Exemption for the Pious

A law to aid religious women, and perhaps draft dodgers too

A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man .. .for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

--Deuteronomy 22:5

That ancient biblical injunction returned to haunt Premier Menachem Begin last week. Only a last-minute compromise between religious conviction and military necessity appears to have saved Begin's coalition government from its gravest domestic crisis in 13 months of rule. The issue: Israeli women in uniform.

The Premier's troubles began when he agreed to a request by the ultra-Orthodox Agudat Israel Party to amend Israel's conscription laws, thereby making it easier for Orthodox Jewish women to gain exemption from the draft. Orthodox rabbis believe that women should not serve in the armed forces, since they interpret the prohibition against men's clothing to include the khaki trousers and the UZI submachine guns issued to Israel's female conscripts. The law now requires that women serve for two years and men for three, beginning at age 18.

In April, the government introduced legislation that would automatically exempt women from the army if they declared they had religious objections. The move encountered stiff opposition in the Knesset from the Labor and Shelli parties and from one of Likud's key coalition partners, the Democratic Movement for Change. At the same time, Agudat Israel threatened to quit Begin's coalition if the bill did not pass.

Passage of the new law, its opponents argued, would invite draft dodging on a mass scale by nonreligious women. This would seriously impair the efficiency of the Israeli armed forces, which rely on women to run many basic administrative and support services. Under present law, Orthodox women are exempt from military service only if they can pass an oral examination on their religious beliefs conducted by a board that includes an army rabbi and a representative of the general staff manpower department. Rabbis objected to this system because some genuinely religious girls fail the exam simply because they are none too bright.

According to the new legislation, any 18-year-old girl claiming religious scruples would be exempt "without further examination by any board." In the past year the Defense Ministry has already begun operating in the spirit of the proposed law. Result: a 9% rise in exemptions for draft-age women. A report by the Defense Ministry submitted to the Knesset this month predicted that 30% of the 25,283 women due to be drafted this year will claim religious exemptions if the unamended bill passes.

The compromise bill, designed to tighten the exemption loophole, would require women seeking exemptions to declare that they do not travel on the Sabbath and strictly observe Jewish dietary laws. Although the girls will no longer have to pass examinations, they will face stiff penalties if discovered to have made false declarations. A girl found lolling on a beach on the Sabbath, for example, will be Liable to serve a term in prison, to be followed by regular army service.

The Knesset will almost certainly pass the compromise bill this week. Meanwhile, 20,000 nonreligious high school girls who face conscription after graduation demonstrated in Tel Aviv last week to protest making it easy for draft dodgers. Teen-agers throughout the country circulated petitions demanding equality in the conscription system and urging that religious girls be required to do some useful nonmilitary service for the nation. Unexpected support for the opposition came from the Premier's wife, Aliza Begin, whose two daughters, Hasya, 32, and Leah, 30, served in the Israel Defense Forces. "Why should my daughter be drafted, and someone else's not be?" she asked. "There's injustice in that."

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