Hesder army service extended from 16 to 24 months
As part of the 'equalizing the burden' drive that is attempting to draft Haredi yeshiva students, the hesder yeshivoth, which combine Torah study with army service, will see their
total army service lengthened from 16 months to 24 months.
Under the Hesder program, youths study Torah in a yeshiva
and serve in the army over a five-year period. The army service is
generally split into two parts, with students learning Torah in yeshiva
before and during their service.
As part of the “reevaluation” in Israeli society – or
perhaps more correctly, among Israeli politicians and media figures – in
which secular politicians are demanding that hareidi yeshiva students
serve in the IDF, Hesder programs have not gone unscathed, and there
have been demands that Hesder students serve more time in the army.
Previously, Yaalon and top IDF brass had resisted those
calls, but leaders in the religious Zionist movement said Sunday that
Yaalon's decision to change the rules and require new students to serve
for 24 months was apparently a case of his capitulating to media
pressure. “We didn't think Yaalon would so easily be swayed by the PR
campaign against the religious public,” the leaders said. “We hope
Yaalon will reconsider, taking into account the contribution of the
Hesder institutions,” they added.
That's a bit of a surprise - they had previously talked about lengthening army service in hesder by a month or two, but not by eight months, which is 50%.
Labels: Haredim, hesder, IDF, Moshe Yaalon
Equalized army service for thee but not for me
What a fiasco....
Prime Minister Netanyahu has frozen the vote in the Shaked Committee on sanctions against Haredim refusing to join the army, after the Haredim in the committee said that they would vote with the secular parties to '
equalize' army service (by increasing the length of time in the army) for the hesder yeshivas. The hesder yeshivas, which combine army service with Torah study, are a sacred cow of the national religious community.
The drama unfolded during the Committee meeting when MK Eliezer Stern
(HaTnua) requested a revote on whether or not the army service chapter
of the Hesder program, which combines Torah learning with army service,
will be lengthened. Hareidi MKs then stated that they would, indeed,
vote for the service to be lengthened.
One United Torah Judaism MK told Arutz Sheva that the move was in response to Jewish Home, who finally agreed with Yesh Atid Tuesday to allow criminal sanctions to be enacted for hareidi draft-dodgers - albeit with a few caveats. "You push us, we'll push back," the MK fired.
The Prime Minister then allegedly ordered MK Tzahi Hanegbi to leave
the session and not to vote against the Hesder service extension, after
realizing that Yesh Atid and Jewish Home had formed a "deal" to
keep Hesder yeshiva service at the status quo.
At this point, Netanyahu put the vote on hold until internal
conflicts could be worked out within the coalition. It is unclear why
Netanyahu protested the move, as an agreement signed between the Likud
and Jewish Home upon the latter entering the coalition included a clause
ensuring that Hesder army service would remain as it is: at 16 months.
Maybe Netanyahu is still holding out hope that the Haredim will replace Jewish Home in the coalition if the latter leaves over the 'peace process.'
Earlier on Tuesday, in a Facebook post, Jewish Home MK Uri Orbach lashed out at the Haredi parties for '
incitement' against the National Religious community.
"I am surprised to see the gap between Jewish Home's efforts to save
them [the hareidi community] from the 'draft edict,' as they call it,
and the outpouring of hate they respond with in the Knesset and in their
newspapers," Orbach lamented.
...
The MK stressed that Jewish Home "is not looking for gratitude" from
the hareidi sector, per se, "but nearly our entire faction rose up to
try and prevent any single hareidi man from, G-d forbid, being drafted
into the terrible army," he sarcastically noted. "Our faction was
willing to dilute those 'criminal' sanctions until the Messiah comes,
and to take into account the hareidi community's needs as much as
possible."
Orbach lamented that the repayment that the Jewish Home, and the
religious Zionist community, have received for their trouble, has been
to be lumped together with the hareidi community, as the latter are
being sanctioned by the State for refusing to heed the draft order.
"We have paid the price now that the Hesder yeshivas
are facing cuts, because [MK Eliezer] Stern and the secular factions
are apparently despairing on the hareidi draft issue," the MK fired.
