IDF general tells Knesset ‘many people’ are enrolled in yeshivas but not learning

By Sam Sokol 14 December 2025, 6:24 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

IDF Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb speaks during a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset, December 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, says there are “many people” enrolled in yeshivas who “we know are not learning.”

During a discussion of a clause in the government’s proposed bill regulating the conscription of yeshiva students, Tayeb endorses a proposal that those receiving deferrals for yeshiva studies “must provide certification that they study in the yeshiva, signed by the head of the yeshiva and a lawyer” because “otherwise, people will continue to come with papers of unknown authenticity.”

“This way, not only the individual will bear the consequences, but also the person who signs for them,” he says.

At least 22% of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students under the age of 26 are employed under the table, according to a 2024 study by the Israel Democracy Institute, appearing to undercut the community’s argument that its members do not enlist in the army due to their total immersion in Torah study.

The committee’s legal adviser wrote to lawmakers last night arguing against a clause in the law stipulating that the defense minister may remove a specific institution from the list of yeshivas whose students receive draft deferrals should 20% or more of those enrolled fail to report for registration and medical examination at an IDF recruitment office as required by law.

She wrote that such an arrangement should not be put in the law “as all are required to do under the provisions of the Security Service Law, since all students must comply with the provisions of the law and the yeshiva must ensure this.”

She also argued, like Tayeb, that those receiving deferrals should be required to have their status attested to by their yeshiva’s dean, who is familiar with their level of study, rather than another yeshiva official.

However, during today’s discussion, a representative of the Defense Ministry argues that the ministry “does not supervise the yeshivas. In this matter, we rely on the Education Ministry. The 20% threshold was customary until today, and we do not believe it needs to be stricter.”