Is studying religion a service to the state? Will the 'praying division' of the Israeli military disband?

Studying religion may be accorded as much importance as military service in states based on religious nationalism. At the time of Israel's formation, to unify all groups behind the national cause, the secular political leadership made a deal with the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish (Haredi) leadership under which Haredi religious students, studying Torah, would be temporarily exempted from the compulsory military service. The special arrangement came to be known as Torato Omanuto arrangement. 

This arrangement was not an issue when the number of yeshiva (religious school) students asking for exemption using this arrangement was small. However, when the number grew almost exponentially (from less than a thousand in 1968 to more than forty thousand in 2005), secular and other Jewish religious groups started complaining. A case was filed against the exemption in the 1990s. The court decided that the arrangement was illegal as it had only been based on the orders of a defense minister. A law had to be passed to continue Torato Omanuto arrangement.

Students at Jerusalem’s Mir Yeshiva, the largest Jewish seminary in Israel

Source: Jerusalem - Israel Finance Ministry Cuts Yeshiva Funds After Court Ruling, Angers Ultra-Orthodox Jews

Israeli government formed a committee in 1999 under former Supreme Court Justice Tzvi Tal to come up with an agreed version of a bill that would be passed by the Knesset. Report of Tal committee resulted in Tal law (Deferral of Military Service for Yeshiva Students Law) which had to be renewed after every five years. Under this law, getting exemption became a bit more difficult and Israeli military (IDF) was asked to increase the number of Orthodox units (units where certain military rules are relaxed to ease the sensibilities of religious Jews) to make it easier for yeshiva students to serve. However, it did not result in much change and yeshiva students continued to avoid enlistment in large numbers as before. Although government admitted to the Supreme Court that there was a very small increase in enlistments by yeshiva students, it extended the law in 2007. The situation did not improve even after efforts by government and in 2012 the court declared Tal law unconstitutional. Prime Minister Netanyahu tried halfheartedly to come up with a compromise and a new law but talks failed and Knesset was dissolved. 

After the elections, Netanyahu formed a new government in March 2013 without ultra-religious parties and promised equal burden-sharing arrangement but due to the pressure of right wing parties from outside and conservative members of his own party, there was no progress on the issue. It was in these circumstances that court issued an interim injunction in February 2014 to compel the government to act by freezing part of the funding to yeshiva students and questioning the authority of the defense minister to keep issuing exemptions (Funding cuts for Haredi draft-dodgers finally puts an end to Knesset foot-dragging).

This issue brings into focus the Jewish character of Israeli nationalism. Yeshiva students claim to be doing at least as important national service (keeping Jewish tradition alive and praying for the Israeli people) as military personnel and they have been called 'praying division' of the Israeli military. Obviously, yeshiva students and their supporters believe in Jewish nationalism and are enraged at the attempts of other Israelis to belittle Torah study. Other Israelis, however, find it difficult to understand why yeshiva students would not bear an equal burden in the defense of a state in which they (yeshiva students) have such a privileged position.

It is important to note, however, that despite the reluctance of ultra-orthodox Jews to join the Israeli military, the Israeli military is gradually becoming more religious as there are many types of religious Jews in Israel. Most of the new recruits come from the settlements and are very religious. The Israeli governments and military have given various concessions to the religious sections of the society (such as some segregation of sexes in the military, separate units etc) and later have enlisted in large numbers. This development has implications for future peace with Palestinians as many 'settler-soldiers' join the military not to defend national boundaries of Israel but the biblical boundaries of Israel and Biblical Israel included the West Bank, Gaza, and other areas. The refusal of many Israeli soldiers to uproot settlers from Gaza in 2005 is an indicator of what problems Israel can face, if Israel makes a peace deal with the Palestinians and agrees to withdraw from these areas.