“I was about 15 years old when, one morning, my parents gave me a whole load of pills and took me to the hospital at Tel Hashomer. They took me into a room with a doctor or a diagnostician for a few minutes. Most of the time – maybe an hour and a half – my parents were alone in the room with him. After that, there was a National Insurance Institute committee meeting, which was held without my presence. At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening. When did I understand? At the age of 18, when I started to get a monthly stipend of 4,000 shekels paid into my bank account. That was when I realized that I had been registered as autistic and was being supported by the National Insurance Institute.”

The person quoted above is Zvi, a young Israeli who met with Shomrim at the main IDF induction base on the day that he was drafted for compulsory service. His father is a rabbi in a Ger Hasidic yeshiva and is known as someone who is skilled at manipulating the mental health system. In Zvi’s case, he says, his parents sought a diagnosis that would afford him an exemption from military service and a monthly disability payment for the rest of his life. Although they were successful, circumstances eventually changed: Zvi adopted a secular lifestyle and discovered that his diagnosis was an impediment to joining the army.

“When I started the enlistment process, I found two documents on the IDF website for new recruits: one of them stated that I was a student at a yeshiva run by Seeach Sod for people with disabilities – even though I had never heard of the yeshiva and never studied there.” The yeshiva’s response appears at the end of this article. “The second document was a forged letter that I allegedly wrote to the IDF. In it, I detail my disabilities and ask to be exempt from military service.”

Zvi had no intention of giving up on his plan. He contacted a private doctor and got an opinion stating that he is not autistic. He then went to a psychologist working with the National Insurance Institute, who revoked the diagnosis and the official record of disability. “The very same day that I met with him, I got a document confirming that I have no disability. The National Insurance Institute basically admitted that it was all a forgery.”

Once the National Insurance Institute made its ruling, the IDF agreed to draft Zvi – but his medical profile did not allow him to serve in a front-line position. He continues to fight to have his profile raised and to move to a combat unit.

While Zvi’s case is unusual in that his parents managed to hoodwink the National Insurance Institute’s committees and obtain a monthly stipend for their son – an allegedly criminal act – it is part of a phenomenon that is far from rare among the ultra-Orthodox population: obtaining an exemption from military service because of mental health issues. Until this past year, most ultra-Orthodox youths were allowed to defer their military service in order to continue their yeshiva studies. There are others, however, such as young people who wanted to work rather than study, who have engaged in the widespread fabrication of mental health conditions and disabilities in order to obtain a different exemption.

The IDF has been aware for several years of the extent to which the system is being manipulated in this way but very little, if anything, has been done to counter the phenomenon. Even a state comptroller’s report into the issue and offering clear recommendations to deal with it did not manage to change the situation. More on that later. Now, according to various organizations, a recent High Court ruling on the ultra-Orthodox draft has undermined faith in the exemption on the grounds of Torah study, known as Torato Umanuto’ which could lead to a wave of exemption requests based on fake diagnoses. And the IDF does not have a response.

Zvi did not go through the whole process alone. He was assisted by Aharon Granot – a journalist, author and social activist who became aware of the phenomenon several years ago and has been helping young ultra-Orthodox people overturn the exemptions they were given ever since. Like all the young people he helps, Granot accompanied Zvi all the way to the induction center on draft day. They posed together for a photograph next to the bus that was waiting to take the new recruits to start the induction process. “Pretend you’re excited,” the young photographer tells Zvi. “Why ‘pretend’?” Zvi asks. “I’m super excited.”

‘The IDF needs to be a lot more aware’

According to a state comptroller’s report from 2017, which was based on an analysis of data from the IDF Manpower Directorate, the percentage of ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service who were given an exemption for mental health reasons is between 2.5 and 3 times higher than the percentage of non-ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service who were given the same exemption. During the years analyzed, between 12,5 and 15 percent of all ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service were exempted on mental health grounds and since then – at least according to some of the people interviewed for this article – the rate has increased.

The state comptroller’s findings were not news to the IDF. As far back as 2012 the head of the Manpower Directorate, Orna Barbivai, conducted what was defined as “an investigation into exemption from military service for candidates from the ultra-Orthodox community for mental health reasons.” The data presented at the discussion was nothing short of astounding: according to a document written by the IDF’s mental health division, “some 40 percent of the remaining [ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service] at the recruitment office are based on mental health issues … Part of it stems from […] opinions that do not accurately reflect the candidate’s true condition, including (opinions from) the family, educational institutions and professionals from the private sector.”

