ISRAEL is tearing itself apart over sharing the burden.
On its face, the burden refers to military service in the Israel Defense Forces.
In principle, all secular Israelis are drafted into the IDF; one segment of religious Israelis is likewise drafted; and another religious segment is not drafted. Primarily around the last category, the bitter battle is being waged.
I say, all secular Israelis are drafted in principle because many secular Israelis evade the draft. Perhaps the most famous example is the Israeli model, Bar Refaeli. Another bitter reality, or, if you will, a sub-reality, is that Israeli patriotism is not what it used to be.
In any event, that segment of religious Israelis that is not drafted is that whose members study Torah full time.
Here are the two, polar opposite perspectives on this:
Torah students say that they defend Israel no less than the IDF. Surrounded by hundreds of millions of enemies, Israels cannot exist only by physical prowess. It needs spiritual defenders.
Those who demand that the burden be shared maintain that full time Torah study is an excuse for evading the far more dangerous duty of army service.
TO be sure, even in this dichotomy, there are a few, admitted nuances.
For example, the haredi sector has, over the past 10 years, agreed to haredi units within the army and a growing (but small) number of young men leave full time Torah study for army service.
A counter example, on the other side: Some IDF authorities believe that a sudden, massive draft of haredi young men will not work, that a social revolution cannot effectively be forced.
Another example: Some haredi leaders acknowledge that not all young men are cut out to be full time students of Torah, but defend the system nonetheless out of the belief that the secularists want to destroy the haredi way of life, not just tweak its weaknesses.
Another counter-example: Some secular leaders are prepared not to draft all haredi young men, but to allow a certain number to continue as full time Torah students.
When all this (and more) is said and done, the dichotomy remains.
And even sharpens.
Over the last year or so the law that exempted haredi Torah students from the draft has lapsed.
Cheering this on is Yair Lapid, whose There is a Future [Yesh Atid] party, which did well in the last election, holds as its key political and ideological goal the draft of all, or virtually all, haredi young men into the IDF.
This, says Lapid, would constitute sharing the burden.
Lamenting this is the haredi community, which says that Israels current government is trying to destroy its society and way of life, whose essence is manifested in full time Torah study, but in much else besides: everything from chaste sexual mores to appropriate food, dress, entertainment and reading matter, all of which, say the haredim, are undermined by army service.
And so we have a pitched battle.
I HAVE a modest proposal. Im not being modest by calling the proposal modest. It will not solve this religious, cultural and political conflict. It might lend a slightly different perspective, soften a few edges and build some bridges. In any case, it is contingent on the secular plan for a massive haredi draft actually going forward.
The secularists say: When Israels first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, agreed to exempt full time Torah students, there were some 400 of them. Now there are tens of thousands. This is unviable and unfair.
The haredi reply: Ben Gurion thought that religious Jews would disappear. Dont blame us for being successful and proving him wrong.
Well, arguments and counter-arguments like this will not lead Israel to a solution.
However, observe:
What actually constitutes the national burden?
If you listen carefully to the arguments on the secular side, they contain an implicit, if limited, acknowledgement of the haredi position.
The key word here is implicit. Let us draw out the implications.
The secular argue that they are being fair in advocating the draft of most haredi young men because, alongside the draft, the secular are prepared to allow a certain number of haredi young men the real scholars remain full time Torah students. I have heard various numbers, from 400 to 2,000 scholars, bandied about.
Implicit in this position is that part of the national burden is Torah study. If not, why exempt even one haredi young man from army service?
After all, the secular youth who serve in the army must postpone their higher education; and those religious youth who serve in the hesder army units must also postpone their higher secular education and interrupt their Torah study. All this means that a full time exemption for Torah study whatever the exact number of students is equivalent to full time army service.
In other words, Torah study, albeit undertaken by far fewer numbers of people than now, also constitutes the national burden.
This is implicit in the secular position.
If so, then sharing the burden must mean not only sharing in the army service, but sharing in the Torah study.
If the haredi sector is asked to break with its norms and send almost all of its youth to the Israeli army, then the secular sector must also break with its norms and send some of its youth to Torah study.
If both Torah and army service constitute the national burden, and if it is time to share the burden, we have a two-way street. Hitherto undrafted youth to the army; some hitherto drafted youth to the yeshivas.
Whatever the numbers, this would be the meaning of a national burden that is actually shared, given the current secular position.
Whatever else happens to resolve (or exacerbate) this great social and religious chasm in Israel, if a few haredi youth are to be exempt from full time army service, let the same number of secular youth be drafted to full time yeshiva study.
The resultant social and intellectual interaction would, at a minimum, build a few bridges in a Jewish society that sorely needs more.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