"In all our efforts to appease the hareidi community and show that we
care about the Torah learning of the hareidi world (even those who
don't actually sit and learn), we seem to have forgotten that the ideal
is a combination of army learning and Torah study," he added. "That a
man has to provide for his family and also learn Torah. Yes, nonsense
like that."
"They call us the 'Home of Gentiles',
they spit dirt at us about our Rabbis, and we stay silent.,'" the MK
continued, in a Facebook post. "It is difficult for us to fight with
them, they are really unfortunate, and maybe one day they will even
agree with us on the issue of the Land of Israel (ha!)."
"Yes, sometimes politics demands patience and forbearance," he
reflected. "But sometimes we also exaggerate the issues a little."
The Haredim still resent Jewish Home going into the coalition with Yesh Atid under an agreement to keep the Haredim out. Is anyone really surprised at this?
Labels: Ayelet Shaked, draft, Haredim, hesder, IDF, Jewish Home party, National Religious, Yesh Atid party
Zionist yeshivas join in petition against funding cut
For those who think that it's only Haredi yeshivas that were affected by last week's Supreme Court ruling and Yair Lapid's 'law enforcement,' don't be so smug. A new petition to the Supreme Court is being prepared by
Zionist yeshivas - many of whose students do serve in the army are joining the Haredi yeshivas in a new petition to the Supreme Court. They are arguing that the students should have been made a party to the case and that they too are severely affected by the funding cuts.
"The judges did not hear the voices of the people in their
decision," Attorney Betzalel Smotrich, legal counsel for the joint
effort, stated Sunday. "The factors and implications behind the move did
not take the people into account. This is in stark contrast to all of
the halakhot (Jewish laws) and all principles of justice."
"Hundreds of institutions and thousands of students are bound by a
harsh decision which affects them directly, yet they were not party to
the proceedings before the decision was made - even though there was
nothing preventing the court from allowing them to be present."
The Association of Zionist Yeshivas, the Association of Yeshiva
Administration and Torah Institutions, and the Association of Hesder
Yeshivas are behind the new motion, which asks the High Court to
reconsider the decision to stop funding of studies for students born in
1994, 1995, and the first half of 1996.
The three associations have asked that last week's decision be
cancelled and that the funding already cut for February as a result be
reinstated and transferred to the appropriate institutions.
Only then,
the petition claims, can the proceedings for the decision begin anew -
this time, with the affected parties involved in the decision-making
process.
The petition revealed that the ruling also significantly harmed
Zionist yeshivas, where the majority of students do participate in the
mandatory IDF draft. In addition, all students are affected at the
moment, and not just those born in the specified years.
The motion accuses the High Court of rushing a sensitive and complex
issue. The bill that is known as the Equal Burden of Service law, has
been moving through the Knesset for several months - but the court
decision failed to take into account the many complexities and
ramifications involved. The petitioners question why the decision was
made in haste, instead of letting the Knesset committees finish the
process.
Is the Supreme Court big enough to admit a mistake? Don't hold your breath. And by the way, there was no mistake on Yair Lapid's part. He aims to stifle all yeshivas and all Torah study in Israel. Like father, like son.
Labels: government funding, hesder, IDF, Supreme Court, Yair Lapid, Yeshiva boys
And again: Lapid puts his foot in his mouth
Yair Lapid has put his foot in his mouth again.
On Friday, Lapid wrote a post on his Facebook page in which he called for firing Israel's Chief Rabbis for ruling that Jewish law forbids drafting women into the IDF.
There's one small problem: When he was the head of the Orot Shaul (hesder) Yeshiva (a Yeshiva that combines Torah study with army service), Lapid's number 2 in the Yesh Atid party, Rabbi Shai Piron, wrote a responsum in which he stated that he is
not aware of any halachic ruling that permits women to serve in the IDF (link in Hebrew).
So will Lapid now fire Piron?
