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A looming crisis over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing the governing coalition and dividing the state.

Popular sentiment on the issue has undergone a sea change in Israel in the wake of two years of conflict, and this is now arguably the most volatile political issue facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Judicial Battle

Legislators are now debating a proposal to end the exemption awarded to yeshiva scholars enrolled in full-time religious study, created when the the nation was established in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by the nation's top court two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to continue it were formally ended by the court last year, pressuring the cabinet to commence conscription of the ultra-Orthodox population.

Roughly 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but just approximately 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to defense officials shared with lawmakers.

Strains Spill Into Violence

Friction is spilling onto the streets, with lawmakers now debating a new legislative proposal to require ultra-Orthodox men into military service in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were targeted this month by hardline activists, who are enraged with parliament's discussion of the bill.

Recently, a specialized force had to extract army police who were targeted by a large crowd of Haredi men as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new messaging system named "Emergency Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and mobilize protesters to block enforcement from happening.

"We're a Jewish country," stated one protester. "You can't fight against religious practice in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It is a contradiction."

A Realm Separate

However the shifts blowing through Israel have not yet breached the walls of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in an ultra-Orthodox city, an Haredi enclave on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, teenage boys learn in partnerships to discuss Jewish law, their distinctive writing books contrasting with the rows of white shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the dean of the yeshiva, a senior rabbi, said. "Through religious study, we safeguard the troops wherever they are. This is our army."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that constant study and religious study protect Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its security as its advanced weaponry. This conviction was accepted by Israel's politicians in the earlier decades, he said, but he acknowledged that public attitudes are shifting.

Growing Societal Anger

The Haredi community has significantly increased its share of Israel's population over the since the state's founding, and now represents 14%. An exemption that started as an exemption for a few hundred yeshiva attendees turned into, by the start of the 2023 war, a body of tens of thousands of men not subject to the draft.

Surveys show backing for drafting the Haredim is growing. A poll in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - even a significant majority in the Prime Minister's political base - backed penalties for those who ignored a enlistment summons, with a firm majority in approving removing privileges, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"It makes me feel there are people who are part of this country without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv commented.

"I don't think, however religious you are, [it] should be an reason not to go and serve your country," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "Being a native, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to study Torah all day."

Voices from Within a Religious City

Advocacy of broadening conscription is also coming from traditional Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like one local resident, who is a neighbor of the seminary and notes observant but non-Haredi Jews who do serve in the military while also studying Torah.

"It makes me angry that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "It's unfair. I too follow the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it signifies the scripture and the weapons together. This is the correct approach, until the arrival of peace."

She maintains a modest remembrance site in her city to local soldiers, both from all backgrounds, who were lost in conflict. Rows of photographs {