One of the biggest areas of tension in Israel between secular Jews and Charedim is army service. As is well known Charedim are exempt as long as they are learning full time in Yeshivos. This arrangement was made by Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and the Chazon Ish and is a primary component of the the so called ‘status quo agreement’ that allows all laws pertaining to religion to be handled by religious figures and all secular matters to be handled by the state.
Since the founding of the state this issue has divided the country. And it has contributed to another contentious area, that of Charedi poverty. In Israel one cannot legally work without having served. So if a Charedi wants to work, he must join the army first.
This is a system that is flawed for many reasons. From the Charedi perspective, it keeps many in the Beis HaMedrash for inflated periods of time, well beyond when they might have decided to go to work and support their families.
While it may be the goal of the Charedi Rabbinic leaders to keep people in full time learning for as long as possible, I doubt that they meant it to keep them there artificially as a means to prevent army service. That said, They tolerate it because they feel the environment in the army is so anti religious that it is Assur for them to serve in any case.
That argument is debatable because the Hesder Yeshiva system has conditions that are not anti religious. And now they have Nachal Charedi. But… that’s the argument they make. So Charedim stay in the Beis Hamedrash even when their learning is not so great. In some cases they hardly learn at all. And then there is the Hashkafic pressure. Working is seen only as B’Dieved a last resort. So you have a population of Charedim who are not living up to their ideals. Some learn more, some less, some not at all, but very few learn at the high levels expected of them. They are there for reasons of practicality or pressure. And they are all exempt from army service.
The secular Jews in Israel have no such educational exemption. And most of them are upset that their sons and daughters blood is being spilled while the sons and daughters of Charedim are sitting in air conditioned study halls. They look at the poverty which that lifestyle fosters and the lack of their contributing to the tax base while being a big drain on the economy via the welfare they receive. It understandably upsets secular Jews. In some cases they are so upset that they are beyond angry. They simply consider them beneath contempt. Having no religious education themselves they see no value in studying ancient texts. All they see is a bunch of privileged Jews who siphon off the public dole. A favored term” parasites. And they also see some Charedim who are not legally allowed to work because they haven't served, working and getting paid under the table or in the black market. That isn't going to endear them to anyone secular and it can easily be seen as a Chilul HaShem.
In an attempt to repair this situation a group of religious and secular Jew sat down and worked out a bill that went into law three years ago. It is called the Tal Law and is designed to get Charedim into the work force with the approval of the rabbinic leadership.
Some of the rabbinic leadership is opposed to it. But many are not. Be that as it may at least now there is an option. Additionally this law has the potential of taking Charedi families out of welfare and into the workforce. The bill mandates doing one year of national service.
I’m not exactly sure how the parents of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit feel about the Tal Law. Nor do I know how any other secular parent feels about Charedim being exempted from all hazardous duty. But at least it has the potential to take them off the public dole. And secular Jews will at least see this as a contribution to the country. Something they do not see Torah learning as.
The Jeruslam Post reports that now, three years after its implemention Charedim who opted for the plan will finally be called upon to fulfill their national service. Those who opted for it were allowed to go immediately into the workforce because there was no infrastructure for national service for Chredim yet. The time has now come. But hardly anyone is showing up. Of all those in the system contacted only 175 men have responded. And it doesn’t help that the religious parties are complaining that the pay for national service is too low and that Charedi families cannot be expected to live on it. The pay is much higher than the stipends paid by most Kollelim. They ought to instead be encouraging people to take advantage of it.
But even though the Tal Law is a good start. It’s not an answer. The truth is that the entire way army service is handled in Israel is flawed at this point. The only thing that will solve the problems inherent to it, will be to eliminate the draft and make army service voluntary.
While it is true that Israel has always needed the citizen soldier because of the relatively small population size and constant threat from its neighbors, I still believe that it can be done. Eliminating the draft should not hurt Israel’s security any more than eliminating the draft has hurt the United States. Israeli culture idealizes the soldier. Every boy wants to be one. It is a badge of honor to serve for most. Israel will attract all those who want to serve their country and they will probably get the same numbers they have now. And they will then have a fighting force that is 100% motivated. The draft doesn’t do that.
By eliminating the draft and making army service voluntary they eliminate the primary sore point of secular Jews against Charedim. True, 60 years of animosity won’t go away overnight. But it would be a start.
There will still be animosity for other reasons such as shoving religion down the throats of the secular Jew through legislation by the religious parties. And there will still be resentment against those who continue learning in poverty while being supported the state. But at least one major problem will be solved.
No longer will a mother of a slain soldier be able to ask, “Why my son?!” “Why does my Charedi neighbor mother’s son get to live and my son does not?” The answer will be that it was her son’s choice to serve and that he died honorably.
As I’ve said in the past, the other problems have solutions too. If only there is the will to do so. There is no reason that Charedim can’t live a completely Torah lifestyle and gets along with secular Jews. If the draft is eliminated and Charedim start getting more into the workforce, it will be a big step toward re-conciliation.
