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An impending crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military is jeopardizing the administration and splitting the nation.

The public mood on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of war, and this is now perhaps the most explosive political challenge facing the Prime Minister.

The Judicial Struggle

Lawmakers are reviewing a proposal to terminate the special status awarded to yeshiva scholars enrolled in full-time religious study, established when the the nation was founded in 1948.

The deferment was declared unconstitutional by the nation's top court in the early 2000s. Stopgap solutions to continue it were finally concluded by the bench last year, compelling the government to start enlisting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Approximately 24,000 enlistment orders were sent out last year, but only around 1,200 men from the community enlisted, according to army data given to lawmakers.

Strains Boil Over Into Violence

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with lawmakers now debating a new conscription law to compel Haredi males into national service together with other Jewish citizens.

Two Haredi politicians were harassed this month by radical elements, who are furious with the legislative debate of the bill.

Recently, a special Border Police unit had to assist Military Police officers who were targeted by a sizeable mob of community members as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new communication network called "Black Alert" to spread word quickly through ultra-Orthodox communities and call out activists to stop detentions from occurring.

"This is a Jewish state," stated an activist. "One cannot oppose Judaism in a Jewish state. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Apart

But the shifts sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the environment of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city on the edge of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, scholars learn in partnerships to discuss Judaism's religious laws, their vividly colored school notebooks contrasting with the seats of formal attire and head coverings.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see half the guys are engaged in learning," the leader of the yeshiva, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, said. "Through religious study, we protect the troops in the field. This constitutes our service."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and spiritual pursuit guard Israel's soldiers, and are as crucial to its military success as its conventional forces. That belief was accepted by Israel's politicians in the past, the rabbi said, but he acknowledged that public attitudes are shifting.

Increasing Popular Demand

This religious sector has more than doubled its percentage of Israel's population over the past seven decades, and now accounts for a sizable minority. An exemption that started as an exemption for a small number of yeshiva attendees turned into, by the start of the 2023 war, a cohort of some 60,000 men left out of the conscription.

Opinion polls indicate support for ending the exemption is rising. A survey in July showed that an overwhelming percentage of non-Haredi Jews - encompassing a large segment in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - favored consequences for those who declined a call-up notice, with a firm majority in favor of withdrawing benefits, the right to travel, or the electoral participation.

"It seems to me there are individuals who reside in this country without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv said.

"I don't think, however religious you are, [it] should be an reason not to fulfill your duty to your state," added a Tel Aviv resident. "Being a native, I find it rather absurd that you want to avoid service just to study Torah all day."

Voices from Inside a Religious City

Advocacy of broadening conscription is also found among traditional Jews not part of the Haredi community, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the seminary and notes religious Zionists who do serve in the military while also studying Torah.

"It makes me angry that the Haredim don't perform military service," she said. "This creates inequality. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a proverb in Jewish tradition - 'The Book and the Sword' – it means the scripture and the weapons together. That's the way forward, until the arrival of peace."

Ms Barak manages a small memorial in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both religious and secular, who were lost in conflict. Lines of faces {