The Ultra Orthodox vs. The IDF: Israel's Other Religious War

[Music] it's a whole different Army when you come in Orthodox it's with a with a different head coming to serve God 20% of young men lose their religious identity while in the Army that's not a percentage which the K world would be willing to tolerate [Music] we're in Jerusalem and recently these streets have been the scene of violent protest and riots but there hasn't been a Palestinian in sight instead it's the Orthodox Jewish Community who are furious with the Army for trying to send their sons to war in March of 2014 the Israeli government passed the law requiring ing the ultra Orthodox a community of mostly religious and conservative Jews known as the haredim to serve in the Israel Defense Forces previously herid boys who studied in religious seminaries or yeshivas were exempt from Israel's Universal conscription law which requires all citizens from the age of 18 to serve in the Army for 2 to 3 years the decision Drew Fierce opposition from the ultra Orthodox Community its leaders ordering that no one should comply I guarantee you it's not going to happen no Yesa student will be will serve in the Army by coer He he'll leave the country he'll go into hiding he'll go to underground or he'll go to jail we saw this sentiment echoed throughout the heredi neighborhoods as anti-f posters were put up the poster is showing how the Israeli government is forcing the religious Jews to go to the Army but the Army's values are not that of theot there are many things in the army that go on that are for a religious Jew not permitted and that's what what you're seeing in this picture that the religious Jew feels like he's being pulled into the garbage being what goes on in the Army is like garbage to us the outra Orthodox have always sheltered themselves from the influence of the secular world including the military this goes back to the very beginning of the state of Israel when David benan struck a deal with the heredi community allowing Yeshiva students to foro military service as long as they remained in the aivas protecting and preserving the Jewish religion the exemption has never been popular with the secular community and Through the Years there have been attempts to try and find a compromise including a deal struck with the IDF and a group of heredi rabbis that created the NSA Yehuda an ultra Orthodox Battalion made up of volunteer soldiers but as the hered population grows at an exponential rate what's started as a privilege granted to less than 400 hered boys has become a loophole for nearly 60,000 the heredi community's weak presence in the Army and in the workforce has has prompted criticism from mainstream Israelis who see the community as a financial burden to the country as a whole Vice news went to Mia sharim one of the oldest heredi neighborhoods in Jerusalem and the site of many anti-military protests we ran into trouble almost immediately the haredim are notoriously cled and try to isolate themselves from outside influences our being in the neighborhood was no exception to this rule uh we jumped out of our car and uh a guy stopped stad of started twirling his beard and has now been following us down the road for the last 10 minutes or so we pulled out the camera and he just launched himself with the camera man uh it's clearly a sensitive Community we managed to make our way to meet yolish Krauss The Unofficial operations director for the adah Hadid one of the most vocal and radical factions of the haridi community who refuse to recognize the authority of the state and are taking action against the new laws for fore the haredim who practiced strict observation of judaic law which requires a separation of sexes keeping kosher and shunning most modern technology are at odds with secular society above all for them is preserving the study of the Torah we spoke to Jonathan Rosenblum an expert in tor study to see if he could shed some light on the conflict we are a small community in a modern world which uh is not generally hospitable to religion the yeshivas are not just another institution in the society they are the pupil of the eye of the K world and are guarded as such for the ultra Orthodox the Torah is the organizing value of the entire Society without it they cease to exist so the idea of the heredi boys being drafted out of Yeshiva into the secular world of the milit is seen as a distraction at best and a corrupting Force at worst though the community has ordered its boys to refuse enlistment some of them have already found their way into the IDF joining the netzi Yehuda Battalion created by a band of heredi rabbis in the IDF in 1999 to integrate heredi outliers into the military the relationship between the military and the heredi community in specific Frameworks and very worked out and planned environments can certainly be a win situation both for the Army for the state of Israel and for the for the community What's called the or Yehuda Brigade that's mostly made up of boys who come from K homes who have really Fallen outside of the system prior to going into the army many of these young men were in very deep trouble you know alienated and so forth when they find the self-respect and the discipline that they get in the army they have a much better chance of coming back to full religious observ so from those who stray from the righteous path the netsa Yehuda seemed like an ideal alternative the IDF was Keen to show us just how ideal by taking us to meet the Battalion we were curious to