In a decisive yet highly significant ruling, the High Court of Justice last week mandated that the state commence conscripting chareidi yeshiva students into the IDF, ending decades of mass-exemptions for young men from the chareidi community.
Shortly thereafter, the Attorney General’s Office instructed the Defense Ministry to enforce the ruling, stating, “the defense establishment’s obligation to draft yeshiva students begins on July 1.”
But what does this mean in practice, and will the army start issuing thousands of conscription notices to chareidi yeshiva students in Bnei Brak, Yerushalayim, and elsewhere across Israel?
The short answer is likely no, at least not immediately. However, the Defense Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces must establish a conscription framework capable of promptly issuing draft notices and enlisting approximately 4,800 chareidi conscripts over the next year.
When asked about complying with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s instructions, the Defense Ministry declined to comment.
In its recent ruling, the High Court declared that since the law allowing blanket military exemptions for chareidi yeshiva students expired at the end of June 2023, there is no longer a legal basis for such exemptions, mandating the state to begin drafting these students.
According to the court and the attorney general’s orders, there are currently 63,000 eligible chareidi men who may be called up for military service.
Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, head of the religion and state program at the Israel Democracy Institute, explained that another 14,000 young chareidi men will turn 18 during the current enlistment year, which began in June, making them eligible for draft over the next 12 months.
In total, approximately 77,000 young chareidi men could receive draft orders from the IDF during the upcoming year.
During the High Court proceedings, the IDF informed the attorney general that it could reasonably absorb an additional 3,000 chareidi recruits into its ranks during the upcoming enlistment year, in addition to the average of approximately 1,800 who have enlisted annually in recent years.
Consequently, the attorney general instructed the IDF to start drafting 4,800 yeshiva students, though the military must now determine who will receive enlistment orders and who will remain exempt from military service.
The army has two primary options. The first involves conducting a random lottery among draft-eligible individuals and drafting those whose numbers are drawn.
However, implementing such a system risks direct confrontation with the chareidi community and its leadership if elite yeshiva students end up being drafted.
According to Ravitsky Tur-Paz, an alternative approach is to draft individuals from less prestigious yeshivas or those from the “modern chareidi” community, where secular studies are also taught alongside religious studies.
The Israel Democracy Institute estimates that the “modern chareidi” segment, including those from immigrant families and schools with core-curriculum subjects, comprises between 11 to 15 percent of the chareidi population.
This group is more integrated into Israeli society compared to the mainstream chareidi community and may be more receptive to military service, potentially providing more willing recruits.
Another potential source of conscripts is from “drop-out yeshivas,” institutions established by the chareidi community to provide a chareidi environment for young men not inclined towards intensive limud haTorah and at risk of leaving the community altogether.
The Israel Democracy Institute estimates that out of the 63,000 chareidi seminary students eligible for the draft, approximately 9,500 attend such yeshivas.
Since these institutions primarily aim to retain individuals within the chareidi fold, some might be more inclined to permit students from these yeshivas to serve in the army, especially if mainstream yeshiva students are allowed to focus solely on their learning.
While drafting individuals from these groups might encounter less opposition from chareidi rabbinical and political leaders, concerns about legality persist, as state actions must conform to administrative law, ensuring equitable application of laws to all citizens.
Ravitsky Tur-Paz suggested that as long as the state demonstrates an intention to enforce conscription laws more broadly in the future, drafting from “drop-out” yeshivas and modern chareidi yeshiva students may withstand legal scrutiny in the short term.
Both the military and the attorney general emphasized that the 4,800 individuals slated for conscription this year represent only the initial phase of the conscription process, which the High Court recognized must be gradual.
The critical question now is the extent to which chareidi leadership will resist even conscription from this segment of the community.
According to Yisroel Cohen, a prominent chareidi journalist and commentator, if the army focuses on less prominent yeshiva students and adheres to the 4,800 conscription figure this year, mainstream chareidi leadership may reluctantly acquiesce to avoid a major societal upheaval.
“If they resort to a random approach [lottery], it would create significant issues,” Cohen asserted.
“But the mainstream chareidi sector is moderate; it may agree to some degree of conscription that it considers meaningful… If recruits are from modern yeshivas and drop-out institutions, I believe they will turn a blind eye and permit the Defense and Justice Ministries to meet quotas from the peripheries.”
“However, should they start targeting the mainstream chareidi sector…this could spark a crisis.”
{Matzav.com Israel}
The Israeli Chareidim inflicted this situation on themselves by refusing all compromises.
They could have made a compromise where only non-learning Chareidim were drafted.
But they refused ALL compromises, so now ALL Chareidim can be drafted.
They could have made a compromise where Chareidim perform: food services,
Bikur Cholim, paramedic duties, supply distribution, and computer security.
But they refused all compromises, so now Chareidim can be drafted into combat.
They could have made a compromise where Chareidim serve only in their own units.
But they refused all compromises, so now Chareidim will serve with secular soldiers.
If I remember correctly, tractate Megillah teaches that a man should always be
flexible like, a reed, not inflexible like a cedar.
Disgusting attitude. We are back at the cantonistin when rich and powerful allowed the poor and orphans to be kidnapped to save their own children. If we had principles we would value the yiddishkeitbof the drooouts and not allow even one nechama to be stolen. We can win.
The government already cut off funding for yeshivas and the yeshivas have proven that they can continue to survive by fundraising and do not have to capitulate.
The Charedim will ignore the draft notices and continue learning and there is absolutely nothing the government can do about it. They can’t arrest everyone and if they try to arrest a few here and there to “send a message” nothing will come from that. Just look at what happened when they arrested a few Peleg Yerushalmi boys for refusing to get deferments, they sat in prison with a gemara for a few weeks and then were welcomed back into the yeshiva like heroes.