The latest army recruits in Israel: The super girl

They were not supposed to fight.

In the founding of Israel in 1948, the leaders of the new nation agreed that the volunteer Orthodox men-known as the Haredim, or the fear of God, in the Hebrew language-will surge from mandatory military service. On the other hand, the leaders of Al -Haridi provided their support for the secular state to a large extent.

The arrangement, which was held for the first 75 years in Israel, until the Hamas -led attack on October 7, 2023.

The resulting war was withdrawn Hundreds of thousands of Israelis In the battle- but barely, i.e. the Orthodox. The dynamic exacerbation that was ripe for years.

Haridim, which is more than six children for each family, is 14 percent of the nation, an increase of 5 percent in 1948. In 40 years, they are. On the right track To calculate half of all Israeli children.

With the growth of the Haraidim numbers, many Israelis are frustrated because their sons and daughters are sent to fight while Huridim receives government subsidies to study the Torah.

Last summer, tensions opened. Under pressure, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the super -Orthodox men are no longer the service. The army has since sent draft requests to 10,000 men from Haridi. Only 338 appeared to the duty.

Israel is now facing one of its most chaotic and most essential dilemmas: the fastest growing sect will not serve the army.

After the Supreme Court’s decision, the New York Times began following three teenagers from Haridi who represent the varying paths of Heridem and Israel.

Chaim Krausz, 19, is studying the Torah for 14 hours a day, just like his father in front of him. He protested the Supreme Court’s decision and believes that the armed service is not just a sin, but also a threat to the super -Orthodox traditions.

ITamar Greenberg, 18, who is a former student at the Orthodox School, protested against the Israeli state, but its reasons are not religious. “They committed a massacre in Gaza,” he said.

Yechiel Wais, 19, he once studied in a studied school, but had dreams of life outside his strict and wonderful community to the workforce. Then he arrived in his orders.

“It is not an entry ticket to Israeli society,” said Mr. Weiss about an Israeli army position. “But it is the minimum requirements.”

Soldier

He grew up, Mr. Wais wore a black and white suit. Like most Orthodox males, he was practically his only clothes.

But one year for Borim, a Jewish holiday when many children wearing fashion, was wearing the clothes of an Israeli soldier. He lived near the Israeli Air Force base and loved watching F-16 combat aircraft behind a fence.

An idea about him, a heart boy, who grew up to be a soldier who felt impossible. He said, “I did not imagine that.”

Extremist Orthodox men are supposed to devote the life of study and prayer. For many, this includes isolation from the secular outside world: no internet, no television or radio.

At the home of Mr. Wais, even the COSER CD player was “Kosher” – the radio antenna was removed. One day, when Mr. Weiss was listening to music, he suddenly heard a voice through a constant. His headphones were unintentionally picked up Radio. After that, he spent hidden hours listening to the radio, and discovering a completely different world.

The beginning of his exit was a super -strict life. When he reached 17 years in 2022, he told his parents that he wanted to leave Yasifa to work. They were stunned, but they surrendered. They took him to a clothing shopping center for his new life.

He found a job outside Tel Aviv. Then, when he heard about the Supreme Court decision, he found a new path, fighting for his country.

Student

Mr. Cross has no interest in secular Israeli society.

Most of his time spends under the tutelage of rabbis who warn of a long list of sins, including any contact with women outside his family before marriage. He barely leaves his crowded vibrant materials, as the signs-including his family’s home-are bared by wearing modest clothes so as not to offend the population.

This is how he wants to live.

Thousands of the men of the Haridis in Israel receive government subsidies to study the Torah, while their wives often work. In Israel, 53 percent of the men of the Haridis work, compared to 80 percent of the women of Haridi. For Israelis who are not super Orthodoxy, employment rates exceed 80 percent.

The silk population – from 40,000 in 1948 increases to 1.3 million today.

Mr. Cross is one of 18 children. In his four -room home, people sleep around the dining room table. He wants the same big family. “The better,” he said. His parents are looking for his wife.

The government has funded at least a long time from the Zivas budgets; The donors cover the rest. Then earlier this year, an Israeli court arrested public financing to Yashifas, who teaches military men, which is part of the batch to obtain more Harida in the army.

The decision does not bother Mr. Kraus. One of the reasons that resist military service is that it opposes the concept of the Israeli state.

The sect of Mr. Kraosz, Yahdit Hahhani, says there should not be a Jewish state until Christ reaches.

Activist

In the weeks before his new life in the army, Mr. Weiss went to spend a night with friends. He slipped into the car, Mr. Weiss wrote his nose and said: “The left sit next to me.”

The “leftist” referred to was his friend, Mr. Greenberg, who was already ideologically away from the left – and smells of race. He came directly from an anti -war demonstration and had stickers on his shirt to show him.