Labels: Haredim, hesder, IDF, Shai Piron, women, Yair Lapid, Yesh Atid party
This is rich: 'Equalizing the burden' comes back to bite National Religious
One of the big campaign planks of the Jewish Home party - the heir to the National Religious Party - was 'equalizing the burden.' The Jewish Home party called loud and clear for 'all' Israeli citizens to do three years in the IDF, or in national service if they could not serve in the IDF. The Jewish Home party was so adamant about that plank, that it conspired with Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party to exclude Haredim from the coalition to ensure that 'equalizing the burden' would be implemented.
There's one small problem. Many of the Jewish Home party's supporters don't exactly do what much of the country would consider an 'equal' share. Most religious women avoid the army simply by declaring themselves to be religious. And many national religious men do hesder - a program that combines Torah study with army service, but the army service is limited to 16 months of active duty.
Now, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and his Tel Aviv supporters are
going to call them on it.
At Sunday's cabinet meeting, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said
that among the groups the government should be “encouraging” to serve a
full three years in the army are Hesder yeshiva students – and religious
girls and women.
If Israel truly wishes for the defense burden to be shared equitably,
it must ensure that all groups serve the full 32 months that regular
IDF male recruits serve, the Justice Ministry said Sunday.
In a
statement, the Ministry said that it was necessary to examine all the
issues involved in equitable service. “In advance of the final
government decision on equitable service the government must investigate
anew the possibility of increasing the length of service for all
yeshiva students as well,” including Hesder students.
According to the Ministry, the government must change its position
that it considers 17 months sufficient for Hesder students. In its
statement, the Ministry said that the High Court would probably throw
out any law that allowed one group to serve for a shorter period than
the full amount of time than another group served.
Speaking before the government, Weinstein said that the government
needed to put into place a method whereby groups would be “encouraged”
to commit to the full service expected. That, he said, would include
religious girls and women, who like girls and women from a secular
background, should be serving as well.
What goes around comes around....
Labels: Haredim, hesder, IDF, Jewish Home party, women
What if Israel's new draft law doesn't pass?
Oh the seculars hate the religious, and the religious hate the Arabs, and the Arabs hate the nationalists, but everyone hates the Haredim. (That's actually a take-off on a song I heard in college about Catholics and Protestants hating each other, which ended 'but everyone hates the Jews.' There's a lesson there we ought to be hearing).
It seems that all those people who want an 'equal burden' have only one thing in common: They all want to draft Haredim. And with the Perry Commission opening hearings on the proposed bill on Sunday evening, just about everyone is
threatening to vote against it (link in Hebrew).
Sport and Culture Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) says that she will vote against the bill because of its criminal sanctions against draft evaders and yeshiva heads. She also wants the implementation period extended from three years to four... perhaps so that the bill won't need to be implemented before the next election.
Livnat also worries about how having Haredim in the IDF will impact women's roles. It goes without saying that for most of the Haredim, serving in close quarters with women will be considered 'to die rather than violate.'
The Tzipi Livni party says that they will vote against the bill unless it treats the Hesder yeshivas equally with the Haredim. But of course, the discrimination in favor of the Hesder yeshivas was one of the Jewish Home party's motivations for supporting the bill and they are not willing to give that up. As currently written, the bill removes the shorter army service period for Hesder yeshivas as compared with everyone else.
Both Livni and Jewish Home want to see Arabs serve. But Livni only wants to see them in national service, and says that her party will vote in favor of the bill without a section binding the Arabs. Jewish Home will not vote for the bill unless it includes the Arabs. At present, it does not.
'Equality of burden' for thee but not for me? What could go wrong?
Labels: Haredim, hesder, IDF, Limor Livnat, Tzipi Livni
Head of National Religious yeshiva decries Justice ministry malice against Haredim
Rabbi Yaakov Medan, one of the Roshei Yeshiva (heads) of the Har Etzion yeshiva, a national religious yeshiva that combines Torah study with army service (hesder) has attacked the Justice ministry for its
malice against Haredim. The triggers for the attack are the Attorney General's and the Justice Minister's calls last week for
criminalizing discrimination against women. This is from the first link.
