Have the strictly Orthodox Israelis who long to be part of wider society found their political voice at last?

Now the seismic changes are touching upon the Charedi community.

Increasingly loud voices are advocating for change.

A new Charedi political party, Hatzibur HaHaredi, has just been launched, offering what its founders say is an alternative to the old parties.

But can it translate growing frustration into actual votes?

The central question is conscription – an issue with the explosive potential to bring down governments and deepen an already bitter divide within Israeli society.

As reservists have endured repeated deployments since October 7, pressure to end the traditional get-out for strictly Orthodox men from the draft has intensified.

Haredi soldiers from the IDF’s Hasmonean Brigade at the Kotel after completing training (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.)[Missing Credit]

The resulting political battle has been played out in the Knesset and the courts, as Charedi political leaders defend the historic exemption.

But many members of the strictly Orthodox community have tired of the old guard and are keen to be a far more active part of wider Israeli society.

On Sunday hundreds of Charedi men arrived to be drafted into the IDF at a base in Tel Hashomer, many heading into combat units.

Charedi enlistment is now around 4,300 per year, up from roughly 1,800 pre-war.

Still, tens of thousands of draft-eligible men remain outside the IDF.

Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer is chair of the Hatzibur HaHaredi rabbinic committee and the Board of Netzach Yehuda, the leading organisation that supports Charedi soldiers in the IDF.

He tells the JC: “October 7 reminded us that we are all in this together. It also reminded us that Israel urgently needs the Charedim.

“Before October 7, the assumption was that Israel could manage with a small, technologically advanced army, and the greater emphasis was on integrating Charedim into the economy.

“After October 7, military service became the dominant issue concerning Charedi participation in Israeli society.”

Pfeffer understands the strain on existing reservists, and the IDF’s need as a large army to replenish manpower after so many deaths and injuries.

Hatzibur HaHaredi chair Moti Leitner[Missing Credit]

“Soldiers have served hundreds of days of reserve duty, placing enormous pressure on families, businesses, relationships and Israeli society as a whole.

“That has created an intense demand from Israeli society to the Charedim: come and join us, come and be part of this.”

For Pfeffer, it is important that the strictly Orthodox do their duty as party of Israeli society.

“What this party is trying to do is implement positions that many within the Charedi world itself genuinely believe in.

“That we need to share the burden – and the privilege – of participating in Israel’s economy, Israel’s army and Israel’s institutions.

“We are too big to withdraw from Israel, because we are Israel. We are that big.

“The idea that we can withdraw from Israeli society and participate in politics only to look after our own back garden, while leaving Israel to become whatever it will become, is simply no longer acceptable.

“If we don’t take responsibility, nobody else will. That is why we need a different kind of politics in the Charedi political space.”

Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer[Missing Credit]

Electoral success for Pfeffer’s party would provide the first tangible evidence that a section of the Charedi community is prepared to challenge its traditional political establishment.

The consequences could reverberate across Israeli society, especially if strictly Orthodox voters come out in greater numbers than they have previously, and start to exert political influence in line with their fast-growing demographic numbers.

“The traditional Charedi parties have not increased their share of Knesset seats in line with the tremendous demographic growth of the Charedi population,” says Pfeffer.

“So where are those Charedi voters? They have become disillusioned with the traditional Charedi parties. They don’t feel represented, and they are looking for alternatives.

“We want to give them a viable alternative that speaks to their sensitivities and gives them representatives with whom they can actually identify.”

Strictly Orthodox Jews demonstrate against the draft, some bearing anti-zionist slogans (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty)AFP via Getty Images

For now he blames the traditional parties for failing to change in line with Israel’s needs on the draft. “This could have been handled much better if Charedi politics had appreciated that sense of responsibility, rather than trying to defer and delay the issue and pass legislation that effectively kicked the can down the road.”

Many Charedim are aware of the resentment towards them from the rest of Israeli society and find it deeply painful.

They want to see change: not only over the draft, but also around education, employment, opportunity and how the community relates to the wider Israeli state.

That also translates into business, and a push to break with the stereotype of Charedim working “off the books”, and to no longer be dependent on state handouts.

Yitzhak Goldknopf, leader of United Torah Judaism (AMIR COHEN/POOL/AFP via Getty)POOL/AFP via Getty Images

This is a profound economic awakening “driven from within”, according to Israel Harach, CEO of the Charedi Business Association.

