Question:
If I don’t serve in the IDF, do I have a right to its services? ie can I demand they defend my town?
Answer:
Hello,
Your question involves a sensitive issue, but I will just quote Aron Barak, a former head of the Supreme Court. He said (Dec. 15, 2025) that Yeshiva students do not have to serve in the army. This is no different from any other country in the world where religious students are exempt from military service, regardless of how many there are.
Besides, the army is not a cooperative where you can only get services if you participate in it. Aside from the fact that even those who don’t actually serve in the army pay plenty of taxes on apartments, all purchases, utilities, and their earnings.
The orthodox community believes that their study of the Torah is what has provided the Israeli army with its tremendous divine success so far and will (G-d willing) continue to do so.
The way the Jewish people used to fight their wars was “Elef l’mateh elef l’mateh”: there were 1000 people who went into the actual battle, and 1000 people who prayed and received heavenly assistance so that the 1000 people in the actual battle could be victorious.
The hand of Hashem has been clear in the war on Gaza, Hizbollah, Iran, and Syria. For example, statistically, when a number of planes take off, a certain percentage will not return. Some planes are shot down, and because fighter jets have many different parts, it's virtually impossible for nothing to malfunction. Yet, almost none of these issues have happened in the thousands of sorties carried out by Israel so far. Consider how many planes the US has lost and how many Israel has lost so far... Aren't they using American parts and planes? Why is it that when missiles fall in foreign countries or on military bases, the casualties are much higher than when they fall in Israel? It is only because Hashem is protecting us. This protection is influenced by Yeshiva students praying and studying Hashem’s Torah. That’s why Yeshiva students serve in the Army, but in battalions that operate differently from those in the regular IDF.
Thirty years ago, just before the first Gulf War, tensions were extremely high here in Israel. We faced six-story-tall Scud missiles with chemical warheads, without any real missile defense system, and the anxiety was intense. A foreign yeshiva boy went to R’ Steinman zt”l to ask if he should go home because of the potential danger. R’ Steinman replied, "There is no need to go, things will be alright." The boy then asked, "How can you know for sure, there was a holocaust?” R’ Steinman answered him, "Before the holocaust, there weren’t Kollel people sitting and learning like they do today." What he said came true. Without an Iron Dome, without any soldiers fighting and risking their lives, Iraq launched dozens of missiles, and miraculously, there were no casualties from the missiles, except for one person who used to drive a motorcycle in Bnei Brak on Shabbos to disturb the peace.
What you really should be asking is why the government doesn't create legislation that sanctions all draft dodgers, (55% from the non-orthodox Jewish community), and not just the Yeshiva students. Or is it a grievance they need to address because they are Orthodox?
Best wishes