Rav Medan explains that the decision to declare these areas of life
illegal is no accident, but “malice”. In his column in the weekly Makor
Rishon the rav states “I posit the attorney general would not take the
same measures against Muslims or Druse which are also careful to
maintain a standard of modesty between men and women. I believe it is
being done against the chareidim davka at this time, because he now
feels the blood of the chareidi tzibur is hefker as a result of
statements from Finance Minister Yair Lapid and his assistant, Mickey
Levi.”
“The attorney general at present permits himself to set guidelines
for people brushing against one another in a line, on a bus or
elsewhere, and this is no mistake – it is malice. Chareidim already view
themselves persecuted for their beliefs vis-à-vis the government, and
they are already entrenched in their homes, and we are now in danger of
losing the achievements, the integration seen to date in the IDF and
society at large.”
Rav Medan adds “We are the ones who should be shouting, not the
chareidim for after they are taken out of the picture we will be next in
line.”
Indeed. Too bad much of the national religious public is so mired in their seats in the government that they cannot recognize what is coming next.
Labels: discrimination, hesder, National Religious, Tzipi Livni, Yehuda Weinstein
A Haredi draft proposal
Rabbi Yehuda Sussman makes one of the more creative proposals I have seen for a Haredi draft. I don't believe it will happen for reasons I outlined
here. But there's a lot to think about in
this one (Hat Tip:
Mrs. Carl -
Full disclosure: Rabbi Sussman's sister and brother-in-law are among Mrs. Carl's and my closest friends in this world).
How will this be accomplished? • A new corps – a
Yeshiva Corps – will be formed. As befitting a democratic society, this corps,
like all others in the army, will be open to all members of society who are able
to live up to its standards – in this case summed up by the Mishna in Avot:
“This is the way of Torah: bread dipped in salt will you eat, with water
carefully rationed, on the ground will you sleep and live a life of deprivation
as you strive in Torah study.”
• Soldiers serving in the corps will wear
the uniform of the IDF, declare their loyalty to the state and to the army and
accept upon themselves the military discipline and conduct considered the norm
in the elite units of the IDF.
• Soldiers in the newly formed corps will
serve in yeshivot housed on army bases and not in civilian areas.
•
Service in the corps will be four years long, akin to the elite units of the
IDF. At the end of the term of service, discharged soldiers will be free to
integrate into civilian life with all the discharge benefits granted to IDF
soldiers.
• Conditions on the bases will be identical to those that exist
on combat bases in the IDF. Mess and housing will be of military standard.
Weekend leaves will be granted on a bi- or tri-weekly basis. Other furloughs,
including those for holidays, will conform to army standards for length and
frequency. Sick leaves will only be issued by military physicians.
• The
bein hazmanim vacation period in the Jewish months of Tishrei, Nisan and Av will
not apply in military yeshivot. Should it be determined that on purely
educational grounds there is a need for a break in regular studies, the time
will be employed to provide the soldiers in the corps with basic military
training so that they can act as guards on their bases.
• As the Torah
study will be considered military service, soldiers in the corps will receive
all the benefits and pay grade of soldiers of their rank and seniority in the
IDF.
• It is recommended that the day commence with morning prayers at 6
a.m., followed with study sessions ending no earlier than 11 p.m. Acceptable
breaks for meals and rest will be interspersed throughout the
day.
Participation in the corps will be contingent on acceptance and
conforming to the hours of the corps.
• Exams will be proctored at
regular intervals to ensure that the soldiers are living up to the standards of
the corps.
• The standards and curricula of the corps will be determined
by a committee made up of members of the military and roshei yeshiva (yeshiva
heads).
• The officers and commanders of the corps will be IDF officers
as well as roshei yeshiva, to assure that the highest military and Torah
standards are implemented.
• Those soldiers who cannot conform to the
standards of the corps will be integrated into other units of the
army.
Soldiers who remain in the corps but violate its standards will be
liable to disciplinary measures or expulsion from the corps and integration into
other army units.
• With the induction of the military yeshivot, the
current “Torato umnato” exemption for “higher yeshivot” of either the haredi or
religious Zionist streams will no longer be in effect.