He says thousands of business owners are now organising to engage with government ministries through formal and structured channels, based on the understanding that an isolated economy no longer serves either side.

“As part of this shift, undeclared work has been almost entirely pushed aside in favour of establishing formally registered businesses and pursuing growth in the free market.

“This trend reflects a steady transition from a separate economy toward full economic partnership – contributing both to the well-being of the Charedi community and to the Israeli economy as a whole.

“There are many young people, and older people too, within the Charedi community who are not interested in receiving more government subsidies. They are interested in having more opportunities for their futures.

“They want a better toolkit for navigating the world outside the Charedi walls because they know they are going to be there anyway.

“They want a different kind of education. They want different community structures. They want a different relationship with Israel in many respects.

“Those things are not being provided. In fact, they are being blocked by the current Charedi politics.”

Shas Knesset leader Aryeh Deri (AMIR COHEN/POOL/AFP via Getty)POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Some members of the community are growing increasingly cynical about their representatives in the Knesset.

Says a Charedi political source: “If you tell Charedim who have never spoken to secular Israelis that the secular world hates us, wants to harm us, wants to take all our children into the army and is against Hashem and the Torah, then it becomes much easier to bring people together politically. You give them a common enemy.”

Attitudes towards military service are more nuanced inside Charedi families than the political debate often suggests, according to the source.

“My two younger brothers are in the army now, and we are Charedi Chasidim – hardcore Charedim. It isn’t a problem for our family, their yeshivas or their schools.

“There are things we want to see changed in the army to accommodate Charedim, but the army is trying to do that, slowly, and it is getting better.

“If a Charedi son goes into the army, the overwhelming majority of families are still going to love him. The question is not simply whether Charedim can serve. The question is how it happens.”

That question of how Charedim serve – and who should serve – remains fundamental.

“In our eyes, it will always be preferable for a young man to be learning in yeshiva rather than serving in the army.

"That isn’t because we have a problem with the army. It’s because we believe that when someone sits and learns Torah, he is also protecting the Jewish people.

“But if someone is no longer learning in yeshiva, we don’t have such a big problem with him serving. There are smaller groups that believe the army wants to take Charedim and turn them secular, but most people understand that the army doesn’t have an interest in making you secular. It needs soldiers.”

There are what Charedim would see as legitimate concerns over the draft, particularly to protect the yeshiva study of Torah and Talmud that many strictly Orthodox Jews believe helps to protect Israel by pleasing the Almighty.

Unfortunately, opposition to conscription has increasingly been defined by the community’s most extreme elements, says Pfeffer.

He says: “The mainstream Charedi establishment has failed to articulate an alternative.

“That has left the field to hardcore antizionist elements who demonstrate whenever arrests are made.

“The entirety of Charedi society risks being perceived as part of that extremist position. It isn’t.”

More and more members of the strictly Orthodox community resent what they see as an extremism that entirely misrepresents who they are.

One source tells the JC: “The deterioration in the image of the Charedi community is deeply unfair, because the public image seen abroad and in the Israeli media does not reflect the overwhelming majority of Charedim.

“Most are decent, peaceful, hardworking people devoted to their families, communities and Torah values.

“For too long, the most visible representatives of the community have been politicians who appear to offer only demands, threats and confrontation.

“Images of violent demonstrations, attacks on Charedi soldiers and inflammatory rhetoric have come to define the entire community in the public mind.

“The actions of a radical minority have been allowed to speak for hundreds of thousands of people.

“This has created a destructive cycle: Charedim feel attacked and withdraw further inward, while the rest of Israeli society sees only separation, hostility and refusal to share responsibility.”

The immediate question for Hatzibur HaHaredi is whether the community’s changing political mood can be converted into votes.

Pfeffer says: “We believe there are tens and tens of thousands of voters – and we hope hundreds of thousands – who will say: ‘Yes, this is what Israel needs today.’”

Should his hopes be borne out, the results will impact on the vote that will shape the Knesset in the general election on October 27. Even if that doesn’t translate into seats, the hope is that the new party’s arrival will at least force the political Charedi old guard into a fundamental rethink.

Then the fast-changing reality of the community may impact on Israel as a whole, and help to heal at least one of the divides in this complex society.