As was the case last year, due to the ongoing war, the rise in security missions, and the significant number of war casualties, the IDF and the Ministry of Defense will expedite the recruitment of hundreds of Heder yeshiva students, pre-military preparatory school students, and service volunteers, bringing their recruitment forward to March, instead of the originally scheduled date of August 2025, Makor Rishon reported Sunday.
Last summer, the Defense Ministry’s Social and Security Division announced plans to recruit some students, trainees, and volunteers in the March draft. However, it stressed that the number of recruits could fluctuate—either increasing, decreasing, or being canceled—based on the army’s evolving needs. As a result, the trainees and students have been preparing for the possibility of joining the IDF early since the start of the Jewish year.
The early draft of some 1,300 young national religious men was met with understanding last year, shortly after the outbreak of the war. Since then, the army has struggled to meet its Haredi draft targets, and so, the army’s turning to the Social and Security Division for help provides a convenient, if unfair, solution for the system: the young men in Hesder yeshivas, volunteer service organizations, and pre-military preparatory schools form a captive audience which is unlikely to oppose the earlier draft.
Last year’s recruitment quotas were divided such that 850 of those drafted earlier than scheduled were first-year students from pre-military preparatory schools and volunteers in service year tracks, while another 450 were students from Hesder yeshivas. This arrangement followed negotiations between the organizations and the IDF. The institutions determined independently which of their students would be recruited—either voluntarily, by lottery, or by letting the IDF HR select the recruits themselves.
