Israel: The Supreme Court and the Ultra-Orthodox Shake Up the Government

The newspaper La Croix explains that, “Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up nearly 14% of the Israeli Jewish population. Entirely dedicated to the study of texts and religious life, they have benefited from an exemption from mandatory military service since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.”

But things have changed in the last 75 years: “Initially granted to 400 young men, the exemption now concerns more than 66,000 men aged 18 to 26.” This exemption was contested and the government sought to pass a law to regulate it, but the allies of Benjamin Netanyahu are mostly ultra-Orthodox, La Croix continues.

The reason given by the Court is simple: "The executive does not have the authority to order the non-application of the military service law to yeshiva (Talmudic school) students without an adequate legal framework," La Croix quotes.

The Anger of the Ultra-Orthodox Media

The Times of Israel (ToI) reports that the “front pages of newspapers serving the ultra-Orthodox community raged Wednesday morning against a landmark High Court ruling the day before [...] Leading papers carried quotes that ‘war was being declared on the ultra-Orthodox community’ and its way of life, which sees the study of Torah as a paramount activity.”

Because, not only the does the judgment oblige Talmudic students to submit themselves to conscription, but it “permanently barred the state from funding ultra-Orthodox yeshivas for students who are studying in them in lieu of military service, asserting that those funds were bound up in the terms of the IDF service exemptions which now no longer exist,” ToI clarifies.

For the moment, the ultra-Orthodox parties allied with Benjamin Netanyahu “have closed ranks: they still refuse to topple this government which is struggling to accomplish their demands. They content themselves with attacking the despised judges, ‘a dictatorial body’ which wants to impose a religious war in the streets and division among Jews,’” Le Monde explains.

But some rabbis have a different point of view: “A top spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas movement has stated his opposition to military service by any member of his community, including those who are not engaged in the study of Torah.,” ToI reports. The reason is that they “will end up violating the Shabbat.”

The rabbi seems to forget a glorious page in Israel’s history: the war of the Machabees. They had found themselves in a dramatic situation: the Jewish leaders at the time sought to “Hellenize” the people, because they were under the authority of a Greek prince. There was a terrible persecution, during which objectors were massacred on one Sabbath day, for not having wanted to take up arms.

The Macchabees understood the danger and decided to fight, even on Sabbath days, and they delivered their people. Without this resistance, the aforementioned rabbi would undoubtedly not be there to oppose the conscription of the Haredim.

This affair reveals a profound tension in Israel around the ultra-Orthodox, their status, and even their way of life. Some would like “to free [them] from the yeshivas,” and to bring them out of a “bland and dusty thinking,” according to the qualifiers of Le Monde, to launch them into the job market or into the army.