Haredi Families Split Between Military Service and Community Pressure
For the past two and a half years, since the war began, the writer says she has met hundreds of Haredi families whose sons and husbands are serving in the IDF. She describes the strain these families live with every day, caught between Torah study and the state, while carrying social and emotional costs that often remain invisible.
She says that last week she heard of a Haredi mother whose son was serving as a combat soldier on the Lebanon front and had been out of contact for days. At the same time, her brother, a yeshiva student who had not regularized his legal status, was arrested during what was described as a routine license check. “One son in Lebanon, and his uncle behind bars,” she writes.
A few days earlier, she had met another family in which a combat soldier’s brothers marked the end of his beret march, a moment of pride, while one brother stayed away out of fear of being arrested at a checkpoint on the way. She argues these are not isolated cases, but a growing reality in Haredi society, where one child studies in a yeshiva and another wears a uniform.
The article says the public debate wrongly treats Torah and army service as a zero-sum conflict. The writer insists Torah study remains a core value, but the real issue is how Israel treats those who do serve. She calls for active support for soldiers and their families, not punishment of nonserving men, and argues that limited public resources should clearly favor those who chose to contribute through regular service, reserves, or national service.
The closing argument is that lawmakers must go beyond drafting enlistment legislation and create a policy that gives service members meaningful economic priority and a clear message of gratitude. Havi Ernfeld, identified as founder of the organization “Osot Chayil,” active in “Hamatamrot,” and the mother and wife of servicemen, says such a policy will not solve the Haredi draft crisis, but it would send an important moral signal to soldiers and to those still hesitating.