At the conclusion of the discussion, Barbivai firmly stated, “We cannot accept as a fait accompli a situation where candidates for military service manipulate the military system to obtain exemptions. It is our duty to take all necessary actions on every front to make it clear to Israeli society that we are committed to enforcing the Military Service Law and applying it to all sectors required to serve.”

A dozen years have passed since Barbivai made those comments – and the exemptions industry is still thriving. In a conversation with Shomrim, Barbivai – who served until 2023 as a Knesset member for the Yesh Atid party and is now a member of the Tel Aviv city council – says that given the uncertainty surrounding Torato Umanuto exemptions, it is expected that there will be a spike in the number of ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service requesting mental health exemptions.

"I respect professional opinions but psychiatric ailments are not a regional phenomenon and if there is unusual prevalence in certain places, then the psychologists who work at the recruitment centers must ensure that the psychological evaluations from private doctors reflect reality.”

Barbivai bases this prediction on past experience. “In August 2021, the Tal Law, which regulated the whole issue of Torato Umanuto, was annulled. There was a lot of noise at the time about increasing the recruitment target figures and there was a sense that a lot more care would be taken. There were those who understood the potential in the mental health field and it became an alternative channel for exemptions.

“There was an exact correlation between the decrease in the number of Torato Umanuto exemptions and the rise in the number of mental health exemptions. This correlation is extremely worrying since it shows that the approach is to try any method of getting an exemption from military service if the first attempt fails.”

Barbivai adds that, given the ongoing war and the shortage of personnel, efforts to pass legislation granting ultra-Orthodox youths a blanket exemption from military service is infuriating. “Both the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and the IDF have a historic role to play: ensuring the enforcement of legal instructions, whereby everybody is enlisted through the same process and everyone is channeled into whatever course suits them best.

“When it comes to exemptions on mental health grounds, the IDF must be prepared to tackle the issue, to ensure that there is awareness that, in the past and under similar circumstances, there was an increase in the number of requests and to ensure that the mental health division in the IDF is aware of and familiar with the phenomenon, that there are no loopholes and no automatic pathway to getting a mental health exemption. In addition, the authorities must check to see whether there is a high incidence of psychiatric exemptions from specific geographical areas. I respect professional opinions but psychiatric ailments are not a regional phenomenon and if there is unusual prevalence in certain places, then the psychologists who work at the recruitment centers must ensure that the psychological evaluations from private doctors reflect reality.”

Yohanan Plesner, the president of the Israel Democracy Institute, has dealt extensively with ultra-Orthodox service in the IDF since his time as a Knesset member representing the Kadima party. “Currently,” he says, “around 18 percent of the ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service are recruited, around 20 percent are given an exemption on the grounds of mental health, physical condition or having a criminal record. Around 60 percent are exempted under the Torato Umanuto clause.”

“I believe that we will very soon see a spike in the number of mental health exemptions. The army must be a lot more aware of this process, so that it doesn’t turn into some kind of joke.”

Plesner explains that while Torato Umanuto is the preferred method for obtaining an exemption, many young ultra-Orthodox men prefer a mental health exemption since this frees them of the burdens imposed on anyone who told authorities that Torah study is their main occupation: they cannot work, they must spend continuous time at the yeshiva and they must resubmit their request for an exemption every year.

“At that time, I noticed what was going on and I set up a subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to oversee implementation of the Tal Law. That law was supposed to lead to more recruits – but it did not. At the same time, when people talked about ultra-Orthodox draft dodging, they focused on exemptions due to the Torato Umanuto doctrine. Use of mental health to get an exemption was considered the secular method, even though – even back then – I showed that 40 percent of the people getting a mental health exemption were ultra-Orthodox. During the year of the Tal Law, there was a drop in the percentage of people being exempted from military service because of Torato Umanuto, but an increase in the number of mental health exemptions.”

Plesner says that while there are no figures available for the current period, despite the fact that the High Court ruling from July 2023 meant that it was no longer possible to obtain a Torato Umanuto exemption, there has been no increase in ultra-Orthodox recruitment in the 15 months since then. “I believe that we will very soon see a spike in the number of mental health exemptions, since the moment that the fast track to draft exemption is no longer available, ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service will look for another path. The army must be a lot more aware of this process, so that it doesn’t turn into some kind of joke.”

