“The Learners will Learn, the Rest will Serve!”

Behind the Political Fog

There is, understandably, a lot of confusion regarding the approach of the various political parties in Israel to one of the most central issues in the forthcoming election: charedim and army service. Some of this stems from the fact that every single party seems to ultimately have the same approach!

The new radically moderate charedi party, HaTzibur HaCharedi, takes the position that charedim who are not learning should enlist, while those are learning should be exempt. And everyone else seems to agree! Nobody, not even Avigdor Lieberman, claims that all the charedim will actually end up being drafted. And even the most pro-charedi politician, Bibi himself, says that he will see to it that charedim who do not learn will enlist. So what’s the difference between any of them?

And indeed, there are rosy-eyed Anglo-religious types who believe that even Likud and so-called Religious Zionism will cause thousands to enlist. Meanwhile, there are skeptics who claim that the goal of HaTzibur HaCharedi and Likud alike is to ensure full exemptions for everyone in the charedi world. So what’s the truth?

The answer is that there are indeed radical differences between the various parties on this issue. But you have to be knowledgeable, and sometimes have behind-the-scenes information, to be sure as to what these differences are.

The most crucial point to recognize is that there is a world of difference between acknowledging that not all charedim will enlist, and officially permitting it. And there is also another world of difference between permitting it, and wanting it.

Nobody at all thinks for a moment that all or even most of the 100,000 or so draft-age charedim are going to enlist. Not under any circumstances whatsoever. Many of them wouldn’t even be remotely suitable for the army. And in any case, what’s really desperately crucial is for the army to get another 20,00 soldiers, not 100,000 (although obviously more would be better).

But there’s a world of difference between acknowledging this situation and officially legally permitting it. This is because that if you legally permit it, then this means that they also receive various forms of financial assistance instead of financial penalties. Aside from harming the economy, this further encourages the charedi freeloading lifestyle.

Moreover, if you want charedim to all be exempt - either because you’re charedi and thus you don’t care about the rest of the nation, or because you are part of Likud/ Religious Zionism/ Otzma Yehudit, and you are willing to sacrifice others in order to maintain political power - then you will increase these forms of financial assistance. And you can always be very flexible with the definition of who is learning, and ensure that there are no checks or ensurance of compliance.

This is exactly the situation with Bibi/Likud, so-called Religious Zionism, and so-called Otzma Yehudit. They may talk about wanting to enlist charedim who are not learning, but this is only to assuage voters who are dismayed and furious about the current situation. As we’ve seen very clearly from the past three years, they are not remotely interested in actually risking their political support from charedim and enforcing any kind of draft or imposing any financial consquences for mass evasion. They can talk about drafting non-learners without the slightest chance of their actually enlisting anyone. (And they are working to neuter the High Court so that it can’t prevent inequality of law, non-enforcement of laws, funding schools which don’t teach general studies as they agreed, and so on.)

At the other end of the spectrum, MKs like Avigdor Lieberman and Naftali Bennett (I’m not yet sure about Eisenkot) have very clearly for many years been committed to changing the situation with charedi society. And this is especially since Oct. 7th changed everyone’s understanding of IDF needs. They are basing much of their campaign on this, this is what most or all of their MKs clearly seriously believe in, and if they were to utterly fail to deliver, they would severely disappoint 100% of their voters. If and when they get into power, they will ensure that the financial incentives for non-enlistment disappear, and that various sanctions come into place. This won’t succeed in drafting all or even most charedim, but it will cause 10-20,000 to enlist immediately. And this will gradually effect radical change in charedi society, for numerous reasons, and in all kinds of ways.

What about HaTzibur HaCharedi? Here things get a little more complicated, and there are certain aspects that I can’t write about publicly, but some things are still clear. The top politicians and rabbanim behind it - people like Moti Leitner and Rav Yehoshua Pfeffer - themselves enlisted after October 7th, at great personal cost and sacrifice. It’s obvious that they are very, very serious about the importance of charedim enlisting. (And it’s likewise obvious from their other activities that they are driven by a desire to make profound and essential changes in charedi society that will help both charedim and Israel.)

There are many ways that they can make this happen. Aside from the general laws of Israel regarding enlistment, and subsequent financial ramifications, there are other things that can be done and which HaTzibur HaCharedi plan to do. These include such things as ensuring that charedi hesder yeshivos and charedi schools which teach general studies receive generous funding - as opposed to the current government, which seeks to suppress all these so as not to enrage their charedi political partners who want absolute power over their communities.

What is HaTzibur HaCharedi’s position regarding charedim who are genuinely, seriously learning? They are officially in favor of them being allowed and even supported to continue learning, and they seem to be serious about this. I can attest that at least one of the rabbis involved really believes in the importance of exemptions for serious yeshiva students. I strongly disagree with this position, for reasons that I discussed in a previous post, Who Should Be Learning Instead Of Serving?. But there is no question that HaTzibur HaCharedi are simultaneously very, very serious about drafting the tens of thousands of charedim who are not learning - and they are uniquely positioned to do so.

As I wrote previously, I think that HaTzibur HaCharedi is the best hope for shattering the current charedi monolith and creating a fundamental transformation in charedi society. They are in a position to literally save not just many charedim from collapse, but the entire country. While I do not personally agree with their entire platform, I wish them tremendous success, and I urge people to consider voting for them.