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| Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz (VIN) |
What we have now is a sort if irresistible force and an immovable object. On the one hand we ha majority population that has been carrying the burden of war now for well over a year with no end in sight. Israel is fighting an enemy that will not give up. No matter how much it is decimated by an IDF.
Israel’s citizen soldiers soldiers - reservists have been doing all fighting and sacrificing. They could use a break. They are war weary. Tired of all their fellow soldiers blood being shed.Tired of all the long absences from their families. Tired of worrying whether they lost their jobs or businesses after being away from them for so long.
They are increasingly resentful of Charedim - an an entire segment of Israeli citizens that refuses to relieve them of their burden by enlisting in the IDF and serving in any capacity. A situation the current government is acutely aware of. Some of whose officials want to remedy by passing a law that will no longer exempt them.
They have thus far been unable to do so because Charedi politicians won’t accept such a law. with an implied threat of bringing down the government it passes. The prime minister does not want to see that happen so he has so far opposed any bill that would draft Charedim. For their part Charedi politicians are trying to get another law passed that would grant them permanent exemption from the army.
Apparently there is a new attempt to pass a draft law that would not exempt Charedim. VIN has reports that Israel’s new Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has declared that the new drafted now will result in 12,000 Charedim being drafted by July of 2026. It appears that this bill is headed for passage.
This is the irresistible force I alluded to
Thing is, The Charedi leadership has determined that any attempt to draft even a single student will be met with massive resistance. I cannot imagine the leadership sitting still if that law passes. They will pack the streets with daily protests and bring Israel to a standstill. There will be arrests and prisons will be filled with black hatted Yeshiva students screaming that the government has declared war on the Torah.
This is the immovable object. Yeshiva students will be relentless. They will fill the streets every day. If they are arrested and jailed they will stay there with pride in active resistance to the evil anti Torah government. No matter how many are jailed. The more the merrier.
What makes all this exceedingly sad is that it is so avoidable. I don’t think anyone – including the Charedi leadership, really believes that every student one finds in a Yeshiva lives up to the mandate of Torah Umnaso - Torah study as their profession. That is where the cutoff should be for draft exemptions. As was noted here recently it appears that the vast majority (about 70%) does not qualify If there are 100 thousand students learning in Yeshivos right now, that would mean the 70 thousand should be available to serve.
I have little doubt that the two sides could reach a compromise. Especially if the goal is only 12,000 new Charedi inductees. It seems like a no brainer. Of course the IDF would be wise to assure the Charedi world that their religious standards be upheld.
These are some Charedim who would say that in a secular state with a secular chain of command, it would be against Halacha to subject oneself to the orders of a non religious superior officer . These are problems that I believe can be worked out. The Dati community relies on their Poskim to deal with situations like that. I don’t recall there being much of any any Halachic issues for religious students under the command of a secular officer that wasn’t resolved. It’s not like the Dati Poskim don’t care about Halacha. They care very much about it, same as Charedi Poskim. If it works there, it could work here.
There are surely other issues that need to be worked out. But it seems to me that the real problem is the intransigence of the Charedi leadership and the false accusation about the IDF agenda for Charedim.
As Rabbi Chaim Goldberg noted in his introduction to Halachic debate I dealt with here recently, he has doubt that the Charedi position on army service is meant to facilitate Avodas Hashem (to serve God). He believes it’s meant to facilitate the sustenance of their socio-cultural way of life.
How the government will respond to that intransigence remains to be seen. They may give in because of an inability to accomplish their goals in the face of massive disruption
But that doesn’t mean the IDF isn’t right here, even if they are secular. The war rages on. The IDF needs people. Charedim have more than enough to fill void but the Charedi leadership won’t budge. So it looks like the immovable object will prevail.
