National Youth service from political, ethical and religious perspectives: The Israel Case |
Keynote speaker, Professor Stuart Cohen, IsraelNational Youth Service presupposes the idea of Community, and the Jewish People are exceptionally qualified to claim community status. This sense of community originally came from the biblical concept of chosen-ness, and has been fortified by a long period in exile from the land of Israel. The Jewish community in exile remained separate to a great extent from their host societies. Jewish communities were self governing, maintaining separate institutions for welfare, health, justice, and such like. Jews in the Medieval and Early Modern Ages served on dowry committees, burial societies, education societies, and so on. The idea of communal service therefore came to be a pronounced and normal feature of Jewish existence. The rise of Zionism in the late nineteenth century and the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 led to a change in the attitude towards, and experience of, communal service for Jews in Israel. Firstly this is because, as a modern state, Israel was equipped to meet the needs of its citizens. This left a question mark over the role of the voluntary associations that had been the primary vehicle for meeting certain needs, now met by the state. Secondly, Zionist ideology had created a new kind of identity for the Jews of Israel: essentially a national identity. Zionism was, after all, a kind of nationalism, and not an ethnic, religious, or communal identity. Following the forging of a new identity for members of the Israeli polity, the question then arises: what should happen to the old patterns of civic affiliation? What will act to promote societal cohesion? The most traditionalist segment of Israeli society has answered that the new identity should be resisted, and the old patterns of affiliation should be maintained. This however is a minority response. In a country with compulsory military service the army is considered by many to be the most likely unifying agency. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF), as well as providing certain obvious security functions, has also fulfilled a service within the community. On the one hand soldiers performed certain non military tasks, such as helping with land settlement, supplementary teaching, and immigrant absorption. Units within the IDF were set up specifically for these functions. On the other hand, the IDF itself, through conscription, served to unify the community. During the 1990s it has been clear that army service was seen as a rite of passage for many immigrants to Israel. However, for a number of reasons, the IDF is increasingly unable to contribute to civilian life in the same way that it did in the 1950's and 1960's. The IDF is increasingly professional. It defines its own function as providing conventional security, rather than carrying out other state functions. As Prime Minister Ehud Barak commented while Chief-of-Staff "If it doesn't shoot, I'm not interested." More and more young Israelis do not serve in the IDF. This phenomenon, which started in the 1990s, has created a situation where it is thought that under 50% of the 18-21 year old cohort start and complete army service. These figures include Israeli Arabs and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who generally don't serve at all. Army service can no longer be considered a national unifier. Rather it is more accurate to categorize it as a divider. This situation leads to a challenge to identify some other rite of passage to unify society. With its lower numbers of conscripts the IDF is less interested in community service functions, as it is no longer looking for jobs for surplus soldiers to do. This leaves useful work undone. This helps to suggest that community service could supplement army service to create a new way of unifying the nation. At present in Israel there are already around 7,000 people, mainly from a Modern Orthodox Jewish background, participating in National Service programs. These programs could be expanded to non-Jewish and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish citizens of Israel, as well as to those who have been discharged from regular army service. There are a number of practical problems that would need to be overcome before Israel could introduce full national service. First of all there is likely to be institutional resistance from the IDF and Histadrut [General Workers' Union]. The IDF has shown no sign of a willingness to consider the idea of abandoning conscription. The Histadrut are fearful of the effect of cheap labor, and the impact that this might have on wages. Although at present community service in Israel tends to serve religious and ethnic groups other than a participant's own communty, it is difficult to see where Ultra-Orthodox and non-Jewish groups would serve. On the one hand it would be difficult to persuade them to serve other communities, yet on the other if they served their own communities this might well increase the sense of segregation in Israel. Lastly, research has shown that the motivation to serve in the IDF, especially amongst young men, is very high. It is unclear what effect introducing national service as an option for potential conscripts might have. If the motivation to serve is to remain, it will only be due to dynamic processes amongst young people themselves. "There is a clear need to unify volunteering in Israel" Respondent,
