Senior Shas rabbi spurns draft compromise, says even those not studying must not enlist
Moshe Maya’s maximalist position not shared even by politicians of his own movement; some Haredim fear army service will endanger devotion of young men exposed to outside culture
Cnaan Lidor is The Times of Israel's Jewish World reporter
A top spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas movement has stated his opposition to military service by any member of his community, including those who are not engaged in the study of Torah.
“It’s forbidden for those who don’t study to go to the army. Those who do will end up violating the Shabbat,” Rabbi Moshe Maya, a senior member of the Shas Council of Torah Sages, told Kol Baramah Radio on Tuesday following the High Court of Justice’s ruling ordering the army to begin drafting hitherto exempted Haredim.
The exemption by government decree that the court declared nullified applies annually to tens of thousands of students of yeshivas, religious seminaries.
Thousands of Haredim who do not actually attend yeshiva are also believed to receive exemptions under false pretenses.
The statement by Maya is part of the fallout of the dramatic court ruling on a key issue that for decades has divided Haredi and secular societies. The military’s manpower needs in the war with Hamas and the brewing conflict with Hezbollah have brought the Haredi draft issue into sharp relief.
Though the ruling is expected to lead to the draft of only some 3,000 Haredim in the immediate timeframe, as the army does not have the capacity to integrate more at the moment, the numbers are expected to rise.
Some view the enlistment of Haredim who are not engaged in Torah study as an interim step toward resolving the Haredi draft controversy. “It should start with those exempted who only say they attend yeshivot [yet actually don’t attend them],” Eliyahu Glatzenberg, co-founder of the Achvat Torah nonprofit, told The Times of Israel following the High Court of Justice’s ruling.
Maya’s comments reflected the fear in some Haredi circles that army service, even one adapted to the specific needs of the community, will endanger the community by exposing young men to outside culture and leading them to mix with non-Haredi society.
In the Tuesday interview, Maya repeated positions outlined in a letter he undersigned with other top Shas rabbis in April.
The letter by the rabbis, all of whom belong to the Shas Council of Torah Sages, the ultimate authority of the movement represented by the Shas party in the Knesset, exposed a divergence between the movement’s old guard and the younger and more pragmatic political echelon.
Some in Shas have floated the mobilization of those not enrolled full-time in yeshiva as a possible compromise.
Maya, an 85-year-old former lawmaker, expressed in the interview the commonly-held view in Haredi circles that the study of Torah and prayers for Israeli soldiers and hostages constitutes a major contribution to the war effort.
”If not for the Torah students, there would be many more fatalities,” Maya told Kol Baramah. “We pray and shed countless tears for the soldiers, that the hostages return. Our role in the war is to study and study and the Almighty will strike our enemies with softness, weakness and fear.”
Many promoters of greater participation by Haredim in carrying the burden of national service hope for greater flexibility on the issue in Sephardi ultra-Orthodox society, which is seen as less insular than its Ashkenazi counterpart. Yanki Deri, the son of Aryeh Deri, the leader of the Shas faction in the Knesset, enlisted to serve in the Israel Defense Forces in November, weeks after the outbreak of war with Hamas on October 7.
The ongoing war has required the enlistment of hundreds of thousands of reservists, some of them for multiple stints, as the military has noted manpower shortages.
From its onset, the war has triggered an escalation in hostilities with Hezbollah in Israel’s north that Israel has warned may lead to all-out war. The northern front, which is already requiring unusual deployment of reservists and regular service troops, would necessitate a significant reserves call-up and redeployment if it escalates into a war.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid on Tuesday struck a firm line when he said that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other coalition politicians would be “committing treason against Israel Defense Forces troops” if the government fails to observe the High Court of Justice’s ruling.
