Haredi Conscription in Israel

Israeli law generally presumes liability for military service at age 18, but a longstanding arrangement permitted yeshiva students who declared that Torah study was their occupation to defer service while studying.[1] Its operation linked military status to continued religious education: leaving an approved full-time study framework could reactivate the obligation to serve.[2] The arrangement consequently influenced education, employment, and communal life as well as recruitment into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).[2]

The scale of the issue changed substantially over time, from a limited accommodation for several hundred scholars to a system covering tens of thousands of men.[7][2] A 2024 policy paper estimated that Haredi yeshiva students constituted one-sixth of all candidates for military service in 2023.[4] The same paper estimated that approximately 14,000 Haredi men reached age 18 annually, with that cohort expected to grow.[4]

The policy encompasses several distinct questions: which students may defer service, when deferments become exemptions, which military or civilian frameworks are available, and how service obligations should be enforced.[1][8] Legislative proposals have variously used recruitment targets, institutional funding reductions, personal sanctions, and age-based exemptions.[1][9] The June 2024 judgment established an obligation to enforce existing law but did not itself prescribe a recruitment quota or a final timetable for absorbing all eligible students.[4]

Haredi responses are not uniform: some streams have accepted reporting to the IDF to obtain deferments, while the more hardline Jerusalem faction opposes cooperation with that process.[1] Other Haredi men have entered military frameworks designed around religious requirements, including noncombat, intelligence, programming, and combat-support roles.[10][5]

On March 9, 1948, during the War of Independence, Israel Galili, head of the national headquarters, decided to exempt yeshiva students from security service for that year, subject to reconsideration.[11] During the siege of Jerusalem, manpower authorities had initially contemplated self-defense training for young yeshiva students and three-month deferment certificates subject to review.[11] A provision for training at the yeshivas was not implemented.[11]

In 1949, Prime Minister and Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion agreed to protect about 400 yeshiva students from military service, with the stated purpose of preserving Torah study after the Holocaust’s destruction of European yeshivas.[2] The administrative arrangement used the defense minister’s authority rather than establishing a permanent communal exemption through dedicated legislation.[2] Ben-Gurion agreed to defer service for students whose full-time vocation was Torah study, using the education-related authority in Section 12 of the Defense Service Law.[11]

Under the 1949 framework, service was deferred rather than permanently extinguished, and students generally renewed their status while enrolled in recognized full-time study.[2] A 1958 agreement established age-based exit arrangements, including regular or shortened military service for some men leaving study.[2] In a 1958 letter addressing the growing number of students and the moral and security implications of exemptions, Ben-Gurion wrote: “Here, in Israel we are all Jews, and our security depends solely upon ourselves.”[11]

Early Haredi military participation also included arrangements combining work for national defense with continued Torah study.[12] Shortly after Israel’s establishment, an agreement between yeshivas and IDF enlistment offices allowed outstanding students to receive exemptions while enlisted recruits continued studying during service.[12] Of 900 Haredi yeshiva students called to report, 370 did so; the account also records 270 medical exemptions and 260 spiritual exemptions.[12]

Tuvia Bier, a former Haganah member, organized recruits into Gdud Tuvia, a battalion that worked on Jerusalem fortifications one or two days weekly for seven months and devoted the remaining time to Torah study.[12] It was not sent to the front lines, partly because its recruits had not received firearms training.[12] A writer in its magazine, Hamivtzar, considered whether students were obligated to serve beyond their usual scholarly role, describing the study hall as “the spiritual fortress of the Torah of Israel.”[12]

An essay in the Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Security Affairs describes Haredi participation in the Haganah, Etzel, and Lehi, and argues that a later communal norm against service developed over time rather than existing unchanged from the outset.[13] The essay also describes Agudath Israel recruitment centers and support for observant units after the 1947 UN partition decision, together with Haredi participation in the War of Independence and the Six-Day War.[13]

The numerical quota on yeshiva deferments was removed in 1977, following earlier political agreements that had expanded eligibility in the early 1970s.[2] The enlarged system combined prolonged yeshiva study, government stipends, and draft deferment.[14] A Knesset committee subsequently concluded that non-service among yeshiva students had increased significantly after 1977.[11]

In a 1986 debate, Geula Cohen said the number of students requesting exemptions had risen from 700 in 1981 to twice that number by 1986; Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin replied that successive governments had considered the issue but did not signal a policy change.[11] The overall population receiving deferments reached 17,017 in 1987 and 28,772 by August 1997.[2] In 1998, the Supreme Court concluded that an arrangement of this scale required explicit Knesset legislation and could no longer rest solely on the defense minister’s general administrative authority.[2] It did not order the immediate enlistment of every student or establish replacement quotas or alternative-service arrangements.[2]

