Ultra-Orthodox Jews have long been exempted from Israelās military draft out of concern that military service would interfere with their religious observance. The exemption was also a gesture by the state that it considered the Jewish faith an integral part of Israeli identity and that Torah study was a form of service in its own right. At the time the number of ultra-Orthodox men exempt from military service for Torah study was insignificant, numbering only in the hundreds. But the number has since grown to tens of thousands, prompting many secular Israelis to push for the end of the exemption. Israelās High Court of Justice ruled the exemption illegal in 2024, but the ultra-Orthodox community has continued to resist the draft. In 2026 the Knesset passed a basic law enshrining Torah study as a fundamental value of the state, part of an effort to change the legal dynamic of the 2024 ruling.
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