Sarah Meltzer, Israel When volunteering in a country gets to the stage where it seems to be little more than patches upon patches, it is time to introduce new legislation. This is now the case in Israel. At present in Israel national service volunteers can work in health, education, with the police, in welfare, with the environment, and so on and so forth. There is a clear need to unify volunteering in Israel, to bring the disparate organizations under a common umbrella. The voluntary versus mandatory issue is critical in National Youth Service and volunteering. Some Israeli schools have introduced 'forced volunteering' [sic], in an attempt to encourage young people to volunteer. Similarly on the issue of voluntary service, at present national service is voluntary only for a very specific segment of the Israeli population. Providing a voluntary national service option is clearly a complex topic, especially when there are times when free choice is liable to encourage community service and others when it is not. However volunteerism itself is of value, and this should not be overlooked in the debate. "Legislation introduced"NYS in Israel is currently in an important period of development. The Supreme Court recently ruled that the block-deferment of Ultra-Orthodox Jews from army service was illegal, and ordered the government to change the law. This led to the establishment of the Tal Commission, which has taken a long-range view of the possibility of change. It will soon see legislation introduced to allow Ultra Orthodox Jewish males to study until the age of 23, at which point they must either continue studying or perform a year of National Service. Implementation of this law introduces a number of difficult questions however. The first is where Ultra Orthodox Jews (and ultimately Israeli Arabs) should serve. Those that maintain that they should serve outside of their own community are conceivably failing to see the political reality of the situation, whatever the ideal might be. The second question is: who should run the Youth Service programs? At present and in the near future this must be NGOs, but conceivably in the future the Government could take on this role. What the advantages of such a move might be remain to be seen. As the prospect of a growing National Youth Service in Israel grows, an urgent clarification is needed. There is a lack of clarity about the purpose of NYS in Israel. Some officials believe it is a tool for social engagement and integration, others see it as a budgetary instrument, and still more see it as merely supporting the more important security functions of the IDF by maintaining conscription. Clarity would allow programs to be designed to meet their desired aims - until aims are made explicit it will remain difficult for NYS in Israel to succeed in meeting the needs that exist. "An attitude that leaves little room for Arabs"Respondent, Maggie Bar-Tura, Israel Israeli Arabs have a unique experience, which leads them to have a distinct view of National Service. The view presented here is based upon conversations over a number of years with Israeli Arabs of a variety of religious and social backgrounds. Many Israeli Jews incorrectly use the words 'Jewish' and 'Israeli' interchangeably. This is indicative of an attitude that leaves little room for Arabs who are Israeli citizens in the conceptualization of Israeli identity. Even so, Carmel Institute research amongst eleventh grade Moslem, Druze, and Christian Israelis indicated that respondents had a very favorable attitude towards national service. This despite the fact that Israeli Arab leadership consistently claim that the idea is a 'non-starter'. Before Israeli Arabs can be considered as potential recruits to a NYS scheme the difficult problem of their involvement generally in the Israeli nation needs to be addressed. Without being considered part of the nation, integrative involvement is impossible. Furthermore, given the extreme level of need within the Israeli Arab community - not just financially but culturally - perhaps integrative involvement is undesirable. The Israeli Arab community needs to turn inwards before it can begin to participate fully in society. Although some Israeli Arabs argue that greater participation would work to quickly improve their position, the situation of the Druze - who serve in the IDF yet remain exceedingly poor - would suggest that this path might not lead to success. Apart from the practical problems facing Israeli Arab involvement in a NYS scheme, there is also an ethical argument brought by opponents of compulsory service. Rights and responsibilities haven't been linked for Israeli Arabs they say. De Facto discrimination exists to such an extent that Israeli Arabs ought not to have to deliver on their responsibilities until they receive their rights. Integrative service programs can only be built either upon at least a near degree of equality, or upon coercion. Panel discussion with local NYS volunteers[The Panel was comprised of four Israeli youth volunteers representing the following National Youth Service organizations in Israel: 'Bat Ami', 'Aguda', 'Shlomit', and the Council of Youth Movements in Israel (CYMI).] Do you feel that young people should be involved in designing and implementing their own NYS programs?* It would certainly be wise to let young people do it. Otherwise they end up feeling passive about the program. Of course there needs to be a certain amount of involvement from leaders, small interventions in the most delicate possible way. But in all young people should be empowered to make their own decisions, especially to shape their own volunteering year. I honestly think that in general the most important thing about my own service year was that I chose to do it. * I agree. It should be like a three-way partnership between the volunteer and their organization, the professional organization that they work in, and the recipients of the service. Young people should be represented on the Board of their organization. Does doing National Service make you more involved in the political process?