• Hesder yeshivot,
mechinot, yeshivot associated with the Nahal Haredi unit, and any other
framework that expects its students to participate in more conventional units
will not be affected. The study period in these institutions is considered
preparatory for other military service.
Read the whole thing. There's much to think about here, if the politicians are really interested in solving the problem. But they're probably not interested anyway.
Labels: draft, Haredim, hesder, IDF, Nachal Charedi
Senior Haredi journalist calls for boycotting the 'territories'
I'm sorry but this goes too far. A senior Haredi journalist who writes for HaModia (the newspaper of Agudath Yisrael, which appears in both Hebrew and English) under a pen name, has suggested that
Haredim boycott products of towns in Judea and Samaria.
Gold then moves on to address the economic concerns of the businesses
in yishuvim ['settlements' CiJ], facing a growing boycott of their goods in the
international marketplace, with a growing number of nations unwilling to
purchase goods originating over the Green Line. The continued use of
these products by the chareidim is the “oxygen lifeline” for these
companies, Gold believes, for at home there is no concern regarding the
origin of the product vis-à-vis the Green Line, at least not among the
chareidim. In Tel Aviv for example, the settlers realize they cannot
market their goods. Now if the chareidim decide to launch a boycott
against products from yishuvim or from the dati leumi tzibur [national religious public. CiJ], it will
only be a matter of time until some of these companies fold as a result.
Calling for such a move is not an easy task for much of this
community are persons who are shomer Shabbos and mitzvos [Sabbath observers who keep the commandments. CiJ], and they too
are probably dissatisfied with Bennett, but such a decision should be
made when the serious decisions surrounding the chareidi community are
made.
If such a decision is made, one that has proven itself effective time
after time, even a partial boycott or an unofficial boycott, the impact
would be realized in a very short time period. The organized chareidi
consumer might is known and several large companies can show their scars
from such actions in the past.
Sorry, but this is way overboard. If you want to expose how much it costs the government for keeping each town in place, because the public has a right to know, that might (emphasis
might - not would) be justifiable.
If you want to show that the budgets of the national religious yeshivas are no less than those of the Haredi yeshivas that probably would be justifiable.
But to attempt to take economic revenge on an entire public - many of whom probably didn't even vote for Bennett - and to do something that is likely to perpetuate a schism among observant Jews is not something that anyone should take upon themselves lightly, and I believe that 'Gold' has been far too hasty to do so. No Haredi yeshiva has had its budget cut and no Haredi yeshiva boys have been sent to the army against their will. When and if that God forbid happens, we can discuss with the Torah sages how to respond.
I wonder with which rabbi(s) 'Gold' consulted before writing this piece. Since the Haredi world (of which I largely count myself a part) always consults with Daath Torah (Torah authority) before making a significant move (if only...), I think 'Gold' should be asked which rabbi permitted him to suggest such a thing.
Again, on this one, if the comments get out of hand, I will shut them off.
Labels: BDS, Haredim, hesder, Jewish Home party, Judea and Samaria, Naftali Bennett, National Religious, Yeshiva
If Haredim are sanctioned for draft avoidance, Leftists should be too
You can all try to identify the famous Israeli draft evaders in the comments, but let's give the Prime Minister some credit:
He's shown the Left up for its hypocrisy in demanding sanctions against individual Haredim for not serving in the IDF.
Netanyahu's associates raised the issue of leftist evaders in order to prove a point that haredim should not be punished for their ideology. Left-wing organizations blasted Netanyahu's associates for making the comparison between haredim and conscientious objectors.
"What they said shows a complete lack of understanding of democracy,” said Ishai Menuchin, the chairman of Amnesty International Israel. “Sanctioning those on the Left who do not want to be part of an occupying army or those on the Right who oppose abandoning the land of Israel would be wrong. Those whose conscience does not permit them to take part in one kind of army or another should be allowed to fulfill their debt to society in a different way and not via army service.”
Roy Yellin, who serves as a spokesman for several left-wing organizations, said refusers on the Left who avoid the army do so legally and those who do so illegally are thrown in jail. He accused Netanyahu of trying to distract the public from his efforts to help the haredim continue to evade service.
