A Joint Effort: Integrating Haredim in the IDF

The IDF should do what it can to ease the transition of Haredim from the social frameworks in which they have grown up and been educated into the military, but it is also important for new conscripts to understand that the rules cannot be changed according to the preferences of every single soldier or group.

Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

For years, non-Haredi Israelis have been protesting the de facto exemption from military service granted to the Haredim, but at a certain point most of them despaired of the possibility of the situation ever changing. Additionally, some have argued that the disadvantages of Haredi conscription would outweigh its benefits, due to the high costs that this step would impose on the military—both the economic costs involved in providing special kashrut certification, separate bases, and the like; and, more acutely, the moral costs incurred in terms of the predicted effects on female soldiers and officers, who would have to pay the price of catering to the sensitivities of the new recruits.

In the months since October 7, it has become clear to everyone that the era of sweeping exemptions from military service for Haredi men has come to an end. It is still too early to predict how many Haredim will enlist, when, and how, but it is likely that the process of integrating them into the army will begin in the coming year and will only intensify. From both a moral and practical point of view, the success of the process will depend on the creation of appropriate frameworks for the absorption of young Haredim into the IDF, frameworks that on the one hand will respect their way of life, and on the other, will allow them to perform significant military service. I’d like to mention four guiding principles for such frameworks.

First, the IDF must respect the religious freedom of Haredi soldiers in the literal sense of the term, namely, it must not force them to do anything that is clearly and directly contrary to Jewish law (halakha), or to prevent them from fulfilling any religious commandments. Since the commitment of Haredim to halakha is not open to compromise, care must be taken not to force them into a dilemma between their loyalty to halakha and obedience to their commanders. For example, it will be important to ensure that the food they receive meets the strictest standards of kashrut; that they are not required to violate Shabbat unless clearly justified due to operational needs or to life-threatening situations; that they receive appropriate time for daily prayers and for food blessings; that they can fast on fast days; that they are allowed to perform ritual handwashing before meals; and so on. Failure to attend to these conditions would be unfair to Haredi soldiers and would put an end to hopes for increasing the number of Haredi recruits.

Second, while Haredi soldiers can justifiably expect that military service will not require them to violate halakha, they cannot expect that the general atmosphere, daily routine, dress norms, and so on in the IDF will resemble the Haredi environment from which they come. Like all other soldiers, they must understand that military life has its own rules, and that these cannot be changed according to the preferences of each individual soldier or group of soldiers. For example, for some Haredim, a central feature of the Shabbat atmosphere might be is sitting at the Shabbat table for an extended period and singing devotional songs (zemirot), but, since this is not an actual religious obligation, they cannot demand extended meals of this kind as long as there are other tasks to perform or constraints on their time. The same applies to Torah study, the central value in the Haredi world. Of course, if there is free time available, whether during training or during operational deployment, Haredi soldiers are entitled to study Torah for as long as they wish, and the IDF should help make this possible. But the IDF does not have to allocate significant time to Torah learning during training or operational deployment, because from a halakhic perspective it is possible to fulfill the obligation of Torah study “by reading one chapter in the morning and one chapter in the evening,” according to one opinion in the Talmud, or by “reading the Shema prayer in the morning and in the evening,” according to another.

Third, Haredi soldiers cannot expect that all the spaces they are required to enter during their military service will not include women, just as such an expectation is unreasonable in civilian life. Haredim cannot expect all bank tellers to be male, or that the medical staff in emergency rooms will comprise only men. Furthermore, Haredim also cannot expect women who work in banks or hospitals to adhere to the rules of modesty that are accepted in Haredi society. In the military context, Haredim can reasonably expect not to have to serve in close and continuous proximity with women—for example, that their team commanders or sport instructors will not be female—but this does not mean that the administrative staff at the base where they serve, or in the units to which they are assigned, will contain only men. If Haredim can meet with a female bank teller to sign forms, they can also meet with a female adjutant clerk for a similar purpose.

Finally, notwithstanding the above, and as far as possible, the IDF should make a special effort to ease the transition of Haredim from the social frameworks in which they have grown up into the military framework, especially during their first months of service. Given the claim commonly voiced in Haredi society, that the secular state in general, and the army in particular, want to religiously convert the Haredim, it is important that the IDF be able to demonstrate in its conduct vis-à-vis Haredi conscripts that this claim is unfounded. It must show that it is willing to invest money, energy, and creative thinking in order to advance the successful integration of Haredim into the army with minimal harm to their way of life, and that it is making every effort to reduce the odds that military service will lead to secularization.

In the long run, successfully integrating Haredim into the IDF depends not only on their entering the military as Haredim, but on their exiting from the military as such.