Drafting the Ultra-Orthodox or Severing Them from State Coffers

Anyone who thinks that ultra-Orthodox enlistment can be enforced through criminal sanctions and imprisonment is deluding themselves

25/07/2024 14:32

Tags: ultra-Orthodox ·  IDF ·  draft

Objection to continued Exemption of Yeshiva Students from IDF/Civil Service

"The decree of apostasy on the Torah world is underway" (“Shacharit,” front page 22.7.24) "The success of the State depends on its fighting, as a result of its scholars who study Torah. It is thanks to them that the State is victorious, and they contribute more to the State than the soldiers who fight." (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Letter 910, 1917; “BaKehila” weekly magazine, editorial 18.7.24)

Who would have believed it? In the midst of a bloody war, at a time when the dispute over the release of hostages is intensifying –the issue that may lead to the early dissolution of the government is the religion and state conflict, with the looming threat of ultra-Orthodox politicians pulling the rug out from under the government due to its failure to fulfill the promises that were made to them. This week, following the Supreme Court's directive on ultra-Orthodox enlistment, the first phase of implementation began.

It was met with sharp opposition from the ultra-Orthodox leadership. "A Decree of Apostasy," no less. The "real" reasons for the demand to enlist the ultra-Orthodox , as the ultra-Orthodox leadership tell their followers, are hatred of the Torah and the ultra-Orthodox, and the desire to bring about the fall of the government through them. A review of the statements made by the rabbinic leadership shows that we are dealing with a dialogue of the deaf, and that attempts to reach an agreement will fail.

A representative example of the arrogance and extremism of the ultra-Orthodox leadership's stance may be seen in the meeting that took place in December 2023 between Rabbi Dov Lando, the leader of the Lithuanian yeshiva world (who recently instructed young ultra-Orthodox to refrain from even registering or reporting to the IDF enlistment office) and Col. [res.] Erez Eshel, an activist and leader in the pre-military yeshivas. Eshel was firmly rebuffed by Lando right away when he expressed his aspiration for partnership with the yeshiva world. Lando quickly reprimanded him: "That’s totally irrelevant. Torah scholars are the protectors. You are the protected/defended, not the protector!"

Draft evaders should be denied additional benefits such as municipal tax discounts and daycare subsidies

Later, Lando stated that Torah learners are the "anti-vomit pills," so that the threat of the Torah "and the land will vomit you out when you defile it as it vomited out the nation before you" will not materialize. When Eshel mentioned his grandfather, who was murdered in the Holocaust, Lando responded that God caused the Holocaust: "It was the attribute of justice, God caused the Holocaust, we cannot fathom the judgments of God." Eshel's words about a “obligatory mitzvah war” (Milchemet Mitzvah in defense of the country) were rudely dismissed by Lando, who described them as slogans and aphorisms. "Only the Torah sages understand God's word, no one else," he said. The height of alienation and disassociation was reached when Eshel asked: "Can we request that that each Yeshiva student attend one funeral, visit one wounded casualty. Participate. Even Rabbi Akiva went to visit the sick." And Lando replied, adding another offensive theological reason for rejecting this request: "God forbid, God forbid. A Yeshiva student must study. He should not leave the premises of the study hall even once. His soul is sensitive and if subjected to emotionally disturbing images he would not be able to return to his study!"

Hiddush greatly values Torah study, and we have consistently expressed this in the past. We proposed that a quota of approximately 1,400 exceptional students each year would not only receive a deferral of service but would also receive significant stipends, but as for the rest of the ultra-Orthodox age group (currently about 13-14,000) – they should be enlisted in the IDF, or significant civilian service, at the military's discretion.

However, anyone who thinks that ultra-Orthodox enlistment can be enforced through criminal sanctions and imprisonment is deluding themselves. One only needs to remember the fiasco of the Slonim Hasidic school in Emmanuel, following the arrest of scores of parents for contempt of court when they refuse to abide by the court ruling

Haderech

ordering them to accept Sephardic girls to the school and not reject them on ethnic basis. What happened in the Emmanuel affair in 2010 is just a tiny prelude to what will happen if the ultra-Orthodox sector stands firm in its refusal to enlist and the military authorities attempt to arrest those evading service.

The only realistic approach to effective sanctions is to deny all financial support from the state budget to draft evaders and the yeshivas that shelter them. Draft evaders should be denied additional benefits such as municipal tax discounts and daycare subsidies. Civil sanctions (like those imposed on Recalcitrant Husbands by the rabbinical courts) should be imposed on them, such as revocation of driving licenses and passports, stay of exit from the country, refusing them entry into public service employment, and more. Even if this does not bring about the desired change in draft evasion, at least the State will express its aversion and refuse to fund the evaders and the ideology that undermines the core values of the State of Israel. We hope that this will also bring the political parties and leaders to a watershed point it has refused to acknowledge in the past and that in the next elections the public will express its desire for a government that no longer surrenders to ultra-Orthodox extortion.

The ultra-Orthodox leadership is entitled to hold its beliefs, hatreds, and aspiration for the State of Israel to become a Torah- State. What it is not entitled to do is expect the State to fund all these and serve as a tool in their hands for coercing the public that does not share these beliefs.

It is time to implement equality in the security burden, enforce core curricular studies so that the economy can flourish, and abolish religious coercion in the fields of Sabbath observance, marriage and divorce, education, gender discrimination, and more. This is the spirit of Israel's Declaration of Independence and the will of the majority of the public.