The two met on social media months ago and formed a friendship when a Haridi youth was trying to fit with a broader society.

At the age of twelve, Mr. Greenberg began interrogating his faith with a monitoring copy of the Internet as a guide, dreaming of life outside his community. “The only way to become part of the Israeli society is the formulation,” he remembers thinking. “That was one of the most important achievements that I got in my life.”

By 16, his views developed more – and to the left. He became vegetarian, stopped believing in God and developed a fierce opposition to the Israeli occupation.

It also opposes the formulation of extremist Orthodoxy, but for different reasons. He said: “It is important to integrate the extremist Orthodox people into Israeli society.” “And work for equality. But I do not care about equality in killing and repression.”

In the car to Jerusalem, Mr. Wais and Mr. Greenberg joked the fossils. They drank colored cocktails in the apartment of a friend, then they went to Hardy’s chase that serves traditional Jewish foods such as chopped liver and horses, which is slow, cooked. In the end, the conversation turned into politics.

“I am not ready to participate in a system that commits such crimes,” Mr. Greenberg told Mr. Weiss in the car.

“What crimes?” Mr. Weiss responded.

“Do you want a list?” Mr. Greenberg said.

The last night will be together. Both were formulated. While Mr. Wais was preparing for basic training, Mr. Greenberg was preparing to report a military prison as a conscience. His super -Orthodox family reluctantly accepted his new views, including his father, a rare Haridi man working in the army’s reserves.

It was not acceptable by his colleagues with two bats. Once he came to prison, Mr. Greenberg realized that his prisoners’ colleagues were not active, but soldiers accused of crimes. He said they mocked and threatened him, and sometimes the guards put him in solitary confinement to protect him. He said about the other prisoners: “They hate the army, but they hate me more.”

Last month, after 197 days of prison across five separate periods of prison, Mr. Greenberg was released from prison when he was hoping for the last time. “The army decided to release me”, He saidWearing green type clothes with smiling faces.

“But the broader goal was to build a better future, for everyone from Jordan to the sea,” he added. “I haven’t done it yet.”

Excellent surplus family

Over the past few decades, hundreds of the men of Haridi have challenged their community and volunteered with military service, but most of them have been far from fighting. Mr. Weiss wanted to be different: he wanted to fight.

He said, “I do not like war.” “But I like to work on the street – soldiers and missiles.”

However, after a medical examination revealed that he needed an ear surgery, military officials told him that he had not been cut off to fight. Instead, he kept planes.

In August, he reached the Air Force base in northern Israel and was appointed to a unit of more than twenty soldiers from Haridi. They threw their traditional black and white clothes for mechanics, but they kept the traditional kipas, or Skullcaps. Many still wear Payot, or side curls, common among extremist Orthodox. Mr. Weiss has flew years ago.

Their barracks and lunch tables were separated from other soldiers to avoid mixing with women, which may violate the principles of Haridi. Their food has been cooked even more striking Kosher criteria. He prayed and studied religious texts for two to three hours a day – most of Wais said that he studied since leaving the school.

“There is no soldier here that can complain about how we are treated regarding religious issues,” he said.

On the last day, Mr. Wais and two Hardi soldiers passed the final training training of the F-16 fighter plane. They were the same planes that you used to see as a child.

After that, the soldiers gathered a sermon from a silky rabbi. They were appointed to graduate from training the next day.

“We are in the mid -war, everything is greater,” said Rabbi, David Fayman, to adolescents.

He added: “You have to prepare your souls to cling well in the world.” “To erase evil.”

It is now working as aircraft technician in the tenth scorpion unit of the tenth squadron of the Israeli Air Force.

“We are the new pioneers,” he said. “We are walking at the top of the movement.”

A superpower protest

For Mr. Kraosz, evil are the Haredim in the army.

He said: “This is the way I look at any Jew that breaks the Sabbath,” referring to the Jewish day to rest. “It is prohibited to love them.”

He was more tolerant of secular soldiers. He said: “Of course they do not know better,” and it blows on the strawberry-kiwi fabi on his dining room table, and the shelves of religious texts behind him.

His greatest fear is that the extremist Orthodox faith will not survive if the Harid men have to fight.

After the Supreme Court’s decision, Mr. Crazs joined thousands of other men of Haridi in the streets. They gathered around the recruitment office and hit Harridies who are entering.

In a statement, the Israeli army said that the Harid men ignore orders “may face criminal sanctions.”

However, unlike Mr. Greenburg, who handed himself over to the authorities, Mr. Crazs and his peers avoided great consequences.

Mr. Krauz has warned of any effort to force them to serve the service.

He said: “We are ready to die so that we do not go to the army.”

Mira Novik She contributed to the reports from Jerusalem and Haifa, Israel.