Subcontracting Yeshivas – The Smart Way to the Charedi Draft

In this week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha, we read how Avraham Avinu took up arms when called upon to protect his kinsman.

We learn from the Ramban that ‘the acts of the fathers are signs for the children’. Today’s charedim must find a path to take up arms and protect their kinsmen.

For its part, the IDF must decide whether it wants to focus only on boosting Israel’s security, or whether it seeks to perform social engineering as well.

If the latter, everyone will lose. The IDF will face every possible evasion by the charedi sector and its political allies, and the issue will continue to feed through into the bitter political and social divisions that weaken Israel before its enemies.

There is a more imaginative solution – don’t draft individual charedi boys, subcontract their yeshivas.

The key to the charedi draft is understanding the ‘pain points’ driving their resistance to IDF service.

Let us first be clear what this is not. It is not cowardice. Most charedim live a life devoid of luxuries by any objective standard. They are prepared to undergo significant hardships on account of their devotion. The lengths to which Breslev chassidim are prepared to go to spend Rosh Hashana in Uman, Ukraine, even while war rages all around, is just one case in point.

What seems to hold back charedim are multiple interlinked factors whose importance are difficult to understand from outside the context of the Torah world – yes, the dedication to lifelong Torah study, but also: the fear of secularisation and exposure to non-Torah influences; the particular importance of Torah study to 18-22 year olds in their formative years and on the way to marriage and children; the risks that charedi leadership structures and social models would be weakened; the legitimacy of service to a secular institution belonging to a secular government; previous mis-steps by the IDF with the wider religious sector, including the hesder yeshiva movement; the possibility that any solution will be struck down by the judiciary after charedim are already enlisted; and the worry that IDF service will promote an attitude of ‘‘my strength and the might of my hand that has accumulated this wealth for me” (Deuteronomy 8:17) while diminishing the fundamental belief that all comes from Hashem.

My intent here is not to act as a ‘defender of charedi-ism’ but rather in the spirit of understanding the challenges. 

The solutions proposed in the political domain so far have been pretty crude. There’s been a lack of imagination on the part of those involved – the charedi leadership, the non-charedi members of the coalition, and the opposition.

The IDF response – netzach yehuda and now chashmonaim – may work for a minority, and I sincerely admire the efforts of those involved, just like I have endless admiration for those involved in the hesder yeshivas.

However any step along the “draft 18-22 year old charedi boys” path is liable for massive opposition.

My suggestion for something completely different?

Subcontract charedi yeshivas as service providers to the IDF, including for combat. It has a better chance of overcoming the pain points and generating the desired outcomes – more manpower – with lower cost and less divisiveness.

Why?

• Integrate Torah study with military service so both are possible in many, if not all circumstances, within the framework of an ordinary daily routine
• Stay within the yeshiva’s Torah environment without exposure to any external secular influences
• Operate within the parameters of the existing charedi leadership structures and social models
• Give the yeshivas flexibility to choose the people that provide any given set of services, not only the 18-22 year old bachurim
• Be ringfenced from IDF institutional policies which may be subject to judicial review

It may also offer the opportunity to bring investment into the subcontracted yeshivas, building enhanced infrastructure and an improved learning environment, creating a win-win for Torah study and national defence at the same time.