Judaization of Israel, IDF-related matters, Felix's IDF service

Tel-Aviv is still Tel-Aviv, but more Jewish! Yes indeed. Despite the aggressive secular culture of Tel-Aviv and its liberal, anti-religious residents, Jews with a strong connection to their identity have made great progress in building yeshivot, re-starting moribund synagogues and teaching Judaism in secular frameworks for those interested. Rosh Yehudi is a great outreach organization that has developed a large, and growing, following amongst young, secular Tel-Avivis.

Of course, not all is peaches and cream. The majority of secular Israeli are still not even thinking about keeping Shabbat. But that is not important in and of itself. What is important is that secular Israeli culture is on the decline, as an ever-growing number of young people is finding out that nihilism is not a satifactory lifestyle. Young religious couples are moving into Tel-Aviv and slowly changing the culture towards more observance, or at least respect of observance. Moreover, the religious have a really high birthrate, which makes the process of bringing spirituality to the emptiness of secular life significantly easier.

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, women defining themselves as hiloni (secular) are having an average of 2.1 children. Women defining themselves as at least dati (religious) are averaging 4.3, more than double the rate. Currently, amongst Jewish 1st graders and 2nd graders, just over 50% are religious. Children are the future...

On a separate topic, an Israeli BA (which takes 3 years to complete) costs about $7500 in tuition. This is, thank G-d, not that expensive, although living costs make getting a degree much harder for most Israelis. The IDF gives all its demobilized soldiers a pikadon - a decent sum of money based on years in service and on the job the soldier had. This sum can range from $4,000 to $10,000. This money can only be used for tuition, starting a business, or marriage expenses. If it is not used within 5 years of discharge, it is automatically deposited, in full, into the person's bank account.

Clearly, this money is a great bonus and it helps out a tremendous number of people. However, it would be much cheaper and easier, for those people using the money for the BA, to simply "forgo" the pikadon. Instead, they would present their university with proof of military service, and the degree would be free. This is more effective then having the student prove to the army that he is enrolled, get the money deposited into his account, and then, supposedly, using the entire sum to cover tuition expenses and not a new motorcycle.

Of course, differences between varying lengths of service and levels of duty can be accounted for. There should be a simple and straightforward law - (a) anyone who served in a combat unit for at least 1.5 years gets a free BA; (b) anyone who served at least 2 years in a non-combat job, or in a combat unit for under 1.5 years, gets 2 free years in a BA program; (c) anyone with any other type of service, shortened or whatever, gets 1 free year in a BA program. This is a simpler and cheaper system that cuts out a lot of middle-man bureacracy.

For example, there's a simple law that all soldiers ride public transportation for free. Clearly, this costs nothing to implement and it would be utterly stupid to make the soldiers pay for transportation, and then claim the money back from the army. So, lets take example from those practices which are cheap and efficient.

The tuition aid situation could also use a dose of fairness. New immigrants receive a free BA, or a free MA if they already have a BA from their country of origin. In order to make it fair, this great benefit should only be available to those immigrants who fulfill their IDF duty. Sadly, most of the French and South American immigrants I know, do their best to avoid the shortened 6 month service required of them. Citing "difficulties in adjusting to aliyah," they dodge their duty. The IDF makes this quite easy, as they don't want unmotivated recruits. This general attitude by the army has created an atmosphere where many potential recruits in the last 15 years have been claiming "pacifism" or "conscientious objection" as reasons not to serve. In those cases, 4 months in a military jail are served, and the draftee never has to worry about the army again. Of course, the infamous yeshiva exemptions used by nearly the entire ultra-orthodox community are still as big of a problem as ever.

Due to the various backdoor ways to dodge IDF service, the current recruitment rate of Jewish males stands at 80%. Of the 20% who avoid the draft, 10% use the yeshiva loophole, 4% claim some sort of legal objection and are briefly jailed, 4% are exempted from the system due to being mentally or physically unfit, and the final 2% dodge the system altogether by going abroad or hiding from authorities, who are not too eager to hunt them down.

Granted, an 80% draft rate is actually quite a success considering that most Israelis have almost European standards of living. The 80% figure has been steady since the late 1980's, even as the country has become much wealthier and more individualistic. However, as late as the 1970's, the recruitment rate averaged 95%. But, the number of ultra-orthodox men studying in yeshivot was rather small, and the army didn't let recruits lie to them about medical or mental conditions.

There's no reason why Israel, through smart policies, can't get the recruitment rate back up to a more respectable level. After all, history teaches us that the strongest and longest lasting nations are the ones that are the most socially cohesive. National service has always been the hallmark of a society with a purpose, and the most effective way to create citizens who feel strongly responsible for one another and for the nation as a whole. As Jews in a Jewish country, we must certainly have a purpose to our being here. If the parts of society that don't subscribe to this philosophy are allowed to gain strength, Israel will be weakened, and life here will become individualistic and self-centered. This automatically leads to moral corruption and decline in values - the prerequisites of national downfall. As mentioned earlier in this post, the forces of good are strong and are keeping at bay the forces of decadence. We just have to keep it up. Deterioration has a way of sneaking up on a country.

Of course, all of the above logic applies to me personally. Hence, I will be starting my IDF service a week from today. Of course, it will all be "classified" and I won't be able to write much about it in this blog. Basically, I will be James Bond but without the martinis, because gin and tonic makes me sick. There will, however, be plenty of expensive cars, beautiful girls, reckless sky-diving, wild car chases, thrilling shoot-outs, and luxurious dinner parties. I intend on saving the world, maintaining British influence in world affairs, and keeping the Queen's name from being tarnished. All the while, looking irresistable in tuxedo and a kippa.

In other personal news, I have moved into an apartment in Moshava Germanit, just off of Emek Refaim. Yes, it's an upscale neighborhood, for anyone familiar with Jerusalem. My apartment is in the most expensive part of that neighborhood. How I was able to pull this off is quite random and I don't understand why the landlord doesn't charge higher rent. I'd like to think he is doing a good deed, but I think it's just out of laziness. Either way, I'll take my luck however I can get it.