🔗 Share this article

An impending crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military is threatening to undermine Israel's government and fracturing the nation.

Popular sentiment on the matter has changed profoundly in Israel after two years of war, and this is now possibly the most divisive political issue facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Conflict

Lawmakers are now debating a proposal to end the special status given to yeshiva scholars dedicated to Torah study, created when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

The deferment was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Interim measures to continue it were officially terminated by the court last year, pressuring the cabinet to commence conscription of the community.

Roughly 24,000 call-up papers were delivered last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts reported for duty, according to military testimony given to lawmakers.

Strains Boil Over Into Public View

Friction is spilling onto the streets, with elected officials now discussing a new legislative proposal to compel ultra-Orthodox men into army duty together with other Jewish citizens.

Two representatives were targeted this month by radical elements, who are enraged with parliament's discussion of the bill.

In a recent incident, a special Border Police unit had to extract enforcement personnel who were targeted by a sizeable mob of Haredi men as they attempted to detain a man avoiding service.

These enforcement actions have prompted the establishment of a new communication network named "Emergency Alert" to send out instant alerts through ultra-Orthodox communities and summon activists to stop detentions from taking place.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked Shmuel Orbach. "You can't fight against religious practice in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It doesn't work."

A World Apart

However the shifts sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the environment of the religious seminary in a Haredi stronghold, an ultra-Orthodox city on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, young students study together to debate Judaism's religious laws, their vividly colored notepads popping against the rows of light-colored shirts and small black kippahs.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see half the guys are engaged in learning," the dean of the academy, the spiritual guide, explained. "By studying Torah, we shield the troops on the front lines. This is our army."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that unceasing devotion and Torah learning defend Israel's military, and are as vital to its security as its conventional forces. This conviction was accepted by the nation's leaders in the past, the rabbi said, but he admitted that Israel was changing.

Growing Public Pressure

The ultra-Orthodox population has grown substantially its proportion of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now constitutes around one in seven. An exemption that started as an exception for several hundred yeshiva attendees became, by the onset of the Gaza war, a cohort of approximately 60,000 men left out of the national service.

Surveys indicate support for ending the exemption is rising. Research in July found that 85% of secular and traditional Jews - including almost three-quarters in the Prime Minister's political base - favored consequences for those who ignored a draft order, with a solid consensus in approving removing privileges, travel documents, or the franchise.

"It makes me feel there are people who live in this nation without contributing," one military member in Tel Aviv said.

"I don't think, no matter how devout, [it] should be an justification not to go and serve your state," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it rather absurd that you want to avoid service just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Perspectives from Within a Religious City

Support for broadening conscription is also found among observant Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who is a neighbor of the seminary and highlights religious Zionists who do perform national service while also maintaining their faith.

"I am frustrated that ultra-Orthodox people don't serve in the army," she said. "It's unfair. I too follow the Torah, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the Torah and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the days of peace."

Ms Barak manages a local tribute in Bnei Brak to soldiers from the area, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Lines of images {