There is currently a huge debate in Israel about an issue that has great potential to bring down the government: The obligatory army service (conscription) of ultra-Orthodox Jews, a.k.a. “Haredim”.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel do not currently enlist in the IDF, while the conscription law applies equally to the rest of the Jewish population. The story started at the beginning of the State of Israel, when the late Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion exempted 400 ultra-Orthodox Jews from being drafted, to maintain the tradition of “learning Torah”. The story grew dramatically over the years, and with the help of political pressures became a total exemption for many tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews at the proper age.

Those in favor of the total exemption often mention the “value of studying the Torah” that must be preserved. Others will raise the argument regarding the non-drafting of most Arab-Israelis (a topic that is a big discussion in itself). And there are also absurd arguments of religious believers about the supposed “security protection” that studying the Torah provides for the army, courtesy of God.

The thing is that most of the secular debaters who are not familiar with the content – mainly discuss the above-mentioned arguments. Almost none of them dive into the content itself to check what they actually learn there… in the ultra-Orthodox “educational” institutions.

So here goes: Haredim, in principle, do not study “Torah” (the “Pentateuch”). Haredim mainly study the Jewish “Talmud” – a collection of laws, discussions and ancient arguments from thousands of years ago, which permeate every corner of everyday life. Ancient life back then, that is. What should be done with an ox that has hit a donkey? With which stone should one wipe the ass on Shabbat? Is it possible to consecrate a woman (for marriage) with only half sexual contact? Is elephant’s shit in the form of a shopping basket allowed to be used? And so on and so forth – thousands of other fascinating and significant issues, the study of which is worth not serving your country.