In July 2002, the Knesset approved the Tal Law by 51 votes to 41, following the work of a committee chaired by Tzvi Tal.[8] The law allowed full-time yeshiva students to defer service until age 22 and offered a decision year away from study for vocational training or work experience without immediate conscription.[8][15] Afterward, students could undertake abbreviated military service or a year of national service, or return to full-time study.[15] The military option included 16 months of service, and the law also called for expanding Orthodox IDF units.[8]

The Knesset extended the Tal Law for five years in 2007.[15] In 2009, the High Court delayed deciding petitions against it to allow assessment of whether improved implementation could increase recruitment, while criticizing slow progress and partial results.[15] In 2012, the court struck down the law by six votes to three, finding that the state had not demonstrated its effectiveness in increasing enlistment or reducing discrimination.[16] The court observed that many students were already raising families at age 22, making deferral operate in practice like exemption.[16]

In March 2014, the Knesset passed the Equal Service Law in its second and third readings by 66 votes to one.[17] It set a target that 74% of yeshiva students would be drafted annually beginning in 2017, with a reported figure of 5,200 eligible draftees annually, and provided for criminal sanctions for failure to report.[17] The legislation also limited the number of students eligible for full exemptions.[18]

A 2015 amendment extended the adjustment period and shifted responsibility for setting targets toward the government, leaving the defense minister discretion over Haredi recruitment targets.[18][19] In 2017, the Supreme Court struck down Amendment No. 21 by eight votes to one, finding harm to equality and the constitutional right to dignity.[19] The court criticized inadequate equitable provisions and sanctions, while delaying the judgment’s effect to allow replacement legislation.[19]

Later proposals again sought to combine lower exemption ages with enlistment targets.[1][9] A 2021 proposal contemplated lowering the exemption age from 26 to 21 and subsequently raising it to 23 over three years.[1] Yeshivas achieving less than 95% of their targets could face funding reductions capped at half their budgets, and the proposed framework would cease to apply if enlistment fell below 85% of targets during 2023–2026.[1]

A proposal submitted by former Defense Minister Benny Gantz passed its first Knesset reading on January 31, 2022.[9] Its proposed sequence was an exemption age of 21 for three years, 22 for one year, and 23 thereafter, with annual recruitment targets and sanctions directed at educational institutions rather than individuals.[9] On June 11, 2024, the Knesset voted 63–57 to apply legislative continuity to the 2022 bill, allowing committee consideration rather than constituting final passage.[20]

In 2013, another cabinet-approved draft text proposed reserving exemptions for 1,800 outstanding Torah scholars from an estimated annual eligible cohort of 8,000 men, with a four-year interim period encouraging enlistment.[21] That text still required parliamentary ratification, and its figures represented a proposal rather than an enacted recruitment framework.[21]

The statutory provisions permitting deferments and exemptions expired on June 30, 2023, without replacement legislation.[7] A government resolution temporarily directed the military not to enforce conscription against eligible yeshiva students while a new law was pursued; that measure expired on April 1, 2024.[7] The planned replacement legislation did not pass amid the October 7 attack and subsequent wars with Hamas and Hezbollah.[22]

On April 1, 2024, the court barred government funding for yeshivas in relation to more than 50,000 students described as eligible for conscription, potentially affecting 1,257 institutions.[3] On June 25, a nine-justice panel unanimously held that the government had no legal basis to refrain from applying the service law to eligible yeshiva students.[4][3] It also held that the government’s June 2023 non-enforcement instruction exceeded its authority.[3]

The judgment required the state to begin enforcement without further delay but permitted gradual recruitment under administrative-law principles.[4] It did not determine the ultimate scale or pace of enlistment, and implementation remained subject to good faith, proportionality, and equality.[4] The court also ruled that state support could not continue for students studying instead of serving without a lawful exemption or deferment.[3]

Approximately 63,000 Haredi men were covered by the issue before the court.[4][3] The IDF said it could recruit 3,000 additional yeshiva students in the enlistment year beginning in June 2024, beyond a recent annual average of approximately 1,800 Haredi recruits.[4] These were military capacity figures presented to the court, not quotas imposed by the judgment.[4] The court declined to address the government’s argument concerning selective enforcement between Haredim and Arab citizens because Arab citizens’ conscription was outside the petition before it.[22]

Following the ruling, the Attorney General instructed the defense establishment to implement conscription for obligated yeshiva students in line with military needs and capacity. The defense establishment committed to recruiting 3,000 students in that conscription year in addition to the recent annual average, and was instructed to prepare a plan for further increases.[4] State support could not continue for students studying instead of serving without a lawful exemption or deferment.[3] A 2024 policy paper estimated approximately 63,000 deferments under the then-current exemption age of 24.[4] Its recommended target exceeding 7,000 Haredi recruits across military and internal-security frameworks for the 2025 conscription year was a policy recommendation, not a judicial requirement.[4]

