and to respond to zichmich- you implicitly agreed with me concerning the chassidische world- they want to live a normal life and would clearly come to an accomodation with the government concerning the army. The nachal chareidi is the beginning of such reality and it is perfectly good for tens of thousands of people. It is absoloutely realistic-especially if you include “national service’ which is clearly possible for everyone.
You are (probably) too young to remember the first try at that by the “Imrei Chaim” zt’l (Vishnizer rebbe) in the early sixties- an arrangement that the Israeli government of the day (a lot less sympathetic to religous life than today) agreed to.It was the litvishe roshei yeshiva that objected- and my contention is that today, the same dichotomy exists. The ones who oppose any arrangement are the litvishe roshei yeshiva because they would lose power and money. The gerrer rebbe has many of his chassidim serving in the army and so do many of the other chassidische groups. Only the so-called litvishe world is against it.