find out if the recent for all over the new law would affect even this group of hered men a group the IDF sees is a rare success story in the effort to integrate the religious and the secular so we're driving through the Jordan Valley we're on our way to meet the only Ultra Orthodox Battalion in the entire Israeli Army we're going to be spending the day with them in the desert watching them running drills shooting guns saying prayers just finding out what their day-to-day existence is like the Battalion is responsible for operations around Janine in the West Bank even though their numbers have grown from 89 recruits in its first year to more than 800 in 2013 they still make up a very small percentage of the total number of combat troops in the IDF hello morning good morning Alex nice to meet you why are they more motivated than other soldiers although the commander would only hinted it it seemed that the conscription of the ultra Orthodox was on everyone's mind but at least within the Battalion there seemed to be a balance struck between military service and religious observance after prayers one of the allowances the idea F makes for the hered boys the soldiers began a drill to clear and overtake enemy territory right now we're taking that Hilltop after Heavy Artillery fire is just playar [Applause] it we've taking this hill and now we're going to take that one [Music] as the exercise ended we went back up the hill to talk to some of the soldiers about life in the netsa Yehuda and if things had changed with the new law why did you join the Army to be completely honest I didn't very much want to join at first I wanted to be in Isa I started thinking about it I said if I'm going to go anyways then I'm going to do it all the way and it's a it's amazing it's a good thing it's a beautiful thing you're you're protecting your country how do you re the experience of an orthodox Jew is different from your average idea Soldier it's extremely different it's a whole different Army when you come in Orthodox it's with a with a different head you're coming to serve God you're coming with a higher purpose you're coming with many many more obligations with many more restrictions limitations many more challenges you have to sacrifice something they don't get to study as much as I used to I don't have time to S and study I don't get to to do many many Traditions that I normally want want to do it many things are compromised but it's for a much bigger thing for a bigger purpose what do the rest of the Orthodox Community make of your joining up it depends I mean you there's always the really the extremists who are against it and they see somebody in in uniform and you know it's better to stay away from their areas because it gets actually dangerous they could beat you up they could spit at you have you ever got abuse from the Orthodox Community for signing up to the Army I no friends I no friends who were kicked out of their homes I know I have friends who who ran away from home because they couldn't they couldn't stand living with it or they couldn't deal with the op pressure the thing is that you do what you have to do you you represent God and you keep being a God fearing Jew and you do what you have to do while the heredi community's battle is with the government and the IDF it seems that boys torn between their religion and duty to serve the military are getting caught in the crossfire though the Battalion has made great efforts to maintain hered guidelines even having a kosher cafeteria the boys seem to agree that some compromises had to be made for that's I just wanted to know um if you've had to of make compromises with your religious life in order to fit in with the [Music] army for these soldiers serving the country comes at a price and although they are willing to make that sacrifice they know that the core of the haredi community wouldn't agree what have been your reactions when you saw you know the ultra Orthodox riots can you explain to me why it wouldn't be easy for your family recently they've gone so far as to turn on their own more and more documented cases have appeared of ultra Orthodox Community attacking hered soldiers it's clear that the Hardline har deem would do anything to keep their sons out of the IDF but as instability along Israel's borders increases the idf's need for more soldiers is only growing and with the ultra Orthodox Community projected to represent almost 25% of Israel's total population ation by the late 2050s it's unlikely that the Ida will back down the government is moving forward with a new conscription law setting yearly goals for her ready enlistment with a benchmark of at least 5,200 new recruits by 2017 if that Target is not reached the softer goals will become mandates backed up with criminal sanctions for draft Dodgers with current hered enlistments falling below targets it's clear that the hered won't go without a fight [Music] [Music] my one [Music] r

Channel: VICE News

Views: 6,751,172

Keywords: ultra-Orthodox, Netzah Yehuda, Haredi, IDF, VICE News, news, VICE, VICE Magazine, documentary, interviews, world news, breaking news, happening now, israel, palestine, war, warfare, battlefield, military, insurgents, gaza, terrorism, arab, muslim, israeli defense force, religion, Judaism, culture, wild, lifestyle, exclusive, videos, funny, journalism, The Ultra Orthodox vs. The IDF, Israel's Other Religious War, vice news 2018

Id: me4FqdrmVBs

Length: 15min 19sec (919 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 23 2014