A group of leading Rabbis published a letter on Monday morning, claiming that one should not enlist in haredi units in the IDF, since "it is impossible to remain Torah-observant and perform mitzvot according to Jewish law during military service."
"The army authorities have recently sent draft orders to haredi young men to recruit them into the IDF. We would like to make it clear that our leading Rabbis have already ordered that it is forbidden to enlist in the army in any way, even if they establish strict haredi regiments and brigades, as they have already proven over many years that they do not comply with this requirement at all," it was claimed in the letter.
According to them, even if the IDF makes it clear that all the Rabbis' demands will be accepted, nobody should believe them. Even if at first they accommodate the haredi demands, after a while it becomes impossible to remain Torah-observant and perform mitzvot according to Jewish law during military service."
"Even if they say now that they will ensure that the soldiers can remain strictly haredi there, according to Torah law, they have no way of making sure that this will happen. We know very clearly that there is no leading Rabbi in Israel who disagrees with these claims."
"Therefore, we would like to bring forward the opinion of all the leading Rabbis that all young men who received a draft order must not report to the recruiting office at all. May God, blessed be He, protect His people Israel, so that they can withstand all tests and remain Jews who are faithful to God and His Torah."
The letter has been signed by the Rabbis of several different haredi dynasties.