‘I smeared peanut snacks on myself and slurred my speech’

Like Zvi, Ephraim – who is now an officer in the IDF – received an exemption from military service which he later asked to cancel. He was raised in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim, a member of one of the extremist Hasidic sects that does not recognize the authority of the State of Israel. In the past, he tells Shomrim, young members of the sect did not even turn up to the induction center and did not bother to ask for a Torato Umanuto exemption. In recent years, however, concern over the possibility that they could be arrested for desertion means that most of them now ask for a mental health exemption.

Ephraim says that this happened in his case, too. “I was sent to someone who taught me how to act when meeting with the professionals who determine whether you have a mental disability,” he says. “In retrospect, I know that the way they told me to move, to talk and to dress was an attempt to imitate schizophrenia. He told me, for example, to take an old hat and to crumple it up, with my suit, to muss up my hair and my sidelocks, to smear peanut snacks on myself and to slur my speech.

“The next stage was to meet with the psychiatrist that I was referred to. When I was there, I acted just like how they told me and the psychiatrist very quickly told me ‘You can’t join the army,’ before giving me his written opinion. When I got to the recruitment center, I repeated the who show. They sent me home and two weeks later I got notice that I was exempt for mental health reasons. It’s ridiculous that all the young men from one certain community are diagnosed with mental health ailments – and no one cares.”

After adopting a secular lifestyle, Ephraim tried to join the army but soon realized that his exemption was an obstacle. After a long process, which involved meetings with psychiatrists and other experts, he eventually managed to overturn the diagnosis and the exemption was revoked. “I am thrilled with the path I have been down,” he says. “When there were breaking points during my training and the war, I reminded myself of everything I have been through and where I am today – and that gives me the drive to continue.”

Aharon Granot, the aforementioned activist who been helping people in similar situations, says that the cases he has been involved in show that the world of mental health exemptions in ultra-Orthodox communities is based on entire ‘networks’ involving rabbis, fixers and psychiatrists – all of whom go along with the deception. Speaking with Shomrim, he is furious about this situation and wonders whether officials from the IDF’s Manpower Directorate really fail to understand that not all of the ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service suffer from mental health issues and why they do not at least deal with the professionals who collaborate with this fraudulent scheme.

“I was approached by a 22-year-old man who, at one stage of his life, was a shift leader for the Magen David Adom ambulance service,” Granot says. “When he decided to join the army, he was surprised to discover that he had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic who needed a chaperone in public. He was diagnosed by a psychiatrist he had never even met.” Shomrim decided not to publish the name of the psychiatrist in question. According to Granot, a complaint was made with the police against the psychiatrist but investigators did not pursue the case, due to lack of public interest. Shomrim asked the police to explain why no investigation was carried out. In response, a police spokesperson said that the reason was not lack of public interest – but declined to specify the actual reason.

“The psychiatrist is still faking documents and still working. Our children are being killed in the field of battle and he continues forging exemptions. Lack of public interest? Something is rotten here.”

Granot adds that it took an almighty effort to persuade the IDF to draft the young man, including a direct petition to the chief mental health officer in the military. Now, Granot says, the young man is a front-line soldier in an elite unit. “The psychiatrist is still faking documents and still working. Our children are being killed in the field of battle and he continues forging exemptions. Lack of public interest? The public would be very interested in seeing that psychiatrist behind bars. Something is rotten here.”

Granot is far from the only person who has serious questions about how the IDF is dealing with these professional diagnosticians. The abovementioned state comptroller’s report provides us with clear indications that the army is finding it hard to deal with the problem and, at the same time, is not especially eager to deal with it. Major General Hagi Topolansky, who was head of the Manpower Directorate at the time, responded to the state comptroller by saying that “the data (…) shows that there is a problem verifying mental health diseases among these ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service. (…) In the meantime, it is possible to ask the Israel Police to open an investigation into psychiatrists who collaborate with ultra-Orthodox candidates for military service by giving false certificates testifying to nonexistent mental health problems.”

