In an unprecedented move that sent tremors through Jerusalem’s Haredi community, three Wolfson Yeshiva students declared their intention to enlist in the IDF — sparking immediate backlash and sorrow from their spiritual leadership.
Jerusalem’s prestigious Wolfson Yeshiva, a cornerstone of the Haredi Torah world, was thrown into crisis this week after three of its students made a bombshell announcement — they’re joining the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
According to a report by Channel 13’s Yoely Brim, the revelation prompted the yeshiva to call an emergency assembly on Tuesday, as students and faculty tried to grapple with the implications of the decision.
Of the three, two are slated to enter the elite “Kokod” program, focusing on programming and technological development, while the third is reportedly aiming to serve in a combat unit — a rare move in the Haredi world.
What shocked the community even more is the students’ background: two are alumni of Kol Torah, one of the most venerated and traditional Haredi yeshivas in Israel. Their departure was described as both spiritually disruptive and socially unprecedented.
Rabbi Daniel Wolfson, the dean of the yeshiva, addressed the student body with visible anguish.
“There are no frameworks in the army that truly protect the Haredi way of life,” he declared, expressing deep sorrow and pain over the students’ choice to leave their Torah studies for military service.
The development has reignited long-standing tensions between Haredi educational institutions and national service bodies, with critics viewing the enlistment as a spiritual compromise, while others hail it as a necessary step toward national unity.
