10 Myths about Charedim and Army

A handy FAQ

With all the lengthy polemics about charedim and army service, I decided to prepare a handy short list of the ten most common myths about this topic, with brief responses.

Myth #1: “Rambam says that yeshiva students are like Levites and are exempt from army!”

FACT: Rambam praises someone as being similar to a Levite if they dedicate their entire life to spirituality, free themselves of worldly concerns, and rely on God for their sustenance. He is not referring to someone spending a few years in yeshiva and relying on taxpayers. And in Rambam’s Laws of War, he lists no exemption from army service for such people; if he held that there was such an exemption, he would have mentioned it there.

Myth #2: “In Biblical times, the tribe of Levi did not serve in the army!”

FACT: Most authorities, from the Sages through to later scholars, are of the view that the Levites did fight in a milchemes mitzvah (which is also how most rabbinic authorities rate the current war). That is why they had swords (Shemos 32:27) and why the Talmud discusses laws of warfare relevant to them. Rambam merely notes that they did not fight wars “in the same way as other tribes” - meaning, that they did not do so in order to aquire land, since they didn’t get any.

Myth #3: “The Sages state that Torah scholars should not be drafted!”

FACT: There is no such statement. And if such an exemption existed, it would be mentioned. There are merely some non-legal statements criticizing certain people for drafting Torah scholars for angariya, which means personal services in combat and other matters. And there is a ruling that rabbis do not need to pay towards the construction of protective walls, but Radvaz restricts this to cases where the rabbis themselves do not feel that they need protection, and Chasam Sofer says that it only refers to exemptions from security taxes that are placed upon Jewish communities in exile, not from genuine defense needs against military threats to the nation.

Myth #4: “Torah protects and therefore yeshiva students are just as important as soldiers!”

FACT: Nowhere in traditional Judaism does it says that Torah protects as a replacement for ordinary effort; in fact, it says that one is forbidden to rely on supernatural help. There is one statement that Torah helps protects oneself from suffering, but both the wording and the context make it clear that it does not protect from death, and it doesn’t talk about protecting others. There was one Sage, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who claimed that it protects both from war and from disease, and who accordingly did not take preventative measures for avoiding disease, but others disagreed, and nobody today relies on Torah to protect from disease.

Myth #5: “It’s not a milchemes mitzvah and therefore charedim are exempt!”

FACT: According to the majority of rabbinic authorities, it is indeed a milchemes mitzvah. But in any case, it’s irrelevant; there is a halachic and ethical obligation to help Jews who are under attack. The fact is that Israel is under attack, and there is a manpower shortage, creating serious security risks for Israel, and an unbearable strain upon those who bear the burden alone.

Myth #6: “There are just as many secular Israelis who avoid the army as charedim!”

FACT: There may be a high number of secular Israelis who receive exemptions, but that is because there are many more secular Jews than charedi Jews. In terms of the percentage of each population, the rate of conscription among the non-charedi population is 88.4%., while the rate among the charedi population (which also includes many people who aren't really charedi) is 14.9%.

Myth #7: “There is no IDF manpower shortage!”

FACT: There is a shortage of tens of thousands of combat soldiers. The result is that Israel cannot provide adequate security in many places, and would not be able to deal with a future Palestinian uprising. And this year, it has meant that tens of thousands of reservists have had to leave their Torah studies, their careers, and their wives and children for many months, creating all kinds of crushing personal problems.

Myth #8: “The army doesn’t even want charedim and has turned them away!”

FACT: The army needs young men, 18-24 years old, who can undergo full training and perform full combat duty. It turned away much older men who were volunteering for a few weeks of minimal training in support roles and who, at the time, the army did not have the ability to manage. The army very much wants charedim to enlist, and the rest of Israel desperately needs them to enlist, in order to alleviate the crushing burden.

Myth #9: “The army doesn’t have the ability to accommodate charedim and they will abandon religion!”

FACT: There are eighty national-religious hesder yeshivot, and the thousands of students in those frameworks remain religious. The IDF has created bases designed for charedim to accommodate their particular requirements and there are also charedi hesder yeshivos. Besides, concerns about lifestyle risks are not a justification for avoiding helping the nation in its hour of need.

Myth #10: “The campaign to enlist charedim is just about hatred of Judaism and/or bringing down the government!”

FACT: While there are certainly some people who capitalize on this for political and/or anti-religious purposes, the vast majority of the national-religious community, including rabbis and roshei yeshiva, feel strongly that charedim should enlist, both due to the innate religious imperative, and in order to help alleviate the crushing burden on everyone else.

For more detailed responses to these questions, see the index to a list of my posts on this topic. Meanwhile, please spread this list with others.