The IDF planned to begin sending 3,000 draft orders on July 21, 2024, selecting men from several age groups: approximately half aged 18–21, 40% aged 22–23, and 10% aged 24–26.[3] Only 240 men reportedly presented themselves after the first 3,000 notices were sent in early August, and the defense minister approved another 7,000 orders on November 5.[3] For July 2024 through April 2025, reported figures showed 10,000 notices, 205 conscriptions, and arrest warrants for 370 men who refused service.[3]

In mid-January 2025, Defense Minister Israel Katz presented proposed principles for another conscription law, including first-year and second-year targets of 4,800 and 5,700 recruits.[23] He stated an aim of enlisting 50% of Haredi yeshiva students of conscription age within seven years, but later targets were unspecified.[23] These were policy principles rather than a draft law.[23] On January 17, the IDF announced warrants for hundreds of candidates who had failed to report under Section 12 of the Security Service Law.[23]

In November 2025, the High Court ordered the state to develop an effective enforcement policy incorporating criminal proceedings and broad complementary economic and civil measures.[24] At an April 2026 hearing, figures from the Attorney General’s Office showed 79,836 orders sent, 7,029 men presenting themselves at enlistment offices, and 2,178 enlisting—2.7% of those sent orders.[24] From January 2025 through January 2026, 298 draft evaders were detained at Ben Gurion Airport, including 97 Haredim; of 123 police-initiated arrests from August 2025 to January 15, 2026, 17 were Haredim.[24]

In April 2026, the court ordered government bodies to make specified financial benefits conditional on resolving military-service status.[25] The measures concerned daycare subsidies, public-transport discounts, municipal-tax discounts, and apartment-purchase discounts.[25] After finding no concrete steps or recommendations following an earlier 45-day deadline for an effective policy, the court described its operative directions as a first step and required an implementation report by June 1.[25]

On July 14, 2026, the Knesset approved a temporary provision suspending arrests, investigations, and other enforcement proceedings against certain draft-eligible men meeting Torah-study conditions, scheduled to run until November 30.[26] The High Court provisionally blocked implementation the following day while constitutional petitions were considered, leaving the existing enforcement framework in place rather than finally invalidating the law.[26] A contemporaneous report described approximately 72,000 Haredi men aged 18–24 who had ignored orders and an urgent IDF need for 12,000 recruits.[27]

An October 21, 2026 filing by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara described approximately 110,000 people liable for service as violating the law, classifying about 60% as Haredi men whose service had previously been deferred or frozen and another approximately 21% as Haredi through statistical estimates.[28] For recruitment years 2024–2025, it recorded 79,835 summonses, 11,283 men reporting, 4,026 inductions, 48,278 declarations of draft evasion, and 18,952 men in an intermediate status after a final summons.[28]

The filing also recorded uneven implementation of benefit restrictions.[28] From the 2026 school year, daycare-subsidy applications were blocked in advance when a parent was classified as a draft evader, with 730 applications blocked by October.[28] Municipal-tax discounts had not yet been withdrawn, and changes to public-transport discounts had not advanced.[28]

Nahal Haredi was developed in 1999 through cooperation between rabbis, the IDF, and the Defense Ministry for Haredi men unsuited to full-time yeshiva study.[29] Its specially designed units accommodated religious practices and offered assistance including high-school-equivalency study.[29] Earlier deferment practice had required eligible men to confirm that Torah study was their occupation and that they had no other employment.[29]

Other frameworks addressed older recruits and specialized occupations.[10] Shlav Bet, described in a 2024 interview, offered working men a short noncombat route involving three weeks of basic weapons, first-aid, and rescue training, followed by attachment to Home Front Command positions.[10] Kodkod, begun in 2022, was described as a three-year programming program for some men aged 21–27 leading to defense-system jobs.[10] Bina BeYarok offered a two-year intelligence-service framework aimed at men aged 21–26.[10]

Recruitment data have required attention to definitions as well as totals.[1] A Defense Ministry committee established targets in 2018 using data later found unreliable; a subsequent committee led by retired Major General Roni Numa called for recollecting the data and precisely defining a Haredi recruit.[1] That committee also identified disagreements about the IDF’s capacity to absorb Haredi servicemen.[1]

An annual survey recorded 1,266 Haredi men drafted in 2023, compared with 1,972 in 2013, a decline of 36%.[30] Over the same decade, enrollment in yeshivas and higher rabbinic institutions increased by 86%, reaching 169,366 students in 2023.[30] For recruitment year 2024, a statutory count yielded 1,700 recruits, whereas the IDF’s broader definition, including graduates of additional Haredi institutions, produced approximately 2,650.[31] The broader figure was reported as 42% above the corresponding 2023 recruitment-year total, but below the 4,800 the military had said it could recruit using that definition.[31]

