IT IS a just cause for celebration that Judaism, a religion whose adherents have suffered more persecution over the centuries than any other such group, is alive and well. As our special report this week argues, Jews and their religion have probably never been so secure. Perhaps that is why these days one of the greatest dangers to Jews and their homeland in the Middle East comes from within.

Israel is struggling to balance the rights and obligations of religious and secular-minded Jews. The privileges accorded to the haredim (“God-fearers”), as ultra-Orthodox Jews are known—especially the haredim’s exemption from military service, which all other Jewish Israelis must perform—infuriate secular Jews and divide the country. The hostility of haredim towards secular-minded Israelis and vice versa has become dangerously toxic.

The split also damages the country economically. Israel has done remarkably well in creating prosperity: its GDP per person is more than ten times that of Egypt, its biggest neighbour. But inequality and social strains have grown between Jewish Israelis. Moreover, 60% of male haredim of working age are jobless scholars. Some economists reckon that welfare payments and other subsidies to the haredim cost as much as $750m a year, while the overall annual benefit if they did work might be more than $3 billion.

If unaddressed, these problems are likely to get worse. The haredim, a tiny proportion of the Jewish population when Israel was created in 1948, are now the fastest-growing section of society: 26% of Jewish children entering primary school in Israel are haredim. Israel can no longer afford to exempt them from their future obligations.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the haredim must no longer be exempt from military or national service. The prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, agreed in principle that they should do their service. A compromise bill was drafted to remove gradually a blanket exemption while letting off a clutch of the most devoted scholars and giving special treatment (for example, extra-kosher food) to those who do serve. But when the religious parties in his coalition objected, Mr Netanyahu cravenly caved in, causing the biggest secular party, Kadima, to secede from his government.

Striking a balance between a liberal society’s tolerance of a religious minority’s beliefs and the obligations of that minority to society as a whole always involves compromises. In Israel the onus should be on persuading the haredim to play a greater role, not just in the army but in the economy. Drawing them into the mainstream of Jewish society through military or national service, and into work through the gradual withdrawal of welfare payments, should be a priority.

They can become doves again

Getting the haredim to participate in society more actively might also help further the cause of peace. The conflict with the Palestinians imposes big costs on Israel. Those who serve in the army, and those who pay their taxes, bear the burden. The haredim do not. At present Israel’s religious parties are in the hawks’ camp, where a reluctance to yield land for peace predominates. That need not be the case. Although some religious Jews ferociously advocate a Greater Israel, arguing that the Jewish state must always control such places as Hebron, where Abraham is buried (see article), others have taken a more doveish approach. Once the haredim have to shoulder their fair share of the burden of continued conflict, their enthusiasm for peace might grow: which would be a further benefit for their countrymen, and the region.