The saddest thing is that I have people I know well who like to pepper me with religious questions, and I have to defend the Torah to them all the time. Now they will be laughing their heads off making a total joke and mockery out of the entire religion and I will have nothing to say. This actually is the best limud zchus anybody could have dreamed of for the non-frum. They all have every right to say why in the world should I keep Shabbos or kosher when this is what Judaism is all about. Can anybody blame them? Oy liploni shelamad torah… r’eu kamah mkulkalin maysav.
It needs to be said again. The Torah was never meant to be studied in a vacuum. It was meant for yishuv haolam. Having a job and getting an education and being pressured with tests and homework and project deadlines, and having to chap arein for some learning time is not negative, the terrible stress makes a mensch out of a person. Chazal knew this when they said habatalah meviah liydei shiamum. When one has no deadlines and responsibilities, this wildness is the end result.
That is why the Israeli army is so useful for among other things, creating self-discipline and self-esteem, and appreciation for how hard it is to run a society, and how rewarding it is to be a part of it. It would be such a chesed for these chareidim to go to the army. They would feel so much better about themselves. Remember that the gambler is pasul l’eidus according to one opinion because eino osek biyishuvo shel olam.