A November 2026 report of Personnel Directorate figures gave more than 1,200 recruits in 2023, approximately 2,800 in 2024, and approximately 4,300 in 2025, describing the last increase as roughly 53%.[5] The October 2026 attorney general filing separately gave 4,298 Haredi enlistments in recruitment year 2025.[28] These totals cover their respective reporting definitions and periods, rather than constituting a single interchangeable statistical series.[28][31]

For July 2026 to July 2027, the IDF set a target of approximately 4,800 Haredi recruits and described expansion into combat and combat-support roles beyond maintenance, software, and administration.[5] A winter recruitment cycle began in early November 2026, with several dozen prospective recruits arriving at the Meitav center at Tel Hashomer for initial processing.[5] Preparations included reviews of base conditions and training readiness, kosher food standards, and other arrangements intended to accommodate religious life.[5]

The preservation of Torah scholarship after the Holocaust was central to the original exemption policy’s stated purpose.[2] Over time, the relationship between full-time study and exemption became significant for a much broader community, because leaving approved study could expose a man to military service.[2] In 2017, the High Court described the arrangement as affecting the economy, labor market, and integration of Haredi society as well as widening enlistment gaps and feelings of discrimination.[32]

A Haredi rabbi and rabbinical judge writing in Mosaic argues that the exemption’s purpose was to rebuild Torah institutions and protect genuinely dedicated scholarship, rather than confer an unconditional privilege on every Haredi man.[33] The essay also argues that service policy must account for religious standards, family expectations, and Haredi culture.[33] Its discussion of Rabbi Elazar Shach notes disagreement over how to interpret his position on deferment holders who were not actually studying.[33]

A Jewish Review of Books account portrays some volunteers after October 7 as motivated by protecting Jewish lives without necessarily embracing ideological identification with the modern state.[34] One volunteer described participation in saving the lives of the Jewish people as “a great mitzvah.”[34] The account also presents the contrasting religious understanding that Torah study itself protects the Jewish people and describes concerns about cultural and religious pressures during military service.[34]

The same distinction between defense needs and religious identity appears in accounts of programs designed for Haredi recruits and the varying communal acceptance of enlistment.[10] A Tradition essay reports annual enlistment estimates of approximately 900–1,300 during 2018–2021 and says nearly 66,000 students were using the yeshiva exception; it also notes that 540 volunteers had been recruited during the first months after October 7.[35] These figures concern different populations and periods and should not be treated as a single statistical series.[35]

Political proposals continued to connect religious study, exemption, and public support.[6] A February 2026 poll found 32% support and 54% opposition to a proposed draft bill, while some opponents, including Likud lawmakers, argued that its exemption provisions were too broad given other sectors’ service burdens.[6] The government also sought a Basic Law designating Torah study a “significant service” to the state, with potential legal and financial consequences for conscription.[6]

A Mosaic commentary described a coalition-backed bill debated in December 2025 as combining statutory yeshiva exemptions with gradual increases in draft eligibility and stronger penalties.[36] Its May 2026 account described Haredi parties as poised to leave the government over legislation making avoidance of service harder, alongside a Likud move toward dissolving the government.[36] An October 2026 Mosaic essay interpreted conscription as a major election issue, citing a September survey that ranked party positions on the subject third among Jewish voters’ stated considerations, after security and foreign affairs and the economy and cost of living.[33]

The central dispute concerns how the state should reconcile military manpower and equality in service with sustained Torah scholarship and protection of Haredi religious life.[6][37] The June 2024 ruling held that state action could no longer differentiate yeshiva students from the general population and required enforcement under principles including equality.[4] Religious opposition has included concerns that service could weaken observance and communal identity, while other Haredi men have volunteered or entered accommodated programs.[10]

The original arrangement’s exact records were not preserved, and later accounts interpret its intended scope differently, including as protection for a limited scholarly group or support for rebuilding a broader Torah-centered community.[2] Contemporary proposals likewise differ materially: proposed exemption ages, targets, sanctions, and transition periods should not be treated as enacted law simply because a bill passed an initial reading or received cabinet approval.[9][21]

The proposed Basic Law on Torah study raised fundamental constitutional questions among Knesset legal advisers and the attorney general’s office.[6] Finance Ministry officials also warned that proposed enforcement relief and constitutional protection for study could encourage avoidance of conscription and reduce workforce participation.[38] The July 2026 enforcement suspension remained subject to an interim court order, rather than a final constitutional ruling.[26]

On November 1, 2026, Haredi protesters demonstrated outside the Tel Hashomer induction base before the winter recruitment cycle. The IDF said the protest did not prevent recruits from joining, and several dozen prospective recruits arrived the next morning for processing into combat-support roles.[5]