How to solve the Haredi draft issue

I am a religious Zionist (by philosophy, kind of, not necessarily by eponymous politics).

So I strongly believe in the practical, moral and halakhic value of the national defense of Eretz Yisrael, and that it is vital for the Charedi sector to contribute to it. And I also strongly believe in the practical, moral and halakhic value of Torah study and living a Torah-centered lifestyle.

While I understand the rage felt by many in Israel at the Charedi sector, I also understand the philosophical and practical concerns that are felt by the Charedi sector about IDF service.

And because I understand both these things, I further understand why many in Israel want to use the fullest extent of the law to simply force Charedim to serve, and I also understand why such an approach will be ineffective and counter-productive.

As human beings who have been emotionally triggered by their own service, or by the service of their loved ones, it is only natural that many Israelis will feel good to know that ‘recalcitrant Charedim’ are sitting in jail, G-d forbid. But it will not solve the problem and will in all likelihood, G-d forbid, make it worse.

I do not believe the reasons for Charedi resistance to the IDF draft are cowardice or laziness. Rather, I believe – in fact it is widely stated – the actual reasons for Charedi resistance to the IDF draft are:

1. Not wanting to interrupt Torah study, especially of boys at the drafting age.
2. Not wanting Charedim to be exposed to secularising influences in the IDF, which many Charedim believe to be unescapable due to legal and institutional factors, even though the IDF has made significant efforts to accommodate Charedi lifestyles.

We can see that both of these apply from recent comments by Shas officials:

This week, Shas MK Yosef Taieb, who himself served in the IDF, discussed the recent enlistment notice to his son who studies in yeshiva: “He sits and studies seriously and loves to learn. We will do what they [the rashei yeshiva] instruct us to do. If they tell us that what should happen is that he should be arrested, then he will be arrested and learn Torah from prison.”

But even when the issue with Torah study is absent, the issue of secularising influences remains in play, as Rabbi Moshe Maya, a senior member of the Shas Council of Torah Sages, noted in June 2024: “It’s forbidden [even] for those who don’t study [Torah] to go to the army. Those who do will end up violating the Shabbat,”

Again, I expect that a significant proportion of Israelis’ response to this will be ‘I don’t care what Charedim think or believe, let the fullest extent of the law be applied, and then let their Torah study materials be confiscated when they are in prison’.

Well, the prospect of unoccupied Charedim languishing in prison may help ease your very justified, righteous anger, but it still doesn’t solve the problem, because it’s not going to change any minds.

Let me assure you, the Charedim are not going to back down.

No doubt, there is, and will be, a gradual process of change, but it is not enough to address Israel’s national security needs now.

Not only this, using the full force of the law will, G-d forbid, simply provoke large-scale civil unrest with all the costs that incurs, as well as a further hardening of attitudes and deepening of existing divisions when Israel cannot afford any of these things, especially at this time.

So let us use clear thinking to frame the solution that addresses the real nature of the problems in a way that solves everyone’s needs.

1. The first reason for Charedi resistance concerns Torah study, on the basis that national service interrupts Torah study. The solution involves avoiding the false dichotomy – Torah study or national defense – by letting it be both: a daily routine in which, at least outside active field combat duty, Charedim can both study Torah and contribute to national defence.
2. The second reason for Charedi resistance concerns the purported secularising influence of the IDF. The solution again involves avoiding the false dichotomy – national defense contribution via the IDF or no national defense contribution at all – by allowing for a national defense contribution that is achieved outside the IDF.

Neither of those things happen now. So of course, it is difficult to imagine how things could be done differently. But that is the point of problem solving. A problem arises because some interest or need cannot be served through the existing ways of doing things.

It is not really so hard, though, to imagine a soldier – at least one not in active field combat duty – being able to devote 7-8 hours per day for Torah study as well as 7-8 hours per day performing military service. At that age, they are young, fit and motivated.

And it is not really so hard to imagine a paramilitary structure – one that is institutionally separated from the IDF, operated by and for Charedim, based on operating procedures and rules of engagement agreed with the IDF, and coordinating with the IDF through a joint command. There are many, many examples of this worldwide, and one can point to the pre-state yishuv as a specifically Jewish example.

As I have written at length on this subject before (see here, here, here, here, here, here and here) and seen the reactions, I can anticipate that some readers will resent a special arrangement for Charedim, while others will decry the ‘complexity’ or ‘bureaucracy’ of such an approach.

But in the end, an approach which tackles the root causes of the current problems is much more likely to work in drafting Charedim en masse than the current fruitless approaches which persist, despite all evidence to the contrary, in trying to force Charedi ‘square pegs’ into IDF ’round holes’.

Let us instead look at a solution that actually works, one that unlocks the extra manpower that Israel needs, and one that is responsive to the worldview of the Charedi sector, even if we disagree profoundly with that worldview, as is our right, and even though we may have pain in our hearts for the losses that our communities have suffered over these difficult last 15 months which Charedi communities have largely escaped.

It takes a special kind of people to do that. But we are the Jewish people.