Peace Now secretary-general Yariv Openheimer said he opposes refusing order to serve on an ideological basis.
“If the prime minister wants to present the Left as refusing, he should first deal with the Right, where there are many more people who have refused to serve since the disengagement from the Gaza Strip,” Openheimer said.
Okay, the second one was
too easy, but it was kind of hard to find pictures of her fully clothed.
The entire 'draft crisis' is really just a way to 'get' the Haredim. There are many other groups in Israeli society that aren't drafted (Leftists and Arabs being among the more prominent along with women, some of whom are only pretending to be religious), or who served shortened service (athletes, rock stars, models, musicians, dancers and
hesdernikim -the latter being quite different because they serve mostly in combat units). I give Netanyahu credit for calling the Left on its hypocrisy, but the hypocrisy goes beyond the Left to many of Netanyahu's coalition partners. There are some valid points on the issue
here.
Let me add one personal story. A well-meaning friend and fellow attorney told me several years ago that I would probably have more clients if I wore a different
kippa (skullcap). He's probably right, but I chose to take a different path.
Labels: Bar Refaeli, Binyamin Netanyahu, Haredim, hesder, IDF, Israeli Left
National Religious soldiers demand exemption from events with women singing
They can't say it's just the Haredim who place the Torah above following orders in the IDF (and lest any of you misunderstand I wholly agree with that approach for reasons I will explain at the end of this post). Between 100 and 200 National Religious soldiers, mostly aged between 17 and 20, from a variety of yeshivot have signed a petition saying that they will defer their army enlistment until such time as they are
exempted from any ceremonies at which women sing.
A small rebellion broke out in the heart of the national-religious world this week over the issue of women singing in the army. Dozens of pre-army youth from several yeshivot have signed a petition in the past few days vowing not to enlist in the army until religious soldiers are exempted from army ceremonies in which women sing.
The IDF General Staff issued a directive this month obligating all soldiers, religious or otherwise, to be present in all official army ceremonies even if they involve women singing, something generally prohibited by Jewish law.
The petition has been passed between several religious learning institutes. According to Noam, one of the activists behind the petition who spoke with The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, they have gathered between 100-200 signatures thus far, mostly from students currently in yeshivot who have deferred their service, but also from some learning in the hesder program, which combines Torah study with IDF service.
Noam, who was unwilling to give his full name, said most of those who had signed were between the ages of 17 and 20.
“Of late, processes have begun to coercively instruct soldiers to transgress the commandments of the Torah, such as hearing women sing,” the petition says. “We declare that as long as these efforts continue we will not be able to enlist in the army. The commandments of the Creator of the World are more important than the commandments of any man of flesh and blood.”
Jewish law prohibits men from listening to women sing in person, although some religious-Zionist rabbis have ruled recently that it is permissible to attend army ceremonies with women singing since it is done without the intention of enjoying the performance.
Let's stop right there for a minute. I'm going to teach you a little Gemara now, because I believe that some of those rabbis (and when you continue to read the article, every National Religious rabbi quoted seems to disagree with this silent majority) have let the Zionist part get in the way of the religious part.
The Gemara in Tractate Psachim folio 25 talks about someone who must pass by a house of idol worship and smells the incense that the idol worshipers are burning. That smell is what's called
issur hana'a - it is forbidden to benefit from it. The Gemara raises four possibilities. If one has a different way of going and nevertheless walks past the house of idol worship with the intent of benefiting from the smell, that is most definitely forbidden. If he has no choice but to walk past the house of idol worship and he has no intention of benefiting from the smell and he does whatever he can to avoid the smell altogether, that is permitted. The question is the two cases in between: If he has no choice but to go past there, but he intends to benefit from the smell, the Gemara says that is forbidden - that's the source for allowing the use of earplugs at the army ceremonies in an attempt to avoid benefiting. And if he has a choice but goes past there anyway without the intention of benefiting, the
Chafetz Chaim rules in Klal 6 of his book by the same name that it is forbidden (the Chafetz Chaim discusses this in the context of a rule prohibiting even hearing - let alone accepting or believing - slander, but the rule is the same nonetheless for all things that fall under
issur hana'a).
