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An impending crisis over enlisting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is posing a risk to the administration and fracturing the country.

Public opinion on the question has undergone a sea change in Israel following two years of conflict, and this is now perhaps the most volatile political issue facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Battle

Lawmakers are now debating a piece of legislation to end the exemption awarded to yeshiva scholars enrolled in Torah study, established when the State of Israel was established in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to maintain it were finally concluded by the bench last year, compelling the administration to start enlisting the community.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were issued last year, but merely about 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to military testimony given to lawmakers.

Tensions Erupt Into Public View

Friction is spilling onto the city centers, with elected officials now deliberating a new draft bill to force Haredi males into national service together with other Jewish citizens.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were harassed this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are enraged with the legislative debate of the draft legislation.

And last week, a specialized force had to rescue army police who were targeted by a large crowd of community members as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have prompted the establishment of a new alert system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to send out instant alerts through the religious sector and call out demonstrators to block enforcement from occurring.

"We're a Jewish country," remarked one protester. "One cannot oppose the Jewish faith in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It doesn't work."

A World Set Aside

But the shifts blowing through Israel have failed to penetrate the confines of the Torah academy in Bnei Brak, an religious community on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, young students learn in partnerships to debate the Torah, their distinctive school notebooks standing out against the lines of formal attire and small black kippahs.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see a significant portion are pursuing religious study," the leader of the academy, a senior rabbi, noted. "By studying Torah, we safeguard the troops wherever they are. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that continuous prayer and religious study protect Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its defense as its conventional forces. That belief was acknowledged by previous governments in the previous eras, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he acknowledged that Israel was changing.

Growing Societal Anger

This religious sector has significantly increased its proportion of the nation's citizens over the since the state's founding, and now accounts for 14%. An exemption that started as an exception for a few hundred Torah scholars became, by the onset of the 2023 war, a body of tens of thousands of men not subject to the draft.

Polling data show support for ultra-Orthodox conscription is growing. A poll in July showed that an overwhelming percentage of the broader Jewish public - encompassing a large segment in the Prime Minister's political base - backed penalties for those who refused a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in favor of cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the electoral participation.

"It seems to me there are people who reside in this country without contributing," one serviceman in Tel Aviv commented.

"I don't think, regardless of piety, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your state," stated a young woman. "As a citizen by birth, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Views from Within Bnei Brak

Backing for broadening conscription is also expressed by traditional Jews outside the Haredi community, like one local resident, who resides close to the academy and notes non-Haredi religious Jews who do serve in the military while also studying Torah.

"It makes me angry that ultra-Orthodox people don't enlist," she said. "It is unjust. I am also committed to the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the Torah and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the arrival of peace."

The resident maintains a local tribute in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both religious and secular, who were fallen in war. Long columns of faces {