Adding his voice to these concerns is the person who has served as chief medical officer since then, who has been quoted as saying that “in other fields of medicine, unlike psychiatry, it is possible to make a medical diagnosis based on various physical examinations. In the case of psychiatric evaluation, the diagnosis is based on what the professional sees in front of him and other diagnoses and evaluations that the patients provide. It becomes difficult when a candidate for military service who does not want to be drafted is abetted by a complete establishment – his family, his teachers and his doctors. Under these circumstances, mental health experts cannot prove that the patient is faking it. What is needed is profound systemic treatment, with the involvement of enforcement agencies and the Manpower Directorate.”

‘In the end, it’s all about the psychiatrists’

One activist who is involved in the issue tells Shomrim that he has also encountered many cases of fictitious and groundless mental health exemptions. There are many different ways of obtaining these exemptions, he says, but the goal is clear and deliberate. “There are all kinds of stories about fictitious exemptions – stories of parents acting without their son’s knowledge; stories of young men getting fake exemptions because of pressure from the family and a lot of intimidation. I even encountered one case where the youth’s educational institution ‘took care of him’ by calling in a psychiatrist who was handing out diagnoses wholesale.”

The activist is not optimistic but believes that there are measures that can be taken. “It will be very hard to crack down on the fixers in ultra-Orthodox society. In the end, it’s all about the psychiatrists. I assume that there is also the question of a financial motive; they get paid. So, I think it would be proper for the IDF to make the whole process harder; maybe there needs to be more meetings with psychiatrists and more than one opinion to issue an exemption. Because it’s nothing short of an industry, when the IDF examines lads from an ultra-Orthodox background who get mental health exemptions it should perhaps have a different system of supervision in terms of the criteria.”

There are several young men at the Gavna pre-military academy for formerly ultra-Orthodox youths who were previously exempted because of mental health issues. One of them told Shomrim that while it was true that he was a little depressed when he turned up to the induction center, because of arguments with his parents, the ease with which he was exempted from military service took him by surprise. “I was 18 years old; I did not understand the importance of the IDF and I was afraid of being drafted. People around me said, ‘What’s the problem? Get an exemption.’ I showed up at the recruitment center, told them that I was depressed and spoke about my difficulties with my parents because of the process of leaving the ultra-Orthodox lifestyle that I had just started. The mental health officer asked me if I wanted an exemption, and I said yes. She asked me to step outside and think about it for a few minutes. I came back with the same answer and a few days later I got my exemption. It took several months until I realized I had made a mistake. I fought, I begged, I demanded; I presented all the documents but only now, after three and a half years of pressure, petitions to the Knesset, the directors-general of government ministries and who knows who else – have I managed to get the exemption overturned.”

“At the time, we used to call it ‘piano playing.’ They would come to the recruitment center and not look at the questions on the computer screen; instead, they pretended they were playing the piano.”

MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) – who has also served as head of the IDF’s Manpower Directorate – says that the problem is anything but new and is very familiar to the army. “At the time, we used to call it ‘piano playing.’ They would come to the recruitment center and not look at the questions on the computer screen; instead, they pretended they were playing the piano.” Stern also believes that the phenomenon of mental health exemptions is accelerating. He adds that there is no doubt in his mind that there must be a major shift in policy, including significantly tightening the IDF’s mental health units, stricter enforcement of the law when it comes to private psychiatrists “many of whom do what they are doing almost flagrantly.” He also calls for “the dismantling of the structure, which includes fixers and rabbis who are working against the law to stop yeshiva students being drafted and are taking advantage of the loophole of the mental health clause. That clause is designed to help heroes with genuine trauma.”

The IDF submitted the following short response to this investigation: “Compulsory enlistment is enshrined in the Security Service Law and, therefore, any exemption from service is issued in accordance with the conditions stipulated in the law and after careful examination. The IDF denounces and condemns the fake exemption industry. The Meitav Unit is obligated to enforce the law and to recruit accordingly in order to fill the ranks of the military and fulfill the goals of the IDF. To this end, as mentioned, the various exemption requests are examined meticulously, while monitoring broad phenomena which influence the entire draft’s ability to deal with them, using the tools at the IDF’s disposal, as well as a wide range of additional activities aimed at explaining and increasing the importance and the value of service.”

Seeach Sod said in response that, “the student was indeed registered at Seeach Sod’s institution for the school year in question. Beyond that, and given the fact that Seeach Sod deals with people with special needs and for reasons of ethics and privacy, we cannot expand.”

The National Insurance Institute did not submit a response by the time this article was published.