The big bluff

Anyone who happened to be at the Yarkonim junction near Petach Tikva a few weeks ago and entered the massive tent specially constructed for the wedding of the Vizhnitz Rebbe’s grandson would have been thrilled at the sight of thousands of young men, swaying and dancing with excitement and sitting on the “prenchass,” the well-known terraced bleachers of haredi [ultra-Orthodox] weddings. One of the wedding guests, with a lieutenant general rank on his shoulders, was unable to contain himself in the presence of such grandeur, and whispered loudly to his friend, “I could raise two regiments from the number of guys here.”

Since the ruling on the Tal Law was published, those who oppose the decision are trying to hang their hopes on the service frameworks designed for the haredi community, such as haredi civil service, the Shahar program (integration of haredim into the IDF) or the Nahal Haredi. But the professionals and the haredim involved know that these frameworks are fiction and that ultra-Orthodox ideology leaves no room for compromise. They know real haredim, including the tens of thousands of followers such as those on the “prenchass,” will remain in the yeshivas [religious institution of study] and not enlist in the army.

To understand the great bluff of the ultra-Orthodox frameworks mentioned above, it is enough to study the data: according to the Israeli Bureau of Statistics, there are nearly 900,000 haredim in Israel; 250,000 are in their twenties, which is considered to be the beginning of working age. When we really look at these numbers, we can understand Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch’s disappointment in the draft of the ruling that only 1,000 haredim are in the IDF and 1,800 perform national service. It is hard to even say “a few percent.”

Even within the haredi community, people are not ashamed to admit that the ultra-Orthodox frameworks for service are not really designed to integrate them into broader society. They are intended primarily to sooth the consciences of both the haredi and secular people alike. It gives the haredi world a sort of “industrial quiet” in its dealings with the larger Israeli public. Fourteen years have passed since the High Court ruled that the defense minister cannot grant broad exemptions to yeshiva students and, on the pretensions of honor, a few thousand haredim integrate to help the rest of the community avoid mass draft to the IDF. At the same time, it calms the secular public, like an aspirin for a chronic headache, as if to say “here are increasingly developed frameworks, designed to recruit haredim, just give them time to work.”

I honestly have to say that no real solution is on the horizon. Before Aug. 1 [the end of the current Tal Law mandate], it appears that there will be a new version of some law to calm both sides, but will the haredim truly bear the burden equally after that? At the moment, all we have are words, words and more words.

　

　

　

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