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Since the founding of the Israeli state in 1948, “Haredi” (or “ultra-Orthodox”) men have been exempted from military service to study Torah instead.
Haredi students and their families would be subsidized by the state. At Israel’s founding, Haredim made up less that 3 percent of the population. The military exemption was for just 400 exceptional students. In light of the devastation of centers of Jewish learning during the Holocaust, this was not an unreasonable proposition.
Even by 1975, the exemption was still only for 800 students. But under Prime Minister Menachem Begin, the number of exemptions and government subsidies grew exponentially, along with the size of Haredi families.