Israeli Election Rekindles Debate over Military Service
Larry Abramson at NPR follows the debate over the draft of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Israeli military. Until recently, the ultra-Orthodox were exempt from military service, but the political party Yesh Atid, or “There is a Future,” which won major gains in the recent elections, has promised to require this group’s drafting. Rabbi Shmuel Jacobowitz believes the policy would be detrimental to Torah study, and thus the religious core of Israel: “[We] as a community feel that the survival of the Jewish people depends on this no less—and in many senses more—than on the physical protection of the state of Israel.”