* It does raise a sort of political awareness. I've worked in all parts of Israeli society. Anyone who goes out into the world develops sensitivity to the problems of society. This automatically makes you want to help to solve them. So, yes. * To be honest I have not really thought about my role as a political thing. But we do go all over the country, and I do talk to all sorts of people - people I probably would not otherwise talk to. I guess one can think about National Service as a non-political thing. Most people just do it because they cannot do the army. Do you know people who didn't finish service?* In my organization [HaNoar HaOved VeLomed] it is about fifty percent. This is because with such a high level of autonomy - where people have to find their own work placements and stuff, and where it is financially difficult, it is perhaps more difficult than with other organizations. Those who drop out go to the IDF for regular service, those who finish do the IDF, but then stay involved, and tend to volunteer for the rest of their lives. It is worth trying to get people to finish for this reason. * It is such a different world doing NYS. You go straight from being a school kid to an employee, but without any training. They treat you like you are an adult. But I've honestly never felt like I am an adult. This change hits some people harder than others. More likely though if people find their job too hard they just switch. * When people graduate school they are just children. They have had four walls around them all of their life. But then they have to take responsibility. I think that this responsibility keeps people motivated. It wouldn't be the same if there weren't real responsibility. Do you have a supervisor? What role do they play?* We have a kind of coordinator, who makes sure that we are okay. We also have rabbis, who can answer our religious questions, about things like food preparation, Passover and things like that. * We don't call them a supervisor. They are more of a team member, or like an older brother. They did the program the year before and stay on for an extra hand-over month. They help us develop better social skills and get along better - at first the group spends a lot of time arguing over who's going to wash the dishes, and what food to buy - having someone with a bit of experience around to help out develops everyone's ability to relate to each other. What training did you receive?* None really, certainly no skills or anything like that. But I had my role explained to me, and so I kind of got on with it. * We learn leadership skills during our time in the youth movement. During the service year two days a week are spent outside of the normal work framework. One day is spent on building the group, a commune day; the other day is spent on professional training. Do you serve a wide range of groups? Do you live with a mix of people?* My job is working to help collect blood from donors. Blood donors all give blood together, and so I work with a really wide range of people, all over the country. They are all from different communities, and so I see a bit of everything. * Normally in my program we live in special apartments, and people there tend to be from the same background. But not everybody is like that. I live in an Ultra Orthodox seminary for Jews who are discovering Judaism. The neighborhood is not like my neighborhood at home, and neither are the people I work with. Should people be able to serve their own social group?* No, because that is just boring. I feel extremely lucky to have met so many different people in so many different environments. I get to become their friend, their sister, and their family social worker. I would not have had such a good time if I just stayed at home to work, or worked somewhere like my home. What advantages does NYS have over army service?* I have a lot of religious friends who went into the army, and who have done great jobs. But in National Service there is a much wider range of options of things that one can actually do. I really thought that I could make better use of my talents if I did NYS. In the IDF it is 'do this, do that' - you just follow orders. But in National Service you have to think big, go beyond what you are told to do. A lot of girls do National Service because they want to be able to do more, to have the freedom to act in the way they see fit. How should NYS and NYS policy in Israel develop?* A lot of kids want to postpone going to the army, and the IDF should let them. This is a battle that is going on now between youth movements and the IDF. * People should be given more responsibilities. I am looked at differently because I could not do the army. This isn't fair and NYS should be seen as being on an equal level to the army. They should advertise it more too, so it seems better. Boys should be allowed to do it, especially people who can't get into the army for health reasons or whatever. To what extent do group friendships continue after NYS?* I live with ten other girls. I have formed friendships there that I definitely hope will last a lifetime. What do you think the aims of NYS should be?* It's important to realize that it is also for the volunteers themselves. The volunteer gets education that helps them become independent, they get more responsibility and learn how to cope with it, and above all they develop a sense of selflessness. Now that there is so much more emphasis on self-realization [in society] the state has become a means, not an end. If a person sees that they cannot realize their own dreams where they are, they just leave. But National Service has a part to play in putting the state, society, and community's needs before an individual's own need. |