Honest debate over fundamental issues is a cornerstone of both Jewish tradition and democratic society. At present, Israeli society is engaged in a pivotal discussion concerning the implementation of a universal draft law. This represents a substantial shift from the previous framework, which provided a specific exemption for members of the haredi community (however that is defined).
With that exemption now off the books and no new law containing exemptions having been passed, the de facto situation is that haredim are obligated to serve, just like all other citizens. This is extremely upsetting to much of the haredi world and its leadership, who are battling to have an exemption reinstated, while many others, including those who have been shouldering an unbearable burden these last two years, want to see the current law enforced.
This ongoing controversy surrounding the draft (exemption) law is not likely to be resolved any time soon, and all sides are digging in their heels. When dealing with such a fateful issue, it is crucial that all sides stick to the facts. It is thus distressing to see statements by haredi leaders, political and religious, that are so preposterous that the haredi world must realize they are blatant lies.
Lies about draft laws
Time and again, one sees statements, in various permutations, that there are “arrest warrants for yeshiva students for nothing but the crime of studying Torah” or, as Rabbi Dov Landau is quoted as saying, “Yeshiva students are in prison for the sin of studying Torah.” Those statements are inaccurate and misleading.
There is no crime in contemporary Israel of studying Torah. Au contraire, not only is Torah study not illegal, but the Israeli government continues to support Torah study more than any government or institution in the history of the world. Israel is not Hellenistic Greece, Hadrianic Rome, nor the Stalinist Soviet Union.
So why are some “Torah learners” being arrested? As noted, there is now universal compulsory military service in Israel, an unfortunate necessity to protect the Jewish people from our barbaric enemies. Those who were arrested were not arrested for studying Torah; they were arrested for violating the draft law and thereby shirking their duty to their fellow Jews.
The true reason for arrests
It is immaterial if they were in the study hall, a chess club, or a basketball court; they would be arrested. And the arrest would not be for playing basketball, playing chess, or studying Torah; it would be for draft evasion. There is no persecution because of Torah study.
My son and many of his friends recently returned to yeshivas in Israel and have no concern of being arrested, as they just returned from another 2.5 months in Gaza and elsewhere and are now thankfully returning to the study halls.
If a person eats in a restaurant and walks out and gets arrested, he cannot truthfully assert he was arrested for the crime of eating. There is no law against eating; there is a law against eating without paying. One is entitled to challenge the law about paying for your food or the law that says that one must defend the people and the Land of Israel, but it is disingenuous (and false) to say that the arrests are for the “crime of studying Torah.”
There is also no plan to empty the yeshivas. Statements such as “to forcibly conscript every yeshiva student” and “if every Jew is a soldier but none are scholars” also do not represent what anyone is proposing. This is not early 19th-century cantonist Russia, where conscripts were required to serve in the Imperial Russian army for 25 years.
The truth and respectful debate
The proposed laws are for drafting yeshiva students of a certain age for a standard service period. They can be in the yeshiva both before and after, and thus the yeshivas will remain full, and, with God’s help, great rabbinic scholars will be produced. This model has already proven itself in the non-haredi Torah world, where indeed scholars of stature have emerged from yeshivot that are full of pre- and post-army students.
This sensitive and emotionally charged debate holds significant importance for the Jewish people and the Jewish state, and it must be conducted with honesty and respect. A key element of respectful discourse is a commitment to truthfulness. When haredi leaders and media outlets resort to hyperbole or even deliberate falsehoods, it undermines, rather than advances, meaningful progress in this vital national conversation.
The writer is a professor of neuroscience at Bar-Ilan University.