Will your brothers go to war, while you sit here?

By Rikki Parker, volunteer at #YomLimmud2014

Equality of service in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is a heated discussion within Israeli society. And rightly so, since it is a complex situation with a multitude of issues and consequences to be considered.

Since the early days of the establishment of Israel, while the rest of the Israeli Jewish population were conscripted to the IDF, males for 3 years and females for 2, the majority of Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Yeshiva students annually postponed their military service until they received an age or parental exemption. With Haredim originally making up a small percentage of the population, (In 1974 2.4% of soldiers enlisting in the army were exempt because they were Yeshiva students), it wasn’t such a major issue. However higher than average birth rates in the religious community saw this grow to 9.2% in 1999.  Exemption from conscription for this growing percentage of the population puts a greater economic and security burden on the rest of Israeli society, greatly frustrating secular Israelis.  

Servicing Haredim - Tal law convinced only small numbers

The Tal law was passed in 2011 to try encourage, rather than force Haredim to enlist as a means of integrating them into Israeli society. This law exempted Ultra-Orthodox full-time Yeshiva students who were not participating in any salary-earning employment from military service on a temporary basis. It allowed them to defer until the age of 22 where they had a ‘decision year’ to either perform vocational training and decide whether to join the army for at least 16 months or perform a year of unpaid civilian national service. The effectiveness of the law, however, relied heavily on the cooperation and encouragement of leaders in the Yeshivas and the Haredi community and only small amounts of young Haredim were ultimately convinced to enlist. 

18 months ago, The Israeli High court ruled the Tal Law was unconstitutional. Last month, the Knesset voted in a new law, which comes into force in 2017. It puts into place a quota of 5200 Haredi recruits for the IDF and civilian national service combined that must be met by the Haredi community. If the quota is not met those of military service age that attempt to evade conscription will be faced with imprisonment.

The new law is not looked on favourably at all by the Haredim. Many of them believe that by studying Torah and religious texts, they are contributing to the national defence by ensuring divine protection. And so, in their eyes, Torah study is a more worthwhile use of their time than military or civilian service. They also believe that they are protecting the spiritual and religious essence of the Jewish nation which would eventually cease to exist if it wasn’t for the Haredim’s commitment to Torah study to keep Judaism alive.

The other side of the fence argues the case that since the Haredim are becoming a larger proportion of the Israeli population, (over 10%) due to their high birth rate, coupled with the fact that many Haredim do not work, but instead spend their time on religious studies while living on government subsidies, a more sustainable solution was needed. Non-Haredi Israelis questioned how a growing section of society could receive government benefits while being exempt from a basic obligation that most other Jewish Israelis must bear. Additionally, the Tal law created a system where Haredim were discouraged from entering the workforce since if they stopped studying at Yeshiva full time, they would have to serve in the IDF, further increasing their reliance on government subsidies. 

Representatives from the Haredi community have made it understood that imprisonment will not deter many Yeshiva students from refusing to enlist, preferring to be sent to prison en masse and turning the prisons into makeshift Yeshivot instead. Committee Chairman MK Ayelet Shaked from Habayit Hayehudi Party, suggested economic rather than criminal sanctions for Yeshiva students that don’t serve, including removing government subsidies and housing benefit.  However these economic sanctions were not accepted as part of the new law. 

On 15th June, at this year’s Yom Limmud, Rabbi Meir Schweiger from the Pardes institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem will be exploring these ideas further in one of the many sessions on offer. In the Bible, Moses poses the question to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, “Will your brothers go to war, while you sit here?!”.  Rabbi Schweiger will use a number of biblical and rabbinical texts to help inform this highly debated topic and its impact on Israeli society. 

For information about the various topics that will be explored on the day, visit our website http://www.limmud-oz.com.au.

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Limmud-Oz is an all volunteer-based event, supported by The Shalom Institute - you too can contribute - http://www.encounters.edu.au/Limmud/Volunteer.