Dozens of rabbis and heads of yeshivot from the Religious Zionist community convened an emergency meeting at the home of Rabbi Chaim Druckman in the Shapira center, following a Supreme Court ruling that requires the IDF to begin a pilot to integrate female soldiers into the Armored Corps in the coming months.
The meeting, which lasted more than four hours, included representatives from across the Religious Zionist spectrum. Participants discussed the implications of the ruling for the service of observant soldiers in the IDF.
During the discussions the rabbis voiced sharp criticism of the IDF and the Supreme Court, claiming that religious soldiers are placed in situations that conflict with their beliefs and Jewish law, and even contrary to the rules of the IDF itself. Some noted that they receive appeals from soldiers in the field, sometimes during operational activity, asking for guidance on how to act in mixed-service situations.
According to participants, the discussion is not about the general question of women serving in the IDF, but about the implications for the service of religious soldiers. They argued that integrating female soldiers into combat units could, in practice, exclude observant soldiers from the maneuvering force.
At the end of a heated and in-depth discussion, there was complete unanimity among participants regarding the severity of the situation and the ruling that a religious soldier who strictly observes Jewish law cannot serve in a mixed combat unit.
All the rabbis emphasized that every effort must be made to stop a trend that could, in the immediate term, exclude observant soldiers from the IDF's frontline forces and, God forbid, turn it into separate tribal armies for religious and secular soldiers.
Rabbi Yaakov Medan said, "We will not serve in a field unit where there is mixing with women. I am not opposed to women serving, but we will not serve in a place where there is mixing. When female soldiers were placed in all the artillery regiments, we unfortunately stopped serving in the artillery. I hope we will not be forced to do the same in the Armored Corps."
Rabbi Meir Nahorai said, "We are an integral part of the IDF, but we absolutely cannot allow our students to serve in mixed-gender settings that put them in impossible situations, like what is now proposed in the Armored Corps. For two and a half years our people have been on the front and the Chief of Staff did not find time to meet with us? That cannot be. This should matter to him. He should understand that he is in a problem."
Rabbi Yehuda Gilad clarified, "We are not speaking against women’s service. Many young women from the religious kibbutz serve in the IDF; we are speaking against mixed combat service. Religious students will find it difficult to serve in mixed combat service; this is highly problematic from a Halachic perspective. Of course, one must also speak about reservists, a very large percentage of whom are religious; for them this could be a major crisis."
Alongside these voices, statements were also heard from senior yeshiva heads, who emphasized the danger of a future rift. Rabbi Zalman Melamed said, "It is impossible for an observant person to serve in a mixed environment. In the advanced Religious yeshivot we have decided that we will not go to the Armored Corps as long as there is no clear decision that there will be no mixing in the Armored Corps."
Rabbi Shmuel Haber said, "I educate students according to Halacha; from a Halachic perspective mixed service is like eating non-kosher food, it is simply prohibited. We are strict about laws of modesty and therefore mixed service is forbidden. It is simple."
Rabbi Chaim Wolfson added, "The Supreme Court ruling is tearing the army apart and effectively aims to exclude the religious soldier from the maneuvering force, we must protest the cancellation of the partnership that is so important to the people of Israel and especially in view of their significant contribution in recent times."
Rabbi Yigal Levinstein emphasized, "In real time, in war and in field practice everything mixes. In combat, if a crew is hit you immediately reassign and soldiers get on the tank and those could also be female soldiers, what do you do in such a situation?"
