The Media Line: War Brings Secular and Ultra-Orthodox Jews Closer, but Large Gaps Still Remain

War Brings Secular and Ultra-Orthodox Jews Closer, but Large Gaps Still Remain

Changes are taking place in ultra-Orthodox society and many have been volunteering to help the war effort, but more needs to be done to ensure the country’s burdens are shared more equally, says expert

By Keren Setton/The Media Line

Before the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, Israel was a deeply divided country, in the midst of a heated debate over the future of its judicial system, with fraught relations between the many different sectors of Israeli society.

One of the main lines of division has been between secular and ultra-Orthodox Jews, known in Hebrew as “haredim,” who have led very different lives, with separate education systems and divergent priorities.

Before the war, the government, Israel’s most right-wing, was planning to propose a bill to allow a blanket military service exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews. The law was initiated by one of the ultra-Orthodox parties, a senior partner in the governing coalition. That controversial issue led to the fall of the Israeli government in 2019, as well as countless strikes and protests.

On Oct. 7, after the Hamas attack on Israel, the Israel Defense Forces immediately called up some 300,000 soldiers for reserve duty.

While military service in Israel is mandatory for men and women alike upon reaching the age of 18, the Orthodox have been given exemptions since the founding of the state. All religious women can receive automatic exemptions, and a series of arrangements has allowed ultra-Orthodox men to receive exemptions by showing that they are engaged in full-time religious studies, based on the belief that such studies hold a value equal, if not superior, to military service.

However, Israel’s population, and the percentage of ultra-Orthodox Jews within the population, was much smaller in the past than it is today. In 1948, only about 1% of the population was ultra-Orthodox, while today some 13% is.

“Most of the haredi Jews are detached from reality. They are not really living under the reality as war as the majority of Israelis are. None of them was forced to abruptly leave their routine and enlist,” Dr. Shuki Friedman, vice president of the Jewish People Policy Institute and a member of Peres Academic Center’s Law Faculty, told The Media Line.

The Israeli media reported that there had been thousands of requests from ultra-Orthodox men to enlist, but the IDF reported that just over 100 haredi men had been drafted since the beginning of the war.

“Nobody dropped their Torah studies and went to enlist,” Friedman said. “We are talking about very marginal, insignificant numbers.”

The Hamas attack and the subsequent war did spark a desire by many haredim to help.

A JPPI poll found that 32% of haredim reported being involved in the war effort, while 53% said they knew someone in their close circle who was involved, mainly as volunteers.

Riki Siton, a haredi woman from central Israel, said she was initially paralyzed by shock and grief, and then decided she needed to do something.

Siton works at Ayelet HaShachar, a nonprofit organization that works to unite religious and nonreligious women in Israel. She maintains a regular relationship with Israelis living in the communities near the Gaza border and she rushed to meet them at the hotels to which they were evacuated. She also attended many funerals.

Several weeks into the war, someone told her that there were no haredim at the Tel Aviv square that has become the focal point for the families of the Israelis taken hostage by Hamas.

“At first, I was a bit scared,” Siton told The Media Line. “When emotions are so on edge, the ability to contain complex matters is decreased, but there was something different this time, and I quickly overcame my fears.”

Siton said that even though some people in the square berated her about the haredi exemption from military service and told her to go and enlist, the families of the hostages strengthened her and encouraged her to stay.

“I owe them for saving me from falling into depression in this horrible time,” she said. “After all the fear and horror, there is still so much hope.”

Siton and other volunteers put up a prayer tent at the square, which is visited by people from all parts of Israeli society.

“Everybody comes,” she said. “Our enemies didn’t differentiate between us, neither should we.”

Rachel Fastag hosts radio shows on a haredi network, and said the images of Israelis being slaughtered in their homes had shocked ultra-Orthodox society too.

“We haven’t gone through something like this since the Holocaust; it shook everyone,” Fastag told The Media Line. “People are getting involved, they want to feel like they are part of the effort, feel a sense of belonging.”

Fastag said that many haredi Jews immediately began to volunteer, cooking for soldiers and donating clothes, while others added the names of soldiers and hostages to their daily prayers.

“There has been a change,” she said. “I cannot say that some of the things won’t go back to what they were, but there is no doubt that this trend will continue. It will be a shame if it won’t.”

However, volunteer efforts and prayers are not enough, Friedman said.

“There is no reason for most of the country to be fighting in Gaza, serving in reserve duty, while others continue on with their lives,” he said.

“Only pressure by a government that is not reliant on haredi political parties will be able to make a change. There needs to be less state financing of the haredi way of life and education together with a demand to serve in the military. What we really need is an equal bearing of the burden.”

For decades, the haredi community has insisted on maintaining its way of life. Many ultra-Orthodox schools do not teach core subjects such as math and English, making it almost impossible for haredim to integrate into the workforce and into wider society, and past attempts to incorporate haredi men into the army have all failed. Serving in the military or joining the workforce is still perceived by many haredim as a direct threat to their way of life and belief system.

The government recently approved additional funding for haredi educational institutions, which Friedman said essentially approves their continued isolationism. Although there was some criticism of the move, it was largely drowned out by war news.

Yet, there are changes taking place in haredi society.

“Clearly, a Torah student who studies day and night will keep doing so. We need these people, because we really believe that the Torah protects us,” Fastag said.

“But those who don’t, I have no doubt that there will be a change with regard to them serving in the military. Our leadership will not come out with grand statements. The less talk about it, the more haredi Jews will enlist. Some processes need to happen quietly; not always do big headlines make for big changes.”

Siton also said there would be changes.

“Israeli society will change, it has to,” she said. “We cannot afford to return to where we were before. What existed before was too destructive and too weak and we were caught at our lowest point. We can by no means return to that point.”

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