🔗 Share this article

An impending political storm over drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military is posing a risk to the governing coalition and dividing the state.

Public opinion on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel in the wake of two years of war, and this is now arguably the most volatile political issue facing the Prime Minister.

The Judicial Battle

Legislators are currently considering a proposal to abolish the special status awarded to yeshiva scholars engaged in yeshiva learning, instituted when the the nation was founded in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by the nation's top court in the early 2000s. Temporary arrangements to continue it were finally concluded by the judiciary last year, compelling the administration to commence conscription of the Haredi sector.

Some 24,000 draft notices were issued last year, but only around 1,200 Haredi conscripts enlisted, according to army data shared with lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Onto the Streets

Friction is spilling onto the city centers, with lawmakers now deliberating a new legislative proposal to compel Haredi males into national service alongside other Jewish citizens.

Two Haredi politicians were confronted this month by radical elements, who are enraged with the legislative debate of the proposed law.

Recently, a specialized force had to rescue Military Police officers who were targeted by a big group of community members as they attempted to detain a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have led to the development of a new messaging system named "Emergency Alert" to spread word quickly through ultra-Orthodox communities and mobilize activists to block enforcement from taking place.

"We're a Jewish country," remarked Shmuel Orbach. "It's impossible to battle the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

A Realm Apart

However the shifts blowing through Israel have failed to penetrate the confines of the Torah academy in an ultra-Orthodox city, an Haredi enclave on the edge of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, scholars learn in partnerships to discuss Jewish law, their brightly coloured school notebooks standing out against the lines of formal attire and small black kippahs.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the leader of the seminary, the spiritual guide, said. "Through religious study, we safeguard the troops wherever they are. This is how we contribute."

The community holds that continuous prayer and religious study defend Israel's soldiers, and are as crucial to its defense as its conventional forces. That belief was acknowledged by the nation's leaders in the previous eras, he said, but he acknowledged that the nation is evolving.

Increasing Public Pressure

This religious sector has more than doubled its share of the country's people over the last seventy years, and now represents around one in seven. A policy that originated as an exception for several hundred Torah scholars evolved into, by the start of the 2023 war, a body of tens of thousands of men exempt from the national service.

Opinion polls suggest approval of drafting the Haredim is growing. A survey in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - encompassing a large segment in his own coalition allies - favored consequences for those who refused a enlistment summons, with a solid consensus in supporting withdrawing benefits, travel documents, or the franchise.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who are part of this nation without contributing," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an reason not to fulfill your duty to your country," said Gabby. "Being a native, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from Inside Bnei Brak

Advocacy of ending the exemption is also expressed by traditional Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the seminary and highlights non-Haredi religious Jews who do perform national service while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that this community don't enlist," she said. "It's unfair. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it means the scripture and the guns together. That's the way forward, until the messianic era."

Ms Barak maintains a modest remembrance site in Bnei Brak to soldiers from the area, both from all backgrounds, who were lost in conflict. Long columns of faces {