4 | DECEMBER 28 • 2023 J
N

opinion

In War, a Secular-Haredi Understanding?
S

hall your brothers go to
war, and you remain
here?
Those were the words that
the prophet Moses used to
chastise ancient
Hebrews who
preferred to
avoid conflict
and settle
outside the
Promised Land.
And that is
the question
that more and more Haredi
(sometimes called ultra-
Orthodox) Jews in Israel are
asking themselves.
When secular Israelis
complain about their fraught
relationship with Haredim, the
refusal of the latter to serve
in the army is usually the
complaint that tops the list.
But since the Oct. 7 Hamas
terrorist attack, over 2,000
Haredi men have volunteered
to serve in the IDF, according
to Rear Adm. Danial Hagari.
The first cohort has already
finished basic training and is
now in the field.
But their service resonates
far from it and helps bridge
the chasm between them and
secular society — which, I
hope, will respond in turn.
There is a precedent,
however short-lived, for
today’s Haredi volunteers. As
described by Yitzchak Kromby
in Israel’s Future with an ultra-
Orthodox Majority, in 1948,
when forces from seven Arab
armies invaded to destroy the
nascent Jewish state, Haredi
rabbis issued a horu’as sha’ah
— literally “a ruling for the
hour” — calling on all able-

bodied Haredi men to pick up
rifles and join the fight.
But after the war, Rabbi
Avraham Karelitz, the leader
of the Haredi community,
persuaded Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion to give draft
exemptions to Haredi men “for
whom learning Torah is their
profession.” In 1952, when
the exemption was enacted, it
covered only 400 18-year-old
men. Ben-Gurion justified the
exemptions, pointing to other
countries with similar laws
and reasoned that they would
deprive the army of only a
small number of men.
But the Haredim planned
for a future in which they
would represent a far greater
proportion of Israelis —
and indeed, today the draft
exemption covers 63,000
Haredim aged 18-26.
When the Ponovitch
yeshivah was founded in Israel
in the 1940s, for example, it
had only 70 students, but it
was built for over 700. This
was a bold decision. The
Holocaust fell heaviest on
the Haredi communities of
Europe. But their optimism
proved justified. Today the
Ponovitch yeshivah has over
3,000 students.
This exponential growth
has taken Haredim from
4% of Israel’s population
in 1980 to over 13% today.
Not surprisingly, this sharp
rise has raised alarm that
the Haredim might try to
impose their values on Israel’s
freewheeling secular culture.
The fear is misplaced. In truth,
the Haredim have long been
models of tolerance.

Haredim are not shy about
saying that gay relationships
are inconsistent with their
values. But in the history of
Israel, no Haredi political
party has ever proposed
legislation curtailing Israel’s
gay community.
Israel elected its first openly
gay man to the Knesset way
back in 1973. Perhaps the
most remarkable thing is how
unremarkable it was. The
person elected is not even a
footnote in Israeli history (his
name is Akiva Nof, in case
you were wondering). And the
Haredi Jews joined a coalition
that included him.
The speaker of the Knesset
today is an openly gay man
named Amir Ohana. The
Haredim sit with him in
a coalition government as
well. As Rabbi Elazar Shach,
another leader of the Haredi
community, once said, “We are
not attempting to force anyone
to do anything. We merely hope
that God will give them the
clarity to follow in his ways.”

THE ‘OLD’ AND THE ‘NEW’
Would that Israel’s secular
community have treated the
Haredim in the same manner?
Starting in the 19th centu-
ry, the founders of Zionism
attempted to create a “New
Jew” that was “liberated” from
ancient traditions. In Theodor
Herzl’s influential novel The
Old New Land, the heavy
of the story is an Orthodox
Jewish rabbi who attempts to
prevent European enlighten-
ment from benefiting Arabs
and Jews (who live happily
ever after).

But in recent years, the
army has grown more
accommodating to the
Haredi lifestyle, creating
units that segregate men and
women. Some feminists are
understandably unhappy with
the precedent. But the Haredi
population has responded.
One 2019 study, cited by
Kromby, found that 17% of
eligible Haredi men entered
the army or some other form
of national service.
The key to success is not
going to be how many Haredi
men come home with medals
pinned to their chests, but
how many come home with
yarmulkes still on their heads.
In the past, army officers made
no secret of their hope and
expectation that Haredi men
who joined would abandon
their traditional lifestyle. Today
they recognize that the key to
attracting other Haredim is
the same thing that allows any
pluralistic society to thrive. It is
called tolerance.
The current crisis is going
to change Israeli society in
ways that we still do not know.
But one silver lining in the
horrific tragedy is that Israelis
both secular and religious are
coming together. Few believe
that this will be the war to
end all wars. But with a little
goodwill on all sides, it can
be the first war since 1948 in
which the Haredim join their
brothers in battle.

Uri Kaufman is the author of the

newly released book Eighteen Days

in October: The Yom Kippur War and

the Making of the Modern Middle

East (St. Martin’s Press). This essay

originally appeared in Forward.com.

Uri Kaufman

Forward.com

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