At a time when Israeli soldiers are fighting and dying to defend the country, Knesset members from Shas and United Torah Judaism recently sought to advance legislation that would have defined Torah study as a form of national service equivalent to serving in the IDF.
Following public criticism and objections from within the governing coalition, the proposal has now reportedly been revised.
While the bill’s sponsors may have intended to bring honor to one of Judaism’s most sacred values, the fierce public backlash demonstrates how easily efforts to legislate the status of Torah study can become entangled in political controversy.
The irony is that no such legislation is needed to establish the importance of Torah learning. There is no question that Torah study is one of the cornerstones of Jewish existence. Without it, the Jewish people would not have survived nearly 2,000 years of exile.
It is Torah that defined and preserved our identity, sustained our faith, and transmitted our values from generation to generation. The pages of the Talmud and the teachings of our sages throughout the centuries have been the lifeblood of our nation.
No one can or should dispute that fact.
Indeed, the decision to remove the controversial language from the bill is a welcome step. It reflects a recognition that honoring Torah study does not require placing it on the same plane as military service. Both are worthy of respect, but they are not the same thing.
The importance of military service
That distinction lies at the heart of the controversy.
A young man who spends his days immersed in Torah is engaged in a noble and important pursuit. But a soldier who leaves his family, puts on a uniform and risks his life defending the nation is making a sacrifice of a different order altogether. Honoring one need not come at the expense of the other.
Nor is this merely a matter of common sense. It is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition.
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed – one of the leading rabbinic figures in the Religious Zionist world and a passionate advocate of Torah study – has pointed out that military service fulfills two of the most important mitzvot in Judaism: defending the Jewish people from their enemies and settling the Land of Israel. These are not merely civic responsibilities. They are sacred obligations.
At the same time, Rabbi Melamed strongly affirms the centrality of Torah learning. He notes that there is no mitzvah that has contributed more to preserving Jewish identity than the study of Torah.
Yet precisely because he values Torah so highly, he rejects the notion that Torah study can automatically exempt someone from military service when the nation is in need.
The Talmud (Moed Katan 9a) teaches that when a mitzvah cannot be performed by others, it takes precedence over one’s Torah study. As Rabbi Melamed notes, this principle applies directly to national defense. If additional soldiers are needed to protect the Jewish people, then the obligation to serve overrides the requirement to study.
The same conclusion emerges from the laws of war. The Mishna in Tractate Sotah (44b) teaches that in a Milchemet Mitzvah – an obligatory war – “everyone goes out, even a groom from his chamber and a bride from her canopy.”
The Rambam codifies this principle as binding law, stating unequivocally that “a war fought to assist Israel from an enemy which attacks them” constitutes an obligatory war (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 5:1).
These sources are especially relevant today.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, thousands of Israeli soldiers have spent months in Gaza, Lebanon, Judea and Samaria and elsewhere.
Hundreds have fallen in battle. Thousands more have been wounded, some grievously. Families have buried sons, husbands and fathers. Reservists have repeatedly left their homes, businesses and careers behind in order to answer the nation’s call.
At such a moment, proposals that equate Torah study with military service are bound to provoke controversy.
Many Israelis who already feel that the burden of national defense is not being shared equally will see such efforts as an attempt to sanctify inequality rather than address it. Instead of drawing hearts closer to Torah, they risk pushing them further away.
That is a tragedy, because Torah deserves better than to become a political instrument in the debate over military service.
Of course, every society requires scholars. Every nation benefits from intellectual and spiritual leadership. It is entirely reasonable to create frameworks that allow a limited number of exceptionally gifted Torah scholars to devote themselves fully to learning.
Rabbi Melamed himself has argued that there is room for a select cadre of outstanding scholars whose continued learning serves the broader spiritual needs of the nation.
But preserving Torah’s stature does not require redefining it through legislation. Love of Torah cannot be created by legal declarations or constitutional formulas. It grows when people encounter Torah as a source of wisdom, meaning and moral elevation, and when those who study it exemplify humility, integrity and concern for the broader community.
Israel needs more Torah, not less. It needs serious scholarship, deep faith and greater spiritual purpose. But it also needs soldiers willing to stand guard on its borders and defend its citizens.
The challenge is not to blur the distinction between those roles but to honor both.
Torah should unite the Jewish people, not deepen existing divisions. It is time for all concerned to recognize a simple truth: Torah study is sacred, military service is sacred, but neither is enhanced by pretending they are the same.
Indeed, when Torah is invoked to justify avoiding burdens that others are expected to bear, it does not sanctify God’s name – it merely desecrates it
The writer, an ordained rabbi, served as deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.