c. 1999 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ When reserve soldier David Zilbershlag meets a unit of fresh army recruits to take them on an educational tour of Jerusalem’s famed battle zones, the young people usually do a double take upon seeing an ultra-Orthodox man _ with long side curls, tallit, black hat and long beard _ in an army uniform.

But Zilbershlag, who in civilian life runs an ultra-Orthodox public relations office, is hoping the image becomes more familiar to Israelis if an agreement between new Prime Minister Ehud Barak and a number of ultra-Orthodox political factions on the explosive issue of the draft eventually becomes law.

The agreement calls for Barak to introduce new legislation permitting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students age 25 and older to enlist in the military for a four-month term rather than the usual three years. The recruits would be channeled into special units created just for them.

That understanding paved the way for two key ultra-Orthodox parties to join Barak’s 77-member coalition _ a broad-based coalition observers hope can revive the Arab-Israeli peace process.

On the face of it, however, the proposed law seems to fly in the face of Barak’s pre-election promise to millions of secular Israelis that he intended to end the practice of granting blanket draft deferrals to some 27,000 young ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students between the ages of 18 and 40. The deferments constitute one of the most fundamental flashpoints on matters of religion and state.

Still, an unusual array of voices from all sides of the Israeli social rainbow are applauding the new arrangements Barak has engineered, as well as the new political alliance between the left and the ultra-Orthodox parties. They say the offer of a shortened service period for young ultra-Orthodox men in their 20s is likely to gradually draw more into the military, into annual reserve duty, and also into the work force.”As emotional as the question of the draft is for secular Israelis, I see this compromise, this retraction by Barak from his election promises as nevertheless a step in the right direction,”said Rabbi Uri Regev, head of the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center. In the past, the center has demanded an end to special deferments for the ultra-Orthodox.”Ultimately, for Israel’s future and the intellectual contribution that this high-level human group could make to Israeli society, it’s far more important to enable them to integrate … into the work force and into modern life.” Significantly, said Regev, the new arrangement will allow ultra-Orthodox men to move into vocational schools and into the work force after completing their shortened term of service. Today they are not able to leave the yeshiva to go to work for fear of being automatically drafted.

While there are certainly mixed feelings in the tradition-bound ultra-Orthodox community regarding the proposed changes, a surprisingly large number of ultra-Orthodox figures also are welcoming the potential innovation as nothing short of a small earthquake in their closed and insular society.”It’s a revolution whose impact will be felt in another decade,”said Zilbershlag, 41.”There isn’t a single ultra-Orthodox person who has advanced one step (outside the yeshiva world) without serving in the army. No government minister or director general, no director of a big public company receives a position without having served, and until now all of those positions have been closed to the ultra-Orthodox.”In 10 years, as a result of this change, we’ll see the ultra-Orthodox represented more in the public and private sector, and in my opinion they’ll be loyal, effective and efficient,”he said.”Ultimately, this also will help strengthen democratic values among the ultra-Orthodox, and contribute to bridge-building between secular and religious people.” Under the present system, many ultra-Orthodox men who are not particularly talented students tend to remain in the yeshiva and forgo work experience and vocational training in the prime years of their 20s merely because entering the army for three years is viewed as tantamount to a desertion from the ultra-Orthodox world.

The exceptions are people like Zilbershlag, who at 24 qualified to enlist in the military for a shortened four-month period because he already was married with three children. He subsequently opened a highly successful ultra-Orthodox public relations firm.

The long years of yeshiva study consign most ultra-Orthodox families to a life of poverty. When many ultra-Orthodox men eventually leave the yeshiva in their 30s, they find job and training opportunities limited.”The state actually loses three times when these men aren’t drafted,”said Alex Lubotzky, a former Knesset member and activist in a small, modern Orthodox religious faction known as Meimad, which is aligned with Barak.”It loses once because they’re not drafted. It loses again because they don’t contribute to the national economy, and it loses a third time because they wind up poor and dependent on welfare.””By creating easier terms of service, we’ll at least allow them to enter the work force,”Lubotzky said.”Their military obligation still won’t be equal, but I think that if more people start to serve even for a little time at a younger age, the taboo will be broken. Young ultra-Orthodox men who see their brothers serving for a few months at age 25 may feel that they can take the chance and even serve for a year or two.” In order to implement the proposed new arrangements, the army already is beginning to create special units for young ultra-Orthodox recruits so they can be allotted special time for morning prayers, obtain glatt kosher food, and avoid influences they find morally repugnant while undergoing basic training.”A lot of the ultra-Orthodox men of my father’s generation served in the army,”said Zilbershlag.”My father, for instance, was a medic, and he served in the Six Day War and in the reserves. But when I was in the army, I almost vowed that my children would not serve. I had a roommate, for instance, who insisted on hanging a Playboy pinup on the wall even though this was offensive to me. So if there are separate units for the ultra-Orthodox, many such problems will be solved.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM – STORY MAY END HERE)

Most ultra-Orthodox politicians fought vigorously to prevent Barak’s election, seeing him as an ally of strident anti-religious forces on the left. And indeed, the election campaign, more than any other in Israel’s history, revolved around thorny issues Israel faces today regarding religion and state, and secular and Orthodox relations.

Zilbershlag said he believes the broad-based government Barak has engineered, which includes both extreme left-wing secularists like the Meretz Party as well as ultra-Orthodox parties, may help ease some of the tensions.

He said he hopes the present government might resurrect the political alliance once existing between the ultra-Orthodox society and the traditional Israeli left, a left that was mostly concerned with peace in the Middle East.”Most ultra-Orthodox have become more and more nationalistic and allied with the Israeli right,”Zilbershlag said.”But that alliance, in effect, is contrary to traditional ultra-Orthodox ideology which deplores the connection between religion and nationalism.”Ultra-Orthodox ideology is an ideology of peace. As a result, I have said that we have to renew the traditional alliance with the Israeli left. Creating a government coalition, as Barak has done, between the extreme left-wing parties and the ultra-Orthodox parties will calm tensions and force them to work together.” DEA END FLETCHER