The problem is that the yeshiva issues a paper saying that ID no. so-and-so’s Torah is his profession,
even if he doesn’t study in the yeshiva, and sometimes even someone who never set foot there.
It’s basically just an exemption for well-connected males
simply by virtue of being male.
The yeshiva also gets money from the state every month for each such student registered with it,
and we’re talking about piles
of males.
So in practice this isn’t an exemption for someone who studies Torah, but for a male who is connected enough.

Rabbi,
why is it reasonable to exempt a certain number from enlistment?
They can study until the time of service and afterward,
and even during service it’s still possible to learn; in the Haredi units there are usually Torah classes.
Beyond that, the Jewish people are not bereft (certainly if he doesn’t enlist).
There are other older Torah scholars who are not of draft age
who will preserve the necessity of Torah study, in your words, and with their help Torah will not be forgotten from Israel.

This has nothing at all to do with whether Torah will be forgotten from Israel or not. Nor is it meant to save the Torah of those few individuals so that it won’t be forgotten from them. Exempting such a group from enlistment is not because of some emergency situation or in order to save something or someone. There is value in having, among the Jewish people, learners at the very highest level—people who engage in nothing else and grow in Torah. Torah classes given in the army do not help for that, nor do elderly scholars learning in their place. Army service also means reserve duty throughout life, and there is no reason in the world to burden them with that ongoing nuisance. Their added value as Torah scholars is much greater. This formal equality, as if everyone must do exactly the same thing, does not exist and cannot exist. There are soldiers who serve in the canteen, or in rear units, and there are those in elite reconnaissance units. In my view, such an exemption is not an exemption at all; rather, there is a corps of Torah scholars in the army.
But even if you want to see it as an exemption from service, just as people with talent in other fields are exempted (art, sports, etc.), and just as pacifists and others doing civilian national service are exempted, talented Torah scholars should be exempted as well. Why should a priestess be treated worse than an innkeeper?!
Such people devote themselves to Torah, and there is no need for them also to bear the burden of military service, especially when in such a situation the religious community as a whole does bear it. This is a division of tasks within society among its various parts.

I didn’t understand anything.
In an obligatory war, did we exempt the talented so they could grow and develop to the highest level? (What does that even mean?)
And it really doesn’t matter who sits in the canteen or who makes coffee for the female soldiers.
Even if during that time the same potential Einstein or Rabbi Akiva Eiger could benefit the Jewish people through Torah, science, or high-tech, there is still a halakhic / social / moral obligation to shoulder the burden, and with a minimum of responsibility they will find a way to contribute according to their abilities.

That same devotion to Torah you’re talking about—what is it, exactly? Where have you seen that it helped more
than Torah scholars who enlisted, like Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, who served in the reserves as rabbi of an armored division and the Givati Brigade, with the rank of captain, and received the Yom Kippur War medal and the First Lebanon War medal?
How is he different, for example, from Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who devoted his whole life to this and did not issue halakhic rulings, as he noted in the introduction to all his books?

The time of enlistment is not one’s whole life, and it’s possible to make up and fill in what is lacking (as we see) over the course of a whole lifetime.
Do I need to tell the Rabbi about outstanding Torah scholars, or scientists and athletes, who enlisted? Go and see.
So they gave them an exemption from our crazy army—so what? Are there any shortage of wrongs our army commits?

(Sorry I split this up here in the responsa section; technically it’s impossible to respond at length.)

If the rule is that everyone enlists and everyone studies core curriculum and everyone goes to work, then if a minority devotes itself wholly to Torah, it’s not a burden. But if the rule is that they don’t enlist and don’t study core curriculum and don’t go to work, then everything comes out warped and flawed.

The Haredi way, in the final accounting, is a short road that turns out long. Let us hope that other roads will be long roads that turn out short.

There is no reason for a minority to sacrifice itself; in Torah there is certainly no need for that.
And it has nothing to do with whether this burdens society. Society is not the issue here.
It is the duty of each and every individual, morally and halakhically, whether one does more or less.

Yekutiel—seems to me exactly the opposite. Even the soldier in Unit 8200 does not risk his life like the soldier on the battlefield, but it is obviously a necessity because of the broader perspective. It makes perfect sense that there should be exceptional individuals if that is beneficial from an overall perspective—you don’t have to be pigheaded about it. (Do you think it makes sense to send a world genius with two left hands to the battlefield and not use his abilities in the name of “the duty of each and every individual”?) The problem with the enlistment issue today is דווקא that people are not looking from an overall perspective. In my opinion that is largely because of a great lack of trust and not because of simple wickedness / self-interest, but that’s another topic.

Yekutiel, indeed you didn’t understand anything. If you decide to insist, no explanation will help. I explained everything well, and whoever can hear, let him enjoy.