If soldiers in the heat of battle had to walk past women who were singing or who were improperly dressed, and there was no other way to get to the battle, they would be allowed to pass those women so long as they had no intention of benefiting and did all they could in order to avoid benefiting from the singing or improper dress. But if they're not going to a battle and there's no other necessity, it's forbidden to walk past, even without the intention of benefiting from the sounds of the women's voices or from staring at them.
Let's look at this honestly: Is a ceremony with women singing a life or death threat? Is it a military necessity?
Let's go on a little bit more.
Against the background of the petition, the prominent and influential national-religious Dean of the Har Bracha Yeshiva, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, said on the Galei Yisrael radio station Tuesday that religious youth should postpone their enlistment into the IDF until the army finds a way to exempt them from official ceremonies that feature women’s singing.
“It is not possible to reconcile with the decision of the General Staff that obligates soldiers to [listen to] women singing. Therefore [soldiers can] enlist and then refuse orders, or they can stop [their enlistment] as a public protest, until this is fixed.” He said military service is “a religious commandment that cannot be renounced, but that a temporary deferral to fix the current situation is legitimate, since no reconciliation can be made with [religious] coercion.”
The issue exploded within the IDF in September, when nine religious soldiers in the IDF officers training course left an army event in which women were singing due to their religious objections. They refused to return to the performance when instructed to do so by their commanding officer, and four of the cadets were subsequently expelled from the course.
Soldiers from the national-religious sector are heavily over-represented in the IDF ranks, especially in combat units and the officer class, in comparison with the relative size of their total population.
Read the whole thing.
Now I know that there are some of you out there who are saying "this is an army, they're soldiers, they have to follow orders, and you cannot run an army with soldiers who run to their rabbi every time they're given an order to follow to check out whether it's okay by the Torah." And certainly in battle and in many training exercises, there may be occasions when that's true. But even the modern laws of warfare don't absolve a soldier who was 'following orders.' "I was following orders" didn't work at Nuremberg. It didn't work at My-Lai. And to some extent, at least, it's not going to work in front of God after 120 years (the way we refer to death) either (God has a different power of judgment than human beings, and may Choose to Absolve someone who might not deserve it in our judgment). In fact, the IDF itself teaches soldiers to disobey any order that is
bilti chuki ba'alil (prima facie illegal). To take an extreme (and thankfully non-existent in the IDF) example, I can guarantee you that no soldier would be let off a court martial because his commander ordered him to gratuitously torture Arab prisoners.
We've talked about the concept of obedience in the army and we've talked about the (lack of) military necessity for ceremonies that include women singing. Those of us who are here are well aware that the political echelon has a history of using the army to meld diverse people into a homogenous group. Inevitably, that has meant a weakening - or abandonment - of religious observance. The first example of this was a meeting between Ben Gurion and the Chazon Ish (which I discussed
here) in which - at a time when women did not serve in any Western army - the Chazon Ish offered to send all of the yeshiva boys to the army if the army would be all male. Ben Gurion turned him down. (That meeting is discussed by others
here and
here).
The army and the government do not have clean hands on anything having to do with religious soldiers in the military. There is a lack of trust - and for good reason. Many religious soldiers will not accept the authority of the army on issues of religion unless they see a clear military necessity. As a result, the army must choose between women singing and satisfying a demographic that is providing a disproportionately high percentage of its officers corps. To me, the choice seems obvious.
Labels: Haredim, hesder, IDF, National Religious
IDF backtracks on women singing
The IDF has quietly backtracked on its policy on male soldiers attending events at which female soldiers sing. Religious male soldiers - regardless of the IDF track in which they are enlisted - will not be required to attend events at which female soldiers sing. There's a brief blurb on it in English
here.
Contradicting media reports, a senior IDF officer informed the “Blue Dawn” Hareidi IAF integration program commanders that the soldiers will not have to hear women sing.
