Should Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews Serve in the IDF?

Absolutely, but integrating them won't be easy.

Good afternoon Maccabee Nation!

Before we jump into discussing Israel’s decision to begin drafting ultra-orthodox Jews, let’s take a minute to celebrate Jamal Bowman’s ousting as a political representative in New York. He is the first member of the “Squad” of Jew haters to be voted out of office by his party and hopefully his loss will convince more politicians that trafficking in antisemitism for votes is bad business.

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Now onto the Israeli news.

The Israeli Supreme Court recently ruled on Tuesday that ultra-orthodox Jews must now serve in the military. Although the IDF is not yet ready to absorb the Haredim community into their ranks, this historic change will hopefully end one of Israel’s most divisive issues threatening unity during a time when we must come together.

How did the military exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews start?

The exemption was first established at the foundation of the modern state by Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, who believed it applied to only 400 yeshiva students from military service at the time. Twenty years later, there were still only 800 such exemptions. But in 1977, the government of Menachem Begin lifted the restrictions, and today there are some 63,000 eligible ultra-Orthodox men of military age who are not serving.

Like in most Western societies, and around the world more generally, population growth is being being driven by religious families who multiply like bunny rabbits. These demographic shifts could spell big problems for Israel long-term if unaddressed. Haredi society represents about 13 percent of Israel now, and many believe their participation in protection of the nation is critical to Israel being able to adequately meet the military challenges that lie ahead.

What’s next when it comes to integrating the ultra-Orthodox?

The IDF has excelled at integrating diverse sectors of Israeli society. The IDF has opened up its ranks to enable women to serve alongside men in combat, disabled soldiers, foreign language speakers, and lone soldiers. The IDF is truly an army of the people, which is one of its greatest strengths.

Despite these inclusive efforts, integrating the ultra-Orthodox community has remained a challenge. In my opinion, the difficulties have nothing to do with the challenges the IDF must overcome in terms of kosher food, appropriate uniforms, or separation of sexes at various bases; the real challenge is the Haredi community’s overwhelming aversion to serving.

“We prefer dying to serving in the Israeli army,” said Yona Kruskal, 42, a father of 11 and full-time seminary student, as he blocked traffic in Jerusalem with about 200 others last week in one of the frequent protests against the conscription law. “There’s no way you can force us to go to the army, because we are hell-bent that the army and religion contradict one another.”

This sentiment is at odds with the majority of Israeli society who believe the Haredim should serve. Oren Shvill, founder of Brothers in Arms (a protest group representing reserve soldiers), believes the ultra-Orthodox are benefitting from the army’s protection without participating. As the poll above shows nearly two thirds of Israeli Jews agree with Oren.

Even though the law has now changed, bridging this gap will certainly be difficult and take time. “According to the calculations of the army, there were 1,800 that were conscripted last year,” said Gilad Malach, director of the ultra-Orthodox in Israel program at the Israel Democracy Institute, after the ruling. “The army needs to make some changes to conscript them. According to the army, next year the military can enlist 4,800.” Hopefully this number will continue to grow over time.

What will be the long-term impact of the Haredi community serving?

Economists have said the previous status quo was unsustainable.

“One of the things that in the past was debatable, and now is much more clear, is that we need more soldiers,” said Yoaz Hendel, a former Netanyahu aide and Cabinet minister who just finished four months of reserve duty as commander of a special forces unit.

With hundreds of of thousands of reservists now called up to fight for extended periods of time, expanding the base of active soldiers GREATLY diminishes the need for extended deployments of reservists. The economy needs to continue functioning as we fight on multiple fronts. I also believe that this change will improve cohesion of Israeli society at a time when we need to be staring down bigger threats externally.

There will be political fallout as well. The ultra-Orthodox are an integral part of Netanyahu’s governing coalition and this policy is likely to infuriate them. Already in a precarious position prior to this ruling, it remains to be seen how Netanyahu will survive politically without clearly accomplishing the military objectives he laid out months ago in regard to dismantling Hamas and freeing the hostages.

While I agree that the ultra-Orthodox are a crucial part of Israeli society and that their greatest rabbinic scholars should have the time and space to study freely, I also think the exemption laws were abused. Just like Israel has ways for our best athletes and scholars to serve in the IDF while pursuing their skills, they can still have a limited number of exemptions for the best rabbinic minds.

Not every Yeshiva kid is a Torah guru, but they have other important ways they can contribute to Israeli society. I am personally excited more of them will be fighting alongside us or doing civil service. I think when we look back decades from now, we will realize this ruling helped benefit both Israeli society and Haredi Jews.

Sources:

Ultra Orthodox must now serve https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/25/middleeast/israel-orthodox-military-high-court-intl/index.html

History of the exception https://www.timesofisrael.com/evading-national-service-in-the-jewish-state-is-the-opposite-of-authentic-judaism/

Israeli Democracy Society https://en.idi.org.il/articles/53301

Jamal Brown can go fuck himself https://www.thedailybeast.com/jamaal-bowmans-defeat-is-a-fatal-blow-to-the-anti-israel-left

Integrating the Ultra-orthodox https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-807716 and https://apnews.com/article/israel-military-gaza-netanyahu-religion-b91733c886246e2c69ca525f71c78053

How the IDF integrated women into combat https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-682010