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An impending political storm over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing the governing coalition and splitting the nation.

Public opinion on the matter has shifted dramatically in Israel following two years of war, and this is now possibly the most volatile political issue facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Lawmakers are currently considering a piece of legislation to abolish the exemption awarded to ultra-Orthodox men dedicated to yeshiva learning, created when the modern Israel was declared in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to extend it were formally ended by the judiciary last year, pressuring the government to start enlisting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Approximately 24,000 enlistment orders were issued last year, but merely about 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees showed up, according to army data shared with lawmakers.

Strains Spill Onto the Streets

Friction is spilling onto the city centers, with parliamentarians now debating a new legislative proposal to compel yeshiva students into army duty in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

Two Haredi politicians were confronted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are incensed with the Knesset's deliberations of the bill.

And last week, a specialized force had to assist enforcement personnel who were attacked by a large crowd of Haredi men as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new alert system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to send out instant alerts through ultra-Orthodox communities and mobilize demonstrators to stop detentions from occurring.

"This is a Jewish state," said one protester. "You can't fight against religious practice in a Jewish state. That is untenable."

A World Separate

Yet the transformations affecting Israel have failed to penetrate the environment of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an Haredi enclave on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, scholars learn in partnerships to discuss the Torah, their brightly coloured notepads standing out against the rows of light-colored shirts and small black kippahs.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the leader of the seminary, a senior rabbi, explained. "Via dedicated learning, we safeguard the troops in the field. This is how we contribute."

The community holds that continuous prayer and religious study protect Israel's soldiers, and are as crucial to its military success as its advanced weaponry. That belief was acknowledged by previous governments in the past, the rabbi said, but he admitted that public attitudes are shifting.

Rising Public Pressure

The Haredi community has more than doubled its share of the nation's citizens over the last seventy years, and now represents around one in seven. An exemption that started as an deferment for a small number of Torah scholars became, by the beginning of the recent conflict, a body of tens of thousands of men left out of the draft.

Opinion polls show backing for drafting the Haredim is growing. Research in July found that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - even a significant majority in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - supported consequences for those who declined a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in supporting removing privileges, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"I feel there are people who live in this nation without serving," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an justification not to fulfill your duty to your nation," added Gabby. "Being a native, I find it rather absurd that you want to exempt yourself just to engage in religious study all day."

Views from the Heart of a Religious City

Backing for extending the draft is also coming from traditional Jews outside the Haredi community, like Dorit Barak, who is a neighbor of the yeshiva and highlights non-Haredi religious Jews who do perform national service while also maintaining their faith.

"I'm very angry that this community don't enlist," she said. "It is unjust. I also believe in the Torah, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it signifies the Torah and the guns together. That's the way forward, until the days of peace."

She manages a local tribute in Bnei Brak to fallen servicemen, both religious and secular, who were lost in conflict. Long columns of images {