{"id":81926,"date":"2024-06-26T19:36:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T19:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/26\/what-the-courts-ruling-on-drafting-the-ultra-orthodox-means-for-israel\/"},"modified":"2024-06-26T19:36:04","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T19:36:04","slug":"what-the-courts-ruling-on-drafting-the-ultra-orthodox-means-for-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/26\/what-the-courts-ruling-on-drafting-the-ultra-orthodox-means-for-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Court\u2019s Ruling on Drafting the Ultra-Orthodox Means for Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/26\/multimedia\/26israel-orthodox-explainer-1-gtjc\/26israel-orthodox-explainer-1-gtjc-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"What the Court\u2019s Ruling on Drafting the Ultra-Orthodox Means for Israel\" title=\"What the Court\u2019s Ruling on Drafting the Ultra-Orthodox Means for Israel\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli Supreme Court\u2019s ruling on Tuesday that ended a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews from serving in the country\u2019s military could herald a seismic change in the trajectory of the country, with social, political and security implications.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The ruling is likely to further strain Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s brittle governing coalition, which depends on the support of two ultra-Orthodox parties that support the exemption, even as Israel is at war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The issue of ultra-Orthodox exemption has long polarized a country where most Jewish 18-year-olds, both men and women, are conscripted for years of obligatory service. Mainstream Israelis have long bristled over a lack of equality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More recently, the monthslong war in Gaza and looming conflicts on other fronts have underscored the military\u2019s need for more soldiers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-db85238\">Who are the Haredim?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many of Israel\u2019s ultra-Orthodox \u2014 known in Hebrew as Haredim, or those who fear God \u2014 afford the state only de facto recognition, rejecting the notion of secular Jewish sovereignty and of serving in the military.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Instead, many Haredim view full-time Torah study as a supreme value and argue that this scholarship has ensured the survival of the Jewish people for centuries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the ultra-Orthodox minority in Israel is far from homogenous, with the followers of some rabbinical courts more insular and protective of their community\u2019s special status than others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some Haredim have chosen to join the military over the years, to seek a secular higher education and to become more a part of Israeli society at large.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But other more hard-core Haredim fear the military\u2019s image as a melting pot and say young men who go into the army as ultra-Orthodox come out secular. Ultra-Orthodox women do not serve.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Haredim make up about 13 percent of Israel\u2019s population. But it is a young community that favors large families. As a result, its members make up an ever-growing proportion of the country\u2019s draft-age cohort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At present, a yearly average of about 1,200 Haredim serve in the military, a tiny fraction of the rank and file. And many of those are considered by the community to be religious dropouts or hailing from the fringes of Haredi society.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-4260b111\">What\u2019s at stake?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Soon after Israel\u2019s founding in 1948, the country\u2019s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, exempted 400 yeshiva, or religious seminary, students from military service and agreed to future exemptions as part of an arrangement to grant the ultra-Orthodox a measure of autonomy in exchange for their support in creating a largely secular state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The early exemptions were intended, among other things, to help restore the ranks of Torah scholarship after they were decimated in the Holocaust. Historians say Mr. Ben-Gurion believed that in modern Israel, ultra-Orthodoxy would diminish or eventually disappear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Instead the Haredim have become the fastest-growing part of Israel\u2019s population, leading many Israeli experts to conclude that the model of mass exemptions is no longer sustainable. Resentment has grown among large segments of the Israeli public over what they view as unequal sharing of the national burden.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After decades of legal patchwork and years of governmental procrastination, the issue has now come to a head. With all the temporary laws and orders now expired, the court ruled that the longstanding military exemption has no legal basis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In addition to dividing the country, the issue has the potential to collapse Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s governing coalition amid a costly war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Netanyahu must now scramble to find a legislative solution acceptable to the ultra-Orthodox parties, who support the exemption, and his more secular and nationalist allies, who oppose it, or risk losing his government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The ruling takes Israel into \u201cnew territory\u201d and constitutes \u201ca precedent for Israeli politics, for Israeli society and for the army,\u201d said Shuki Friedman, vice president of the independent, Jerusalem-based Jewish People Policy Institute and an expert on matters of religion and state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If the discussion up to now was always about equality, he said, the focus has shifted to the need for more soldiers, and the ultra-Orthodox are \u201ca major source for potential recruitment.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-637e7577\">What happens next?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Soon after Tuesday\u2019s ruling, the office of Israel\u2019s attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, sent instructions to government officials calling on them to immediately implement the court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The letter said that the security establishment had already committed to drafting an additional 3,000 ultra-Orthodox seminary students over the coming year. But it was not immediately clear when or how the military would choose those recruits out of the more than 60,000 students of draft age currently enrolled in religious seminaries with exemptions from service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is an initial number for immediate recruitment that does not fully reflect the current needs of the military and the advancement of an equal sharing of the burden,\u201d the letter stipulated, calling on the authorities to come up with a more comprehensive plan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party, in the meantime, said it would push ahead with legislation that calls for small increases in Haredi recruitment but would largely codify the exemption of most others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The bill might not gain Parliament\u2019s approval in its current form, while any toughening of its terms could upset the rabbis and the Haredi parties Mr. Netanyahu depends on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For now, Mr. Netanyahu is likely to play for time. The Haredi parties do not have much interest in toppling the government, which is the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israel\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the court ruling, said Israel Cohen, a prominent Haredi commentator with Kol Berama, an ultra-Orthodox radio station, certainly created a \u201cnegative dynamic\u201d for the government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-2beab866\">How are the Haredim\u2019s attitudes changing?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7, which prompted the war in Gaza, there is a greater readiness to serve, according to Mr. Cohen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the aftermath of the attack, thousands of Haredim expressed a willingness to join the military.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many younger Haredim increasingly want to participate in the army, higher education and the work force, said Yitzik Crombie, an ultra-Orthodox entrepreneur who runs several programs to help members of the community integrate into those areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBut they are very afraid,\u201d he said, \u201cto lose their special identity, their culture, their unique way of life. To be a Haredi is to be separate from other society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Joining the army means swapping the black-and-white signature uniform of seminary students for khaki fatigues and switching allegiance from a rabbi to a commander, he said. The military, he said, must build the community\u2019s trust by showing how conscripts can serve and remain Haredi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"> Many Haredim enrolled in seminaries do not actually study all day, if at all. Since Oct. 7, Mr. Cohen said, more Haredim have been adopting the position that whoever is not studying can join the army.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But even as attitudes toward service are changing in some parts of the community, others remain vehemently opposed to conscription.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some rabbis attacked the court ruling for placing no value on the importance of Torah study, Mr. Cohen said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rabbi Moshe Maya, who is closely affiliated with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, a key partner in Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s coalition, told Kol Berama on Wednesday that \u201ca son of the Torah is forbidden to enlist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThose who go to the army today come out as Sabbath desecraters,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/26\/world\/middleeast\/what-the-courts-ruling-on-drafting-the-ultra-orthodox-means-for-israel.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Israeli Supreme Court\u2019s ruling on Tuesday that ended a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews from serving in the country\u2019s military could herald a seismic change in the trajectory of the country, with social, political and security implications. The ruling is likely to further strain Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s brittle governing coalition, which depends on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/26\/multimedia\/26israel-orthodox-explainer-1-gtjc\/26israel-orthodox-explainer-1-gtjc-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[514,65144,38,19138,1872,18698],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81928,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81926\/revisions\/81928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}