""Exclusion of Halacha-observant soldiers": Hesder Yeshivot Association against the IDF

November 22, 2022   

Members of the Hesder Yeshivot Association Council are launching a sharp attack this morning (Tuesday) against the IDF's growing trend of mixing boys and girls in the IDF's maneuvering units. The council's announcement comes after an urgent night meeting it held, following information about a new trend of mixing male and female soldiers in the Armor Officers' Course. The announcement is signed by the rabbis of the Hesder Yeshivot Association Council - including President Rabbi Chaim Druckman, Rabbi Shmuel Haber, Rabbi Shlomo Rosenfeld, Rabbi Zvi Kostiner, Rabbi David Pendel, Rabbi Eyal Greiner and Rabbi Yoel Manovitz. At the end of the meeting, the council members issued a resolution: "The Hesder Yeshivot Association Council opposes the growing phenomenon of mixing the maneuvering formation in the IDF and the de facto exclusion of religiously observant soldiers from increasing parts of the maneuvering formation. "The council demands that the IDF resolve the issue and allow soldiers in this course and elsewhere to serve according to their faith." The council also calls for the right and duty of the Halacha-observant soldier to serve according to Halacha to be enshrined in coalition agreements and legislation." The announcement joins the unprecedented call last night by the head of the Har Etzion Hesder Yeshiva, Rabbi Yaakov Medan, to his students to no longer serve in the Armored Corps until further notice. This is after the army integrated female cadets into the corps' officer course, alongside the cadets, and not in a separate company - according to him, contrary to an earlier agreement between the parties. Rabbi Medan, who issued the call together with Rabbi Amichai Gordin, is identified with the moderate stream of religious Zionism and drafted the Gavison-Medan Charter in the past to regulate religious-secular relations in the State of Israel. "It is difficult for us to describe our sorrow, now that the course is mixed in a way that does not comply with the boundaries of Halacha and prevents you from serving in it," wrote Medan, who went on to apologize to the soldiers for encouraging them to serve in the armor at the army's request: "Your exclusion from the officer course is largely our fault, Because of the trust we have placed in the IDF. From now on, we will unfortunately recommend to our students to refrain from enlisting in the Armored Corps until the exclusion is corrected." He added: "Let us all hope for better days, for days when Torah-trained soldiers will not have to be excluded from combat units, for days when the IDF will more fully honor its promises." However, despite the fierce protest, he clarified: "Even at this time, the IDF is the army of all of us, it is ourselves and our flesh, and we will always be committed to doing everything to serve it in the most useful and sacrificial way.".