The Torah did not exempt Torah scholars (or wearers of beaver
hats in the hot Middle Eastern sun, for that matter) from fighting in
wars of defense, and as nice as haredi prayers for the safety of Israeli
Jews may be, they're no substitute for serving in combat.
As Israel responds to rocket attacks on its civilian centers and Israeli Jews and Israeli Druze contemplate the call up of 75,000 reserve soldiers and a possible ground assault in Gaza, one group of Israeli Jews is largely untouched by that possibility because they don't share in the burden of the country's defense – haredim.
As God supposedly said to Moses as he prayed while the ancient Israelites were trapped at the shore of the Red Sea, now is not the time to pray – now is the time for real, concrete physical action.
The Torah did not exempt Torah scholars (or wearers of beaver hats in the hot Middle Eastern sun, for that matter) from fighting in wars of defense, and as nice as haredi prayers for the safety of Israeli Jews may be, they're no substitute for serving in combat.
Hopefully the Gaza conflict will end soon and as painlessly as possible, and the reservists' service will not be needed.
But even if this turns out to be the case, that does not excuse the haredi refusal to serve.
And no one, least of all haredim, should ever forget that.