‘This Fascist Government Will Try to Block Us’: Tel Aviv Secular School Fights Back - Israel News - Haaretz.com
By law, every Jewish-Israeli high school graduate is required to serve in the army. But not all enlist, and even among those who do, not all serve for the same amount of time. Over the years, this unequal distribution of the military burden has helped stoke the resentment that some secular Israelis feel toward their religious compatriots.
The state requires every 18-year-old man to serve at least 32 months (it used to be a full three years) and every 18-year-old woman at least 24 months. With the exception of a tiny minority, however, ultra-Orthodox Israelis are exempt from the draft. So too are religious Zionist (the Israeli equivalent of Modern Orthodox) women if they choose so on religious grounds. Many opt instead to volunteer for civilian national service.
But even religious Zionist young men, if they choose, have the option to serve much less time in uniform. Hesder – a five-year yeshiva program that combines Talmudic studies with military service – provides a way for young religious men to serve only half the required time: 16 months instead of 32. In exchange, participants must spend nearly four years studying at a yeshiva. At any given time, about 12,000 religious young men are enrolled in nearly 80 hesder yeshivas around the country.
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For years now, secular Israelis have complained about this arrangement. After all, why should they have to serve more time in the army than their religious peers? And why don’t they also get the option to trade in part of their military service for study?
If anything, this resentment has intensified in recent weeks with the forming of the most religious government in Israeli history. Of the six parties in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, five are either ultra-Orthodox or religious Zionist – and they have been up front about their plans to use their clout to reap rewards for their voters.
This is the background to a groundbreaking hesder track about to be launched by the principal of a famous Tel Aviv high school. Rather than spend the better part of five years poring over the Talmud at a yeshiva, participants in this alternative program will study science, the arts and humanities.
New Defense Minister Yoav Gallant inspecting soldiers and sailors at defense headquarters in Tel Aviv this month.Credit: Tomer Appelbaum
The driving force is Zeev Degani, the principal of Gymnasia Herzliya, the oldest Hebrew high school in Israel. He has invited parents of 11th graders to a meeting at the school this week to hear further details about this new hesder yeshiva to be run in partnership with universities and colleges so that participants can accumulate credits toward their degrees.
“This is about our fight for equal rights, and it has never been as important as now,” Degani told Haaretz.
Known as a fearless critic of the Israeli right wing (most school principals in Israel avoid voicing political opinions out loud), Degani has rejected speculation on social media that the new initiative is merely a stunt to mobilize resistance to the new government. “That’s nonsense,” he said. “I’m dead serious about this.”
Since the letter went out Tuesday evening, dozens of parents have said they will take part in the informational meeting, Degani said, adding that he also has been “flooded with calls from people offering advice and money – and not only from Israel.”
Degani, Gymnasia Herzliya’s principal for nearly 15 years, said he planned to hand over his daily responsibilities in order to run the venture full-time.
“I already know that we have a tough road ahead of us and that this fascist government will try to block us,” he said. “But we are not afraid, and we will take this to court if need be.”
This is not the first attempt to set up a hesder track for secular Israelis. More than 20 years ago, the Defense Ministry rejected such an application by a now defunct institute for the advancement of Jewish pluralism. A group of Israeli lawmakers, mostly from the left-wing Meretz party, appealed to the Supreme Court, the case dragged on for years, and eventually the petition was withdrawn.
David Zucker, a former Meretz legislator and one of the petitioners, said he could not remember why he and his colleagues had given up. “That’s certainly not a reason not to move ahead with it now,” he said.
Not one to shy away from controversy, Degani made headlines in the past when, defying the Education Ministry, he invited representatives of Breaking the Silence – an organization of former combat veterans seeking to end the occupation – to speak with students at his school. He was also the first principal of a major Israeli high school to stop sending delegations from his school on state-sponsored trips to Auschwitz, saying they contributed to “the process of fascisization taking over politics in this country.”
The plan is for the new hesder program to be restricted initially to graduates of Gymnasia Herzliya. “But assuming we succeed,” Degani said, “I’ll be happy to contribute from my experience to help set up similar programs elsewhere.”