For more than half a century, the State of Israel, in dealing with the matter of ultra-Orthodox (haredi) conscription, did what it does so often when faced with momentous but contentious issues: it kicked the can down the road.
On Tuesday, that can finally hit a wall.
That wall came in the form of the landmark High Court of Justice ruling that there is no legal basis for a continued military exemption for yeshiva students and that funding to yeshivot housing students who do not serve must stop.
While this court ruling will not lead to tens of thousands of yeshiva students entering the army next week, next month, or even next year, it does signal a dramatic shift in direction – a societal change fueled by October 7.
October 7 is the type of mega-event that impacts societies for decades. As soon as the sheer scope of the colossal failure of October 7 became apparent, it was clear that this was a day that would fundamentally change Israel for generations.
It would change it on several different planes. It would change the country’s overall security doctrine regarding what it feels it needs to do to remain secure, its politics, how it views the army, and what kind of army it needs.
It is in this category that the High Court of Justice ruling falls.
A new reality
Israelis awoke on October 8 to the painful realization that the army as currently constituted does not meet its needs. It awoke to an understanding that a lean, mean, super-hi-tech army relying more on sensors and state-of-the-art fences than patrolling soldiers to defend its borders is insufficient.
It woke up to the realization that despite the army’s hi-tech wizardry, it still needed low-tech soldiers to patrol the borders, and it needed more of them now than ever.
Going forward, the IDF will need thousands of soldiers to patrol the border with Gaza to ensure that what happened on October 7 cannot repeat itself and that if any force tries a repeat performance, sufficient troops on the ground will repel it in real-time. These soldiers are needed to defend the borders and provide a sense of security to those living in communities along the borders.
What is true of the Gaza border is also true of the northern border. More manpower will also be needed along the Jordanian border, where Iran is trying to smuggle arms and munitions into Judea and Samaria, and on the Egyptian border as well. In short, the IDF’s manpower needs have risen exponentially due to October 7.
As a result, an issue that for years was more of a question of principles and values – whether Torah study trumps IDF service – is now an existential one: Can Israel survive if it doesn’t grow its army? This is no longer an issue of equality and fairness but rather one of survival.
Moreover, with the war waging for nearly nine months, the IDF manpower shortage is forcing reservists and their families to bear what is clearly a disproportionate share of the collective security burden, making this issue more pressing than ever. Over the last nine months, it has become abundantly clear that more people need to serve to reduce the time served by all.
The swirling debate over this issue since October 7 has clarified something else: the issue of haredi exemptions is not primarily about the value of Torah study. Torah study has always been a prominent Jewish value, but never in Jewish history has it been an exclusive vocation for so many at the exclusion of everything else.
The current war is a just war of no choice thrust upon Israel – a milchemet mitzvah in halachic parlance – the type of war in which, according to abundant Jewish sources, everyone is obligated to take part.
What has become clear to many over the last few months is that the primary reason for stubborn haredi refusal to countenance IDF service is the fear that this will crack the walls separating haredi society from the rest of the country.
Since the Enlightenment, the ultra-Orthodox community has built walls to protect its unique way of life. In the modern state of Israel, the yeshivot are those walls, and the fear of the haredi leadership – both rabbinic and political – is that those walls will come tumbling down if the yeshiva students go into the army. Haredi rabbis and politicians suspect that the real reason why the non-haredi world wants to enlist their sons is not because they need them but because they want to change them.
Writ large, the haredim are saying they don’t want to serve to maintain their way of life, while non-haredi Israel is saying that the haredim must serve to maintain the country.
October 7 tipped the scales of this argument.
The court’s unanimous 9-0 decision was narrow in its scope. It did not say what a resolution to this conundrum should look like – that it left up to the Knesset (which hasn’t been able to solve the issue for half a century).
The court did not say how many of the estimated 13,000 ultra-Orthodox boys who reach draft age each year need to be inducted and how many can continue to receive exemptions. It merely said that in the absence of any law or coherent government policy regulating this sensitive matter – and there is none – then those haredim of draft age who are not in the army violate the law.
It also said that educational institutions harboring students who do not serve in violation of the law should be penalized by losing state funding. The court, however, did not go the extra mile and say the sanctions should be placed on the individual yeshiva students themselves for not showing up for army service. And that is not insignificant.
Economic sanctions against the yeshivot are a stick, but not the heaviest stick that the country can wield. For instance, married Kollel students are not living off the NIS 855 stipend they get from the yeshivot. Rather, there are all kinds of other state subsidies that they receive – that the state provides all its citizens in the lower economic brackets – such as child care subsidies, substantial tuition help, municipal tax breaks, housing benefits, and others. The court did not address those payments and benefits.
If a framework is not created to regulate this matter in the Knesset – a monumental political task for which there should now be greater urgency – it is only a matter of time before sanctions on individuals are addressed.
Financial inducements matter and are a catalyst for far-reaching changes. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proved that while finance minister from 2003 to 2005 when he chopped child allowances, something that spurred haredi women into the workforce. Over time, this led to a noticeable increase in the entrance of haredi men into the labor market as well.
Once financial pressure is brought to bear on haredim for not serving, it is likely more will serve. Using economic sanctions to get haredim into the army appeared to many as a draconian step before October 7. After October 7, however, it seems to many as a reasonable option.
October 7 will fundamentally change Israel – and in many areas, what was is not what will be. The High Court ruling on Tuesday suggests that changes are already afoot on one societal issue that has bedeviled the country since its founding.•