Why do Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews so adamantly decline to serve in the military—and could that change? A communal leader walks us through the deliberations taking place

 For Ḥaredim, this is an unbelievable trauma. Perhaps we don’t think about this every day when we wake up, but ultimately the success of secular Zionism in establishing the Jewish state is a real trauma in the ḥaredi mind, because pre-state, one of the principle arguments against Zionism was that it’s never going to work. (So said the Agudath Israel, R' Elchonon Wasserman, R'Aron Kotler - And no religious Jew should go there to escape the Holocaust) How can it possibly work, that a bunch of secular Jews will establish the Jewish sovereignty, the political representation of the Jews? 

In Israel, nearly all Jewish citizens are required to serve in the Israel Defense Forces or to perform national service—nearly all, that is, except for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews. Instead, following a deal worked out early on in the state's existence, young haredi men are permitted to study in yeshiva after high school and thereby avoid military service. 

That imbalance has been the source of much civil strife in Israel over the years, but since October 7 it has taken on a different tone. Previously, it was a question of fairness; now, it's one of military need. Israel needs more soldiers, and haredi communities could provide them. This issue is ostensibly part of what broke up Israel's unity government last week.

Why are so many Israeli Haredim—particularly haredi leaders—so opposed to IDF service? And how could that change? Several years ago, Mosaic brought the haredi rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer on its podcast to answer these questions. In the wake of October 7, understanding the haredi perspective on the IDF, and what might push it to evolve, is even more critical today. Just click here to listen.

Mandatory army service plays an essential function within Israeli civic culture, absorbing and equalizing Ashkenazi, Mizraḥi (Middle Eastern), religious, secular, male, female, Ethiopian, Russian, Druze and more. In the IDF, all of these identities step back and create room for a national Israeli identity to step forward.

“Rabbi Wasserman, Rabbi Kotler, Rabbi Rottenberg from Antwerp, rabbis from Czechoslovakia and Hungary were unanimous in rejecting any proposal for a “Jewish State” on either side of the Jordan River, even if it were established as a religious state because such a regime would be a form of heresy in our faith in the belief in the coming of the Messiah, and especially since this little “Jewish” state would be built on heresy and desecration of the Name of G-d.

 https://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2012/02/we-must-keep-in-mind-that-we-will-be.html

*(The podcast was recorded July 2021 --- Some of the rabbi's ideas, while well-intentioned, have no place in today's need of every able young man to serve their country in this post October 7 world)* PM

Almost every Jewish community in Israel serves in the IDF, except one: the ḥaredi (ultra-Orthodox) community. Seventy years ago, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, famously gave ḥaredi leaders an official exemption from compulsory national service, an exemption that persists to this day, along with much accompanying controversy. On this week’s podcast, the ḥaredi leader Yehoshua Pfeffer, himself a rabbinic judge, asks whether that exemption is just. In conversation with Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver, he explores the background behind the reluctance to serve, and brings us inside the debate currently unfolding within Israel’s Orthodox communities about the fulfillment of civic obligation and moral duty.

Excerpt (27:57-29:30):

The melting pot idea of the army didn’t just evaporate into nothing. It morphed and changed, it evolved over the years, but the army still remains very much a melting pot, it still has an educational corps, it still has a vision. That vision has shifted over the years, and now it includes a certain gendered vision, it includes a whole plethora of other aspects, but once again, the ḥaredi society that prides itself on its isolationism, that prides itself on being an educational system that’s not exposed to all of these trends and ideas, has a lot of trouble in going into the IDF. 

Perhaps the final consideration, which might be the main one, is this ambivalence towards engagement with the state of Israel. The state of Israel is still a secular state. For Ḥaredim, this is an unbelievable trauma. Perhaps we don’t think about this every day when we wake up, but ultimately the success of secular Zionism in establishing the Jewish state is a real trauma in the ḥaredi mind, because pre-state, one of the principle arguments against Zionism was that it’s never going to work. (So said the Agudath Israel, R' Elchonon Wasserman, R'Aron Kotler - And no religious Jew should go there to escape the Holocaust) How can it possibly work, that a bunch of secular Jews will establish the Jewish sovereignty, the political representation of the Jews? 

But hey, they did, it worked, it was successful. Not just was it successful, but it has long term stability, it’s there. And to be engaged in the IDF is to be a part of the state in the deepest possible way. It’s to be together, it’s to say “we’re a part of this.” I think it’s a step that ḥaredi society needs to go towards for its own sake and for the sake of Israel, but it’s a tough step. 

More about: Haredim, IDF, Israel, Ultra-Orthodox

 

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