There's a much longer article in Hebrew
here. According to the longer article, Colonel Yoav Bar Sela, who is responsible for the Blue Dawn program through which Haredi men are enlisted in the Air Force, has told Haredi officers that they will not be required to hear women singing, and that they will be allowed to absent themselves from all events at which female soldiers sing.
According to the article, Bar Sela told a conference that there will be no change in the current rules, and that soldiers from Blue Dawn will be allowed to absent themselves from events at which female soldiers sing. But the language in the article seems to include all religious soldiers, and in email correspondence with me, Eliyahu Lax, the Director General of the Organization for Torah observant soldiers, has told me that in fact the orders do cover all religious soldiers.
Soldiers who were present at the conference at which Bar Sela spoke said that Bar Sela said that soldiers would not be allowed to walk out of events when women get up to sing, but that they would be allowed to completely absent themselves from the events. The orders were apparently issued by the head of the IDF personnel division, Orna Barbibai (and for those of you who don't speak Hebrew, Orna is a woman).
Eliyahu Lax told Arutz Sheva that his organization will make sure that notice of this policy is given to all religious soldiers. He criticized the army for not publicizing it, as it has publicized the prohibition on soldiers walking out of events at which women sing. He said that the failure to publicize the orders in the regular fashion will lead to confrontations, which the army apparently wants to create. Lax said that such publicity is especially critical for those teaching officers' courses, because even the general staff orders on allowing religious observance do not get followed at the officers' school.
The IDF says that no soldier will be forced to violate his beliefs, and that each officer will determine how to respond to situations (that sounds contradictory, doesn't it?).
In correspondence with me, Eliyahu Lax explained that there are now three Haredi tracks in the IDF. The Netzach Yehuda division, which was the original Nahal Haredi, which is designed for soldiers with combat profiles, and two units for Haredim with less-than-combat profiles - one that works with the Air Force (Netzach Kachol) and another that works with the Navy (Netzach Yam).
Lax informs me that the orders discussed above are principally for religious non-Haredi soldiers (soldiers from Hesder or religious soldiers generally), because it is understood from the outset that Haredi soldiers would not attend events where women sing. Non-Haredi religious soldiers may ask permission to absent themselves from such events altogether, but they may not attend the events and then leave in the middle. Lax says that his organization represents all religious soldiers in the IDF regardless of their unit or program. The original event with women singing that caused all the problems involved both Hesder soldiers and soldiers from Nahal Haredi.
Labels: hesder, IDF, Nachal Charedi
Religious soldiers or female singers?
The IDF does
stupid things like this and then they wonder why so many religious families in Israel are desperate to keep their sons out of the IDF.
Not too long ago I was at a national commemoration ceremony at Mount Herzl. Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar was sitting in the first row. Suddenly, without advance warning, a female in uniform walked up to the microphone and started to sing. All eyes were on the rabbi – will he be stepping out now? Yet the honorable rabbi remained seated. He looked down, and that’s it.
This was very noble of the rabbi, and he was the only person to act nobly there. Ceremony organizers behaved foolishly by failing to spare him this embarrassment. They should have decided ahead of time what to give up: The female singer or the chief rabbi’s presence.
In the abovementioned case of the cadets and the female singer, there is no question who we should give up. The IDF requires combat soldiers more than it requires female singers. In the next war, the army will be sending Golani to the front, not a military band. And Golani today comprises numerous religious soldiers.
The army and secular Israelis may not like it, but it's prohibited for religious men to hear women singing. Yes, some people are lenient if it's 'only' with a microphone and/or it's not live. But what the IDF pulled on Rabbi Amar - and what it pulled on a group of cadets who were then expelled from their unit for walking out - is absolutely prohibited under Jewish law. And the IDF knows it.
So why do they do things like this? Why do they try to rub religious soldiers' faces in religious prohibitions when - as author Haggai Segal points out - they so desperately need religious soldiers? Read
here,
here and
here.
Here too.
Then
read the whole thing. The cultural war of the secular on the religious could yet bring the country down, God forbid.
Labels: hesder, IDF, Israeli culture, Nachal Charedi
