Manpower Erosion: IDF Plans to Extend Hesder Yeshiva Fighters’ Compulsory Service

Photo Credit: Yossi Aloni/Flash90

These students of the Yeshivat Hesder Yerucham in southern Israel combine advanced Talmudic studies with mandatory military service.

The war has created a significant burden on the IDF reserve units over the past year, with some brigades’ reservists having served for 300 days. According to a Makor Rishon report on Friday, the IDF must deal with the enormous burden and burnout of reserve soldiers, and to this end, it has labored to produce creative, immediate solutions. One option is to increase the manpower of compulsory recruits, which requires extending their service period to 36 months, as used to be the case in the not-so-distant past.

Another solution being discussed is extending the active service period for Hesder yeshiva students.

Hesder service typically spans five years, during which participants serve as official soldiers in the IDF. Of these five years, 17 months are spent on active duty, including both training and operational service. In certain Hesder Yeshivas, the program extends to six years, with 24 months dedicated to army service. The majority of Hesder Yeshiva students serve as combat soldiers, with the remainder of the time focused on full-time Torah study.

Under the new plan, the service of Hesder students will be extended by several months. At the same time, the IDF is also considering extending the first military service period of Nahal core group (gar’in) members, before they leave for the mission phase of the program.

Hesder yeshiva students enlist in a special track, divided so that they begin with 12 months of unpaid service in the yeshiva. They then embark on 17 months of active service, during which they undergo basic training and perform regular duties.

Finally, they conclude their service with another unpaid period, completing a total of 44 months of service.

Last year, as the war continued, the IDF asked the three frameworks that feature deferral of service, to advance the enlistment of trainees and students into the IDF: the service units, the pre-military preparatory schools, and the Hesder yeshivas.

The army passed on to the heads of these tracks the quotas of students whose enlistment would begin earlier, and they discussed among themselves how many would be drafted from each track. The IDF praises the Hesder yeshivas, saying “they were the first to show up and advance their enlistment,” even though the yeshiva halls had emptied following the enlistment of students who were transferred to regular and reserve units.