Y,
again, please remove self-sacrifice from the discussion here. There is no obligation to sacrifice one’s life in any situation (it’s also not legally acceptable).
There is a moral obligation to lend a shoulder and share the burden.
In an obligatory war, or in the moral duty and the like, no one was asked to be killed, only to enlist. Therefore that genius you’re talking about can be in Unit 8200 and have an air-conditioner aimed at him, for all I care. That helps no less, and maybe more, than some armored corps soldier stuck in the mud. Again, great geniuses enlisted and had enormous influence in the world of Torah more than others who sat and studied the whole time.
I’d be glad to be shown that I’m wrong.

Rabbi,
I’m not insisting; I’m really trying to understand, and I’d be happy if the Rabbi would answer me.
Did enlistment in the IDF affect the outstanding Torah scholars in the religious public? And if so, how are they different from Torah scholars who did not enlist at all?

And on the halakhic level:
Does the Rabbi think that today this is an obligatory war (which does not exempt Torah scholars from enlisting)?
And are there other commandments from which we exempt Torah scholars destined for greatness?

I don’t know what there is left to explain that I haven’t explained. Enlistment in the IDF certainly had an effect. The degree to which you are immersed in Torah affects the level you can reach. That does not mean there are no Torah scholars who enlisted, but certainly most of them, and perhaps all, could have reached more had they immersed themselves only in that. It is not only a question of how much time you study, but also what else you are immersed in. And with all due respect, a military rabbi is not representative military service. Not to mention that he adds nothing beyond what someone sitting and learning adds.
I also explained that even if enlistment did not harm growth in learning, in my opinion there is no reason from the outset to draft someone who studies. He contributes no less, and usually more, than someone who enlists. So why should he have to enlist at all? I compared this to other exemptions. Everything was explained, and I do not see why I need to repeat it again.
In my opinion this is not an obligatory war at all today. It is a war of saving lives (perhaps helping Israel against an enemy), and all the resort to halakhic concepts of obligatory war is unnecessary and irrelevant. This is a question of saving life and of the moral duty to share the burden. That is all.
And even if it were an obligatory war, I would exempt Torah scholars, so long as the war does not directly and clearly need them. An obligatory war is a commandment upon the public, not upon the individual, and therefore the individual can allocate his tasks and energies as he sees fit. The question of how Torah scholars can be exempted from a commandment reflects a misunderstanding.

First of all, thank you very much!
But a few comments, with your permission. 1. A military rabbi definitely helps more than someone sitting and learning—in the battlefield there are many halakhic questions, and at the end of the day someone has to provide answers.
Maybe the Rabbi explained it, but not in a way that is coherent regarding Torah study. In my opinion, the fact that clear, outstanding Torah scholars emerged who served in the IDF not only as military rabbis only shows how hard it is for you to say what would have happened had they not enlisted. Would they also have known the Zohar and Yalkut Reuveni? What level is the Rabbi even aiming for, or thinks one should reach in Torah? Maybe this is the point I should have addressed from the start, because it is much more intriguing.
If a person is very well-versed in the Talmud and halakhic decisors, arrives at sound reasoning, and knows how to derive the halakhic conclusion, is anything more required of him? To what further height would he climb that those few full years of enlistment would prevent him from reaching that peak?

Yekutiel, I don’t know, but Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky of blessed memory served in the IDF in 1948.
At first in the southern sector,
afterward on the hills east of Petah Tikva [today Rosh HaAyin–Elad, and especially the hostile village of Kula, which collaborated and hid the Nazi paratrooper who survived the hiding operations in the Jordan Valley and in Jericho while his comrades were caught by the British, and managed to get all the way to Kula with poison to poison the water sources of Tel Aviv that were near the village, the Yarkon sources. In the war they simply expelled them; today there are the houses and Kula Forest there instead]. He merited
to defend and save the Jewish people and to be part of the renewal of the Jewish people in the Promised Land.

The commander was Grossbard. Yes, the father of… from Ponevezh.
And when Rabbi Chaim came to offer condolences over the father’s death, they asked him why he was showing such great respect and making such an effort.
He answered simply: he was the commander; I am obligated to honor him.

Bim Bam etc.,

If you’re already making the effort to mention this nonsense,
at least quote the golden wording of Rabbi Chaim accurately:

“The head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Dov Povidarsky, who also studied in Lomza in those days, hid in one of the yeshiva bathroom stalls, and thus was saved from the difficult trip.
Rabbi Chaim continues to relate: When we arrived at the place, Rabbi Grossbard told me that I could go and study on the hill. He only asked that I equip myself with a stick and stones, and so it was: I took the Gemara and went up to the top of the hill, and there I studied until the fighting died down. Today,” Rabbi Chaim concluded, “I came to say thank you to my commander for what he did for me. I am doing so through you, his sons.”

There’s no denying it—the entire Jewish people rise to salute Rabbi Chaim for his service to the homeland.

To Yekutiel:
A. For soldiers who were not Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, there wasn’t much more in that sector at that time either.
B. He also served in the southern sector.