1,000 Haredi Yeshiva Students Served In IDF Last Year

Number is five times greater than the number of haredim who served in the army two years ago.

2,000 yeshiva students served in 2009
1,070 opt for national service, 700 sign up with IDF. Some 300 join haredi Nahal units each year, 50 serve as teachers. Hiddush: Data prove that haredi can serve like anyone else
Ynet

About 2000 yeshiva students did national or military service in 2009, a number five times greater than the number of haredim who served until two years ago (around 300 or 400 per year), according to a report by the organization Hiddush – For Religious Freedom and Equality.

The report, submitted to the chairman of the Knesset's Tal Law supervision panel Knesset Member Yohanan Plesner (Kadima), notes that 1,070 yeshiva students did national service in 2009 and 700 joined haredi units in the IDF. About 300 join haredi Nahal units each year and a further 50 sign up as military teachers.

Shahar Ilan, assistant director general of research at Hiddush, said, "The idea of 2,000 yeshiva students serving in the army was unthinkable a decade ago." The document also raises the possibility that this phenomenon reflects the end of the taboo against national or military service within the haredi population.

Ilan also expressed several reservations. Those serving amount to only 3.5% of hesder yeshiva students (who number about 55,000). The rise in those serving is also far from reflecting the expected rise in the number of yeshiva students granted exemption from serving. It is expected that in 2019, some 13,000 yeshiva students will be exempt (compared with 5,500 in 2009).

He also noted that about 80% of those opting for national service volunteer in haredi charitable organizations, which amounts to a kind of state budget allocation to these organizations.

Hiddush CEO Uri Regev praised the development and said it proved that yeshiva students can certainly do military service like everyone else. The data, he said, also showed how important it is to teach general studies like mathematics and English in haredi institutions, which would assist their students to integrate into good employment positions.

Comments

[pierre]

I think a degree of this is also Dati Leumi and american olim being indentified as charedi simply by being in those units, where being religious is easier and you can avoid the natural inclination in the military to discard observance, as tolerant as the setting may be towards it - like deciding for YU over NYU? Don't know, went to neither.

[chatz]

A friend who served 2 years in Nachal Charedi told me that very very few of the soldiers there are actually Charedi.

[seymour]

He also noted that about 80% of those opting for national service volunteer in haredi charitable organizations, which amounts to a kind of state budget allocation to these organizations.

what does that mean that almost all really did not join the army

[Yosef ben Matitya]

a normal red blooded israeli jew or druze or bedouin serves 3 years in the army, and his sister 2 years.
a- how many % of these haredis (blue blood?) served 3 months? how many 1 year?
b- did any of these haredis serve 3 years anywhere?
c- Some served as soldiers, others did national sevice whatever that means. How many were actually soldiers?
d- Of those who were soldiers how long did they serve?

[the real Joe]

any time theres a terror attack or other Bad event who do you see responding Zaka a charadi org Hatzolah a Charadi org plus at least 1/3 of MDA is Charadi so what are you people complaining about also all the Charadi ord help non frum people and in some cases they help everybody thats with even counting all of the Chabad houses all over the world where non frum parents have a place to send packages to there kids who are roaming the world and whenever an Israeli is missing or Ch"v dead who are the first people to show up

[the real Joe]

any time there is a terror attack or other Bad event who do you see responding Zaka a charadi org Hatzolah a Charadi org plus at least 1/3 of MDA is Charadi so what are you people complaining about also all the Charadi org help non frum people and in some cases they help everybody thats without even counting all of the Chabad houses all over the world where non frum parents have a place to send packages to there kids who are roaming the world and whenever an Israeli is missing or Ch"v dead who are the first people to show up