Israeli police estimated that more than 300,000 haredim from all ultra-Orthodox streams gathered in what was dubbed a “million-man march” at the entrance to Israel’s capital on Thursday to protest efforts to enlist them to the Israel Defense Forces and to condemn arrests by the IDF of yeshiva students, who have ignored enlistment orders.
One death was reported during the demonstration. Menachem Mendel Litzman, 20, fell from a height of about 20 stories at a construction site in Jerusalem. The police said it was an apparent suicide.
The rally, in which protesters prayed and recited Psalms, included participants from the Lithuanian, Chassidic and Sephardic Haredi communities.
Some 2,000 police officers, including Border Police, secured the rally and directed traffic in Jerusalem, which was effectively closed off to traffic during the event. Israel Railways, in coordination with police, shut down Jerusalem’s central train station starting from 12:30 pm on Thursday due to the protests.
Nearly all Israelis agree that haredim must play a larger role in Israel’s national defense, particularly in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Many Israelis served for months without respite in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere during the subsequent war.
Ultra-Orthodox have received near-blanket exemptions from military service in what started as a release for about 400 Torah scholars at the state’s establishment. But in June 2024, Israel’s Supreme Court declared that ultra-Orthodox men must be conscripted, effectively ending the decades-long system of exemptions.
However, of the 19,000 summons issued by early June 2025, only some 5% (996) reported to induction centers. Of those, only 1.2% (232) were conscripted, the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) reported.
In an effort to enforce the law, the IDF began making arrests. The recent arrests of three yeshiva students last week appeared to cross a red line for the haredi community.
Rabbi Dov Landau, a leading figure in Israel’s Lithuanian haredi community, who is currently in the United States, spoke with Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch. Together, they lead the Slabodka yeshiva in Bnei Brak, a haredi city near Tel Aviv.
According to Ynet, Landau said: “I heard that a terrible incident took place in the Land of Israel. Yeshiva students were arrested. It seems to me, and if you think so, [we should] hold a large assembly of many prayers. It can help in every way, and if that’s what you think, then I think it’s the right thing to do right now.”
Among ultra-Orthodox concerns is that conscription will lead to alienation from the community and yeshiva students, once exposed to outside influences, won’t return. They also argue that Torah study protects the nation of Israel and is itself a form of defense.
The demonstration organizers issued a statement on Thursday, saying, “The Torah is what stood for us at all times to protect and save, and even these days the holy Torah is the one that protects the Jewish presence in the Holy Land and the people of Israel, and it is only thanks to it that we exist...
“The rally expresses its firm demand from the authorities that the arrangement that has existed throughout the years regarding Torah students must be maintained with all due vigilance.”
“Anyone who wishes to learn Torah should do so without restriction and without interruption, as it has been ruled that anyone who dedicates his life to Torah must not be burdened with any other burden, for they are the hope of our people.”
