In Time of Need, Will These Men Serve Their Country? | Opinion

It is time ultra-Orthodox share the burden and serve in the IDF

In July 2020, the Israel Defense Forces announced that it was cutting military service for men to 30 months, six months shorter than the three-years that had been done by most Israeli men for decades. For women, the service is even shorter—two years.

The move was part of a wider plan by the Israeli government aimed at cutting defense spending and anyhow, the military was moving in the direction of becoming more compact and technological, relying on standoff munitions and robots and less on boots on the ground. There was growing talk of abolishing the mandatory draft and changing the IDF from a "people's army" to a "professional" one that relied, like the United States and other Western countries, on volunteers.

In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks against southern Israel, and almost 100 days of war against Hamas, alongside the fear of another war erupting in the north, there is an understanding today in Israel that this situation is no longer sustainable. Israeli military planners and lawmakers are getting ready to reup the length of military service to three years for men and are talking about offering attractive compensation packages to reservists—who make up the bulk of Israel's fighting force—to keep them in uniform.

In recent years, due to budget cuts, the IDF had been calling up reservists for an average of under 10 days a year. Now reservists are being told to expect to serve 30 to 40 days annually in the years to come.

One of the reasons for this expected increase in compulsory and reserve service is due to the shortage in manpower. Fifty percent of Israelis do not serve in the IDF and only 1 percent of Israelis serve in the reserves. This is the result of the exemption given to ultra-Orthodox Jews, Israeli-Arabs who mostly do not serve, and health exemptions that are given out annually.

One of the ways to alleviate the burden is for the state to start utilizing an untapped resource—the ultra-Orthodox community. Known as haredim in Hebrew, ultra-Orthodox Jews have long enjoyed an exemption from military service dating back to when Israel was founded in 1948 and the state's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, agreed to let 400 yeshiva students stay in their study halls.

What Ben-Gurion could not have known then was that the haredi sector in society would double every 16 years and today ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 13 percent of Israel's 9 million citizens, with around 11,000 turning 18—IDF draft age—every year. Only around 1,200 of them join the IDF every year.

This could not be more evident than when reviewing the list of almost 190 Israeli soldiers who have been killed since the ground offensive in Gaza began Oct. 27. Funerals, for example, have taken place across the country but not in predominant haredi cities like Bnei Brak or Beitar Illit. While there are plenty of soldiers from national-religious backgrounds who have tragically fallen in this war, as of Jan. 9, there were no haredim.

This is not to say that ultra-Orthodox Israelis have not helped during the last three months of this war. Some have volunteered to join the IDF, and many others have organized support efforts, fundraising and providing aid for both military personnel and civilians affected by the conflict.

This active involvement and sense of duty is a noteworthy shift in the community and should serve as the foundation for a crucial change that needs to take place in Israel—seeing haredi men serve in the IDF in the same numbers as their secular and national-religious counterparts.

The massacre on Oct. 7, the ensuing war against Hamas, and the mini war that has been raging along the border with Lebanon all highlight the precarious security situation that Israel will continue to face in the years to come.

Additionally, there are dire economic ramifications as well. The nearly 300,000 Israelis serving in the reserves make up around 7 percent of the country's workforce. If they are out of their jobs for 30 to 45 days a year this has the potential to undermine national economic growth.

By 2055, the ultra-Orthodox sector is set to increase to comprise 30 percent of Israel's population. The men are required to stay in yeshivas (religious schools) until their mid-20s to qualify for the military exemption—many of them stay even longer, never gaining employment, their wives supporting them, along with a stipend from the government. Even if they want to get a job, they encounter major obstacles since they lack basic math, English, and science due to the ban on these subjects in their schools.

That means fewer Israelis to serve in the IDF, fewer to work, and fewer to pay taxes. How Israel will fill the ranks of its military units and pay for them is in question.

One part of society cannot be expected to carry this burden alone while another segment—the haredim—are exempt. Israel needs more soldiers and with the threats on its borders it needs them now. It is time for the haredim to step up and share an equal portion of the national burden and take their rightful place alongside the rest of Israel.

Yaakov Katz is a senior fellow at JPPI, a global think tank for the Jewish people, and the author of Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power and Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.