The top rabbinic leadership of the ultra-Orthodox community on Wednesday rejected any conscription legislation containing quotas or enlistment targets for yeshiva students, declaring that it was “forbidden to go to any military framework.”

“No sanctions and decrees, punishments and arrests will affect us in any way to divert us from our ways,” the rabbis said in a statement following a gathering at the central Israeli kibbutz of Ma’ale Hahamisha.

The meeting, which was the initiative of several Hasidic leaders, was aimed at coming to an agreement on how to move forward with efforts to obtain enlistment exemptions for members of their communities. It took place as the Israel Defense Forces said it sent out over 50,000 draft orders to eligible Haredi men over the past month.

Rabbi Meir Tzvi Bergman, an influential member of the rabbinical advisory panel steering the United Torah Judaism party, told attendees of the conference that “a Haredi who enters the army does not leave the army as a Haredi” and that there is “an absolute prohibition against joining the army, and one must be willing to give their life for this,” according to Radio Kol Barama.

In a video shared by Ynet reporter Shilo Freid, Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein, a prominent posek, or arbiter of Jewish law, could be heard saying that it was preferable to leave Israel rather than serve in the army.

“Listen, I am telling you to desecrate Shabbat on Shabbat eve and to flee the country,” he declared.

Both the Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism and Sephardic Shas parties have been pushing hard for the passage of legislation enabling most ultra-Orthodox males to continue to avoid military conscription or other national service, in the wake of last year’s High Court of Justice ruling that such exemptions are illegal on equality grounds.

Earlier this month, UTJ quit the coalition after being presented with a copy of a proposed enlistment bill prepared by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s then-chairman, Yuli Edelstein. It was quickly followed by Shas, which, while quitting the government, has remained part of the coalition.

According to Channel 13, while they were initially slated to attend the conference, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri prevented members of his party’s ruling Council of Torah Sages from taking part in order not to create difficulties should the Haredi faction decide to rejoin the government.

At the same time as the conference in Ma’ale Hahamisha, Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of UTJ’s Degel Hatorah faction, met with a kollel student who was told by the army that he will be arrested if he does not report for duty in the coming days.

“Don’t go, don’t go at all,” the 94-year-old rabbi declared.

A second gathering of yeshiva deans is scheduled for Thursday in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak under the auspices of the Vaad HaYeshivot (Yeshiva Committee), which was until recently the Haredi community’s primary vehicle for coordinating between ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and the Defense Ministry on matters of service deferments. An investigation this March by The Times of Israel found that the group has been actively advising yeshiva students to ignore enlistment orders in apparent violation of the law.

As Wednesday’s meeting of rabbis was taking place to discuss the enlistment issue, the IDF announced that it completed sending out an additional 54,000 draft orders to ultra-Orthodox men who are eligible for military service and have not yet enlisted.

The orders constitute the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army carries out for recruits ahead of enlistment in the military in the coming year.

Currently, approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted.

Between July 2024 and May 2025, the IDF issued 24,000 draft orders to Haredi men up to the age of 28, though only a small percentage were actually drafted.

This past month, the IDF said it sent out another 54,000 orders. This means that all Haredi men who previously had exemptions for being yeshiva students have now received a conscription order.

In addition to those orders, the IDF is also sending out first draft orders to all Israelis who turn 16.5, without exempting Haredim as it previously did. (Soldiers only join the military from age 18, but the recruitment process begins earlier.)

“The IDF will continue to operate in accordance with the law and the directives of the political echelon and will do everything in its power to expand recruitment and adapt the conditions for the Haredi population serving, while preserving their way of life,” the military added.

The issue of Haredi exemptions from the army is particularly volatile in Israel amid the ongoing war, with the burden of service falling on the secular and national religious communities. The army has also stated that it is facing a manpower shortage and currently needs some 12,000 new soldiers — 7,000 of whom would be combat troops.