🔗 Share this article

A looming crisis over drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is threatening to undermine the administration and dividing the country.

Popular sentiment on the question has undergone a sea change in Israel in the wake of two years of conflict, and this is now possibly the most volatile political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Legislators are now debating a piece of legislation to abolish the special status awarded to yeshiva scholars enrolled in Torah study, established when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

This arrangement was declared unconstitutional by Israel's High Court of Justice almost 20 years ago. Temporary arrangements to maintain it were formally ended by the court last year, forcing the cabinet to begin drafting the Haredi sector.

Roughly 24,000 enlistment orders were issued last year, but just approximately 1,200 men from the community enlisted, according to army data given to lawmakers.

Strains Spill Into Violence

Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with elected officials now debating a new legislative proposal to compel yeshiva students into national service alongside other secular Israelis.

Two Haredi politicians were harassed this month by radical elements, who are incensed with the Knesset's deliberations of the bill.

Recently, a special Border Police unit had to assist army police who were targeted by a sizeable mob of community members as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

These enforcement actions have led to the development of a new alert system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to send out instant alerts through ultra-Orthodox communities and mobilize activists to block enforcement from taking place.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked an activist. "It's impossible to battle religious practice in a Jewish state. That is untenable."

An Environment Separate

Yet the changes sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the environment of the religious seminary in an ultra-Orthodox city, an Haredi enclave on the edge of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, scholars study together to analyze the Torah, their distinctive writing books contrasting with the rows of white shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are studying Torah," the dean of the seminary, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, said. "Via dedicated learning, we protect the military personnel wherever they are. This is our army."

The community holds that constant study and Torah learning guard Israel's military, and are as vital to its military success as its advanced weaponry. That belief was endorsed by previous governments in the previous eras, he said, but he acknowledged that public attitudes are shifting.

Growing Public Pressure

The ultra-Orthodox population has grown substantially its proportion of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now represents 14%. An exemption that started as an exception for a small number of Torah scholars turned into, by the onset of the recent conflict, a cohort of some 60,000 men left out of the draft.

Surveys indicate backing for ultra-Orthodox conscription is rising. A poll in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - even a significant majority in the Prime Minister's political base - favored sanctions for those who ignored a draft order, with a firm majority in favor of withdrawing benefits, the right to travel, or the electoral participation.

"It seems to me there are citizens who live in this nation without giving anything back," one serviceman in Tel Aviv explained.

"It is my belief, no matter how devout, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your country," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "Being a native, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to exempt yourself just to engage in religious study all day."

Voices from the Heart of a Religious City

Support for extending the draft is also found among observant Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the seminary and highlights observant but non-Haredi Jews who do serve in the military while also maintaining their faith.

"It makes me angry that the Haredim don't serve in the army," she said. "This creates inequality. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it means the Torah and the guns together. This is the correct approach, until the days of peace."

The resident runs a local tribute in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Rows of faces {