Israel’s government is working tirelessly to maintain the exemption for yeshiva students from mandatory IDF service, according to Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri. In an interview published on Monday in Haderech, the Shas-affiliated newspaper, Deri emphasized that the government is doing “everything” in its power to achieve this goal.

Deri acknowledged that “despite it being difficult at this time to find a legal and agreed-upon solution,” he was following the directives of Shas’s rabbonim, who had instructed him “to make every effort so that a son of Torah, whose soul yearns for Torah study without exception, can study Torah without quotas or restrictions.”

Deri also criticized those pushing for yeshiva students to enlist in the IDF, calling them “miserable” and stating that they fail to grasp the significance of Torah learning.

He further explained that from a financial standpoint, “every day of battle costs us more than the annual budget of the entire world of Torah… and we believe that every day of study prevents another day of battle.”

The legal provision that granted yeshiva students an exemption from military service expired in July 2023. In June 2024, the High Court of Justice declared that unless new legislation was passed, all chareidi men of military age would be required to enlist. At the time, estimates indicated that over 60,000 individuals were affected by this ruling.

Additionally, the Attorney General’s Office reinforced the court’s decision by stating that the state could no longer provide financial incentives to chareidi men who chose to continue their yeshiva studies instead of enlisting. These incentives included subsidies for daycare for families where one parent worked while the other studied in a yeshiva, state funding for yeshiva students, and more.

Deri reassured the public that the government’s proposed legislation would not only protect the yeshiva students’ ability to continue studying but also restore the financial support that had been revoked.

Meanwhile, the IDF has informed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in recent months that it is short about 10,000 combat soldiers to meet its long-term operational needs. However, the military indicated that it could only accommodate about 5,000 chareidi soldiers in the coming year. In response, the government has explored other strategies, such as extending the length of both regular and reserve service, to bolster its manpower.

Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid, speaking at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, revealed that his party had set up a task force led by MK Vladimir Beliak (Yesh Atid) to ensure that the government does not find alternative ways to finance yeshiva students who are of military age.

Lapid accused Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) of pledging “hundreds of millions of shekels” from welfare and education budgets to the chareidi parties, in exchange for their support for the 2025 state budget. According to Lapid, this arrangement was designed “to ensure that they can evade IDF service while continuing to receive money.”

{Matzav.com Israel}