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A gathering crisis over conscripting Haredi men into the military is posing a risk to Israel's government and dividing the country.

The public mood on the question has undergone a sea change in Israel in the wake of two years of conflict, and this is now arguably the most explosive political challenge facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Legislators are currently considering a piece of legislation to end the special status given to Haredi students dedicated to yeshiva learning, created when the modern Israel was declared in 1948.

The deferment was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court almost 20 years ago. Interim measures to extend it were officially terminated by the bench last year, pressuring the cabinet to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Approximately 24,000 enlistment orders were issued last year, but only around 1,200 men from the community showed up, according to military testimony given to lawmakers.

Strains Spill Onto the Streets

Friction is spilling onto the public squares, with lawmakers now deliberating a new conscription law to force yeshiva students into national service together with other Jewish citizens.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were harassed this month by hardline activists, who are incensed with parliament's discussion of the proposed law.

In a recent incident, a elite police squad had to assist enforcement personnel who were targeted by a large crowd of community members as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new alert system called "Dark Alert" to spread word quickly through ultra-Orthodox communities and summon demonstrators to stop detentions from occurring.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," said one protester. "You can't fight against religious practice in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Separate

Yet the transformations sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the environment of the Torah academy in an ultra-Orthodox city, an ultra-Orthodox city on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, teenage boys sit in pairs to discuss Jewish law, their brightly coloured notepads popping against the lines of light-colored shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see a significant portion are engaged in learning," the head of the academy, a senior rabbi, said. "Via dedicated learning, we protect the troops wherever they are. This is how we contribute."

The community holds that constant study and spiritual pursuit protect Israel's military, and are as crucial to its military success as its conventional forces. This tenet was acknowledged by Israel's politicians in the previous eras, he said, but he admitted that public attitudes are shifting.

Rising Public Pressure

This religious sector has grown substantially its proportion of Israel's population over the last seventy years, and now represents around one in seven. A policy that originated as an exception for several hundred yeshiva attendees turned into, by the beginning of the 2023 war, a cohort of some 60,000 men left out of the conscription.

Surveys indicate backing for drafting the Haredim is growing. A survey in July found that 85% of secular and traditional Jews - encompassing a significant majority in his own coalition allies - backed penalties for those who declined a draft order, with a solid consensus in approving removing privileges, travel documents, or the franchise.

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

"It is my belief, regardless of piety, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your country," said a young woman. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from Within a Religious City

Support for ending the exemption is also coming from observant Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like one local resident, who is a neighbor of the seminary and notes non-Haredi religious Jews who do serve in the military while also engaging in religious study.

"I am frustrated that the Haredim don't serve in the army," she said. "It's unfair. I am also committed to the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the messianic era."

The resident runs a local tribute in Bnei Brak to soldiers from the area, both observant and non-observant, who were lost in conflict. Long columns of images {