2024-02-27T18:25:18+00:00
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/ The issue of the ultra-Orthodox Jews, or “Haredim”, and their struggle against compulsory recruitment in the Israeli army returned to the forefront, after hundreds of Israelis demonstrated, raising the Israeli flag in front of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, yesterday (Monday), coinciding with the start of hearings in the court regarding the justifications obligating the ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in the Israeli army.
Footage of Israeli police forcibly dispersing protests by Haredi Jews of all ages spread on social media shortly after the Israeli Supreme Court heard the appeal, according to media outlets.
“The prolonged war in Gaza draws our attention to the urgent need to expand the scope of conscription to include all segments of Israeli society,” said the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the groups that filed a Supreme Court challenge against the exemptions.
She added: “Equality of burden is not a slogan, but rather a strategic and security necessity, and this demand for true equality in recruitment must be shared by everyone who carries this dear country in their hearts.”
Conscription is required of Jewish Israelis when they reach the age of 18, with men serving for two years and eight months and women for two years.
Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has faced the issue of recruiting extremists, and its first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, treated them with special treatment, as they were guarantors of the continued study of the teachings of the Jewish religion.
The Supreme Court struck down a law exempting hardline men from military service in 2018, citing equality. Efforts by parliament to agree new rules have failed, and a government order suspending conscription for hardline men expires next month.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 13 percent of Israel’s population, a figure expected to reach 19 percent by 2035, due to their high birth rates.
Who are the “Haredi” Jews?
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, or “Haredi Jews,” are a very strict religious movement. The word “Haredi” means pious.
The Haredi Jews reject Zionism, and the majority of them live in historical Palestine and the United States, while some of them live and move between European countries. Their beliefs are rooted in the Torah and ancient Jewish intellectual origins.
Haredi Jews are made up of many different communities, each centered around a rabbi, and sharing their own customs of worship, ritual, biblical law, dress, and daily life.
There everyone lives a life devoted to faith, they meet in temples 3 times a day for prayer, study in major seminaries, and regularly hold weddings and festive gatherings.
Why do Haredi Jews refuse compulsory military service?
These exemptions have sparked widespread anger and resentment, as many Israelis feel resentful of the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service, in light of the largest number of deaths in the ranks of the Israeli army in decades, due to the ongoing fighting with Hamas in Gaza and indirect confrontations on the Lebanese border.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews reject compulsory military service and demand the right to study at theological seminaries instead of serving in uniform for three years.
Some say their religious lifestyle may conflict with military norms, while others express ideological opposition to the liberal state.
The leaders of the religious Jews also consider that the mission of the “Haredim” is limited to studying the Torah, and young men always refrain from enlistment under the pretext that they are busy studying the teachings of Judaism and the Torah’s laws, and that devoting themselves to studying them is no less important than military service.
They also claim that it is difficult to maintain religiousness and Jewish teachings due to the mixing in the army, especially since they adhere to biblical texts regarding the separation of the sexes and prohibiting mixing and relationships between men and women, and they adhere to the Jewish Sabbath, during which they do not work and devote it to visiting synagogues and reading the Torah only.
According to their teachings, the Orthodox Jews consider the study of the Torah to be the guarantee of Israel’s survival, and a “spiritual weapon to protect the people of Israel.”
Ultra-Orthodox Jews have been exempted from military service under pressure from their political representatives in the Knesset and in the government, who say that the role of a religious man is to “study the Torah, not to enlist.”
The “Haredi” Jews do not recognize democracy at all.
The Haredi Jews adhere to the texts of the Torah and the Talmud and to the teachings of the rabbis, and they agree that the State of Israel and the lives of Jews in it must be governed by Jewish law and the teachings of the Torah, not by the principles of democracy, the values of Zionism, and man-made laws. Accordingly, they employ their political influence to impose these teachings on the daily lives of Israelis.
Orthodox Jews are withdrawn into themselves, and are usually known for their strictness and fanaticism regarding traditional Jewish biblical values, and they reject openness to European and Western culture and the values of secularism and democracy.
The Haredi Jews strongly oppose the adoption of the democratic system as the basis for political and social life, because in their view it replaces Jewish law as the sole source of legislation and management of public life for the Jewish people.