Don’t Let Haredi Leadership Stand in the Way of Haredim Who Want to Enlist in the IDF

While the Haredi leadership is fighting against military service for yeshiva students, real change is already visible on the margins of Haredi society, with a growing desire among young men to serve in the IDF like other Israelis. What’s needed now is for the politicians, the religious leadership, and the government to adapt to the changes on the ground.

Photo by: Miriam Alster/Flash90

The former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef recently issued a religious prohibition against serving in the IDF, even if the alternative is complete idleness on the part of those registered yeshiva students who have no real interest in full-time Torah study. His announcement seeks to protect young Sephardi Haredim from secularization, as some claim would occur when exposed to the diversity of the IDF, but it may be that in practice, Rabbi Yosef is too late. At grassroots level, a sea change is already underway among young Haredim in terms of motivation and desire to perform meaningful military service. Even if Rabbi Yosef’s concerns relate to the drafting of Sephardi yeshiva students in the stead of their Lithuanian and Hasidic counterparts, a sober and cautious examination of developments, along with growing testimonies from the field, indicate that the traumatic events of the last year have also deeply shaken parts of the Haredi public, especially the Sephardi public. Many young men from the more modern and integrationist elements of Haredi society have experienced considerable pangs of conscience and doubts about their lack of participation in shouldering the country’s defense burden, and about the price in blood and fear paid by the Israeli public who do serve in the military.

Some of these young Haredim—most of them married fathers, long past the age of exemption from military service (26)—have volunteered to serve in the IDF and pay their part in the collective effort. These are mostly men on the margins of the isolationist Haredi community, in which the majority of the rabbinical and political leadership consistently and stubbornly opposes any move to draft yeshiva students. Almost 1,150 have volunteered for “Stage 2” service, which involves a rapid two-week military training course followed by reserve duty as medics or ambulance drivers, in IDF Home Front units responsible for identifying bodies, and more. In addition, hundreds of younger Haredi men aged 18–24 have signed up for combat and combat-support roles, including in specially tailored Haredi service tracks.

There is no doubt that in the current painful and entirely unequal circumstances, this number of enlistees is a drop in the ocean compared to the more-than-60,000 Haredi men who still avoid any kind of military service by remaining under the aegis of the yeshiva. The public and political anger at this frustrating situation is entirely justified. Despite this, we should all pay attention to those sections of Haredi society that are largely hidden from public view in which there have been major shifts recently, and in which there are now cautious and hesitant relations with mainstream Israeli society, which does serve in the military. These are those sections from which Rabbi Yosef wants to ward off his flock, lest they stray and (heaven forbid) enlist in the IDF, enter higher education, or gain an occupation outside the world of Torah.

Despite Rabbi Yosef’s pronouncement, there are various Haredi organizations, entrepreneurs, and leading public figures (such as Rabbi Leibel and his staff) who are well aware of the historic nature of the current hour, who are advancing unique new initiatives and investing every effort along every possible avenue of activity in order to identify and assist Haredi men who wish to undertake high-quality and meaningful military service. These include a Haredi youth movement, special pre-military academies for Haredi young men, Haredi yeshivot hesder (combining military service with high-level Torah study), and programs to prepare mentally for combat service. Some of these initiatives are meeting with growing interest and success among young Haredim, while others have experienced challenges related to lack of motivation, cultural and social fears, lack of community legitimacy, and organizational and budgetary difficulties.

Over the last year, various civil society organizations have also joined this effort, preparing work plans and guidelines to help the IDF improve its mechanisms for enlisting and integrating Haredim.

Needless to say, these activities have aroused fierce opposition from the Haredi leadership and the majority of the Haredi public. Those working to advance military service are seen as undermining the traditional Haredi ethos, and are often subjected to being denounced and condemned by the broader community.

The strongest oppositional forces against these changes are to be found, of course, among the Haredi religious and political leadership, with Rabbi Yosef as just one example. These leaders are making every effort to fend off a political and public compromise that will result in Haredi 18-year-olds—who now constitute 18% of the military draft year cohort—fulfilling their moral and ethical social duty. Unfortunately, these Haredi leaders are being backed by the government of Israel, which is prepared to have the general public pay the price of endless reserve duty, while simultaneously erecting bureaucratic and budgetary hurdles against Haredi initiatives promoting military service. Thus, the government is providing de facto support for the line taken by the Haredi leadership, which runs counter to the public interest, and some would say, counter to Torah values.

It is time for the Haredi leadership to come to its senses and recognize the moral and national importance of meaningful military service by its followers, and to reach a compromise that will benefit the entire population of Israel and provide opportunities for those young Haredim who are not natural Torah scholars and who thus find themselves without a promising spiritual or material future. Only a combination of balanced, fair, top-down primary legislation with bottom-up grassroots initiatives, can resolve one of the most painful issues that is harming Israeli solidarity at a time when it is so desperately needed. After all the pain and loss endured, we can only hope that this time, the representatives of the Haredi public will rise above the familiar petty politics and take brave and honorable decisions. The Haredi street is already prepared for the next step.

 

This article was published in the Times of Israel.