is also found among observant Jews beyond the Haredi community, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the academy and points to religious Zionists who do serve in the military while also maintaining their faith.

"I'm very angry that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "This creates inequality. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it signifies the Torah and the weapons together. That's the way forward, until the arrival of peace."

Ms Barak runs a local tribute in the neighborhood to local soldiers, both from all backgrounds, who were lost in conflict. Rows of photographs {