The Right and Wrong Way to Maintain Israel’s Confidence in Its Military

Gadi Eisenkot, the chief of staff of the IDF, recently announced a plan to expand tuition assistance—currently offered only to those who served in elite units—to all combat veterans and, eventually, to all veterans. To Daniel Gordis, this new plan, admirable though it may be, is indicative of a broader crisis regarding the social standing of the Israeli military:

The IDF has long been a hallowed institution. Criticism of the “people’s army,” in a country under constant threat and in which there has always been a universal draft, was once considered a violation of a fundamental Israeli ethos.

Those days, however, are long gone. Although universal in theory, the draft is anything but that. The vast majority of ultra-Orthodox young men do not serve; neither do [most] Israeli Arabs. Increasing numbers of secular Israelis, largely around Tel Aviv, are dodging the draft. Those who do serve, and their parents, increasingly speak of the importance of an “equal sharing of the burden,” a phrase now ubiquitous. For many Israeli families, the unequal sharing of the burden has cast a cloud over the IDF. . . .

Should the public continue to sour on the IDF, Israel will face a serious challenge. Few countries must maintain their revolutionary enthusiasm and spirit of sacrifice for seven decades. Israel has had to, and that is unlikely to change. . . . With Hizballah and Hamas armed to the teeth and digging tunnels, and with Iran still pursuing a nuclear weapon, Israelis need not only their army but also a renewed devotion to its excellence.

In some ways, ironically, the tuition plan may exacerbate the problem. Eisenkot is playing into the “ask what your army can do for you” syndrome, acknowledging that the more classic Israeli attitude which demanded that young people “ask what they could do for their army” has largely faded. The implications of that shift in attitude for Israeli society at large could be profound for a state that is likely to have to battle for its existence for as far as the eye can see.

Read more at Bloomberg

More about: Gadi Eisenkot, IDF, Israel & Zionism, Israeli society

It’s Time for Haredi Jews to Become Part of Israel’s Story

Unless the Supreme Court grants an extension from a recent ruling, on Monday the Israeli government will be required to withhold state funds from all yeshivas whose students don’t enlist in the IDF. The issue of draft exemptions for Haredim was already becoming more contentious than ever last year; it grew even more urgent after the beginning of the war, as the army for the first time in decades found itself suffering from a manpower crunch. Yehoshua Pfeffer, a haredi rabbi and writer, argues that haredi opposition to army service has become entirely disconnected from its original rationale:

The old imperative of “those outside of full-time Torah study must go to the army” was all but forgotten. . . . The fact that we do not enlist, all of us, regardless of how deeply we might be immersed in the sea of Torah, brings the wrath of Israeli society upon us, gives a bad name to all of haredi society, and desecrates the Name of Heaven. It might still bring harsh decrees upon the yeshiva world. It is time for us to engage in damage limitation.

In Pfeffer’s analysis, today’s haredi leaders, by declaring that they will fight the draft tooth and nail, are violating the explicit teachings of the very rabbis who created and supported the exemptions. He finds the current attempts by haredi publications to justify the status quo not only unconvincing but insincere. At the heart of the matter, according to Pfeffer, is a lack of haredi identification with Israel as a whole, a lack of feeling that the Israeli story is also the haredi story:

Today, it is high time we changed our tune. The new response to the demand for enlistment needs to state, first and foremost to ourselves, that this is our story. On the one hand, it is crucial to maintain and even strengthen our isolation from secular values and culture. . . . On the other hand, this cultural isolationism must not create alienation from our shared story with our fellow brethren living in the Holy Land. Participation in the army is one crucial element of this belonging.

Read more at Tzarich Iyun

More about: Haredim, IDF, Israeli society