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A looming crisis over drafting Haredi men into the military is threatening to undermine the governing coalition and splitting the state.

Public opinion on the question has shifted dramatically in Israel after two years of war, and this is now possibly the most divisive political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Politicians are now debating a draft bill to terminate the special status granted to yeshiva scholars dedicated to yeshiva learning, established when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

This arrangement was ruled illegal by the nation's top court two decades ago. Interim measures to maintain it were formally ended by the court last year, forcing the cabinet to start enlisting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Some 24,000 call-up papers were sent out last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts enlisted, according to defense officials given to lawmakers.

Friction Spill Into Public View

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with parliamentarians now debating a new conscription law to force ultra-Orthodox men into military service in the same way as other secular Israelis.

Two representatives were confronted this month by radical elements, who are enraged with parliament's discussion of the bill.

And last week, a special Border Police unit had to assist army police who were surrounded by a large crowd of community members as they attempted to detain a man avoiding service.

These enforcement actions have led to the development of a new messaging system called "Dark Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and summon activists to prevent arrests from occurring.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked an activist. "One cannot oppose the Jewish faith in a Jewish state. It is a contradiction."

A Realm Apart

But the shifts blowing through Israel have not yet breached the environment of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, teenage boys study together to debate Judaism's religious laws, their vividly colored writing books popping against the rows of light-colored shirts and head coverings.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see a significant portion are studying Torah," the leader of the seminary, the spiritual guide, noted. "Via dedicated learning, we protect the military personnel in the field. This is how we contribute."

The community holds that continuous prayer and Torah learning protect Israel's military, and are as essential to its defense as its conventional forces. This tenet was acknowledged by previous governments in the past, the rabbi said, but he conceded that the nation is evolving.

Rising Popular Demand

This religious sector has grown substantially its proportion of the country's people over the past seven decades, and now represents around one in seven. A policy that originated as an exception for several hundred yeshiva attendees evolved into, by the start of the recent conflict, a body of some 60,000 men not subject to the conscription.

Polling data indicate backing for ending the exemption is increasing. A survey in July found that an overwhelming percentage of non-Haredi Jews - including a large segment in his own coalition allies - backed penalties for those who declined a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in approving cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"It makes me feel there are individuals who live in this country without giving anything back," one military member in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an justification not to go and serve your state," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to avoid service just to engage in religious study all day."

Perspectives from the Heart of the Community

Support for ending the exemption is also coming from traditional Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like one local resident, who resides close to the yeshiva and notes observant but non-Haredi Jews who do enlist in the army while also studying Torah.

"I am frustrated that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "It is unjust. I am also committed to the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it signifies the Torah and the guns together. That's the way forward, until the arrival of peace."

Ms Barak runs a small memorial in Bnei Brak to fallen servicemen, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Rows of faces {