Rabbis at prominent hesder yeshivas within the religious Zionist camp are preparing to fight the IDF's decision to allow women into elite combat units and said they would instruct their pupils to boycott mixed-gender units.
In a conversation with Israel Hayom on Tuesday, the directors of these yeshivas, which combine Torah study with military service, said the IDF had crossed a clear red line and that they don't intend to sit idly by.
The IDF on Tuesday announced that it would open more combat roles to female fighters, beyond the mixed-gender light infantry units where some already serve.
The decision means women joining the IDF will be able to serve in elite search and rescue and combat engineering units, and will likely serve as a litmus test for military planners who say more roles may be opened in the future depending on the success of integration in these units.
"The army crossed a red line today and this will have consequences," warned one of the yeshiva heads. "It's like leavened bread on Passover and desecrating Shabbat. Until now, enlisting women to combat units was something on the fringe, in places where no one actually wants to be. Now it's already the mainstream in the IDF. This is the gradual exclusion of religious [soldiers] under the patronage of the High Court of Justice."
The yeshiva heads noted the Artillery Corps as one example of a place where religious soldiers no longer serve after its doors were opened to women. "The Artillery Corps mixed its regular battalions on purpose and made sure every battalion had some female soldiers here and there. The hesder yeshivas left, the other yeshivas left, and today only 5% of the soldiers in the Artillery Corps are religious, while in all other fighting units that number is around 30%-40%. This number is two or three times the size of the religious Zionist camp relative to the population," one rabbi said.
"This is an actual illustration of what such a measure costs. Just think what will happen if this happens in the Nahal or Golani [infantry brigades] – it will simply reduce an entire brigade's manpower… The Nahal Brigade won't enter Lebanon and Bint Jbeil anymore. They will have to suffice with guarding Tapuah Junction together with the other mixed nonsense units. It will become the women's brigade, so good luck to everyone," another yeshiva head said angrily.
Earlier Tuesday, the leading religious Zionist rabbis announced they had declined a meeting with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi in protest of the decision to integrate women into the army's combat units.
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner lambasted the decision, saying that based on Jewish law, it was impossible for men to serve alongside women in a combat unit.
Aviner told Israel Hayom the decision constituted a moral crime in the name of equality but didn't say whether he was calling explicitly on soldiers to avoid units slated to welcome women, such as the Nahal Brigade, the air force's elite search and rescue unit, 669, or the Engineering Corps' elite Yahalom commando unit.
"There are certainly three problems," Aviner said. "A spiritual problem – according to halacha (Jewish law) women cannot serve in the IDF, especially in front line units. It's agreed upon by all rabbis that they cannot serve in forward-operating units.
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"A national problem – women don't have the same physical fitness and physiology as men. A man can carry far more weight than a woman. Women have to drop out with stress fractures, and spinal fractures. It reduces the efficiency of these units. The IDF is not a place for compromises. We have enemies around who want to destroy us. We cannot allow ourselves experiments in this area.
"And a social problem –the rabbis tell the men not to serve in units where women also serve. Thus far, there weren't many of these units. If such units do become commonplace, many of them won't include religious soldiers. We want to be one nation, and the army is the most excellent place where we are one nation.
"Back in the day, there were issues with Shabbat observance in these units, and there was a proposal for secular and religious units. Rabbi Shlomo Goren and [then-prime minister] David Ben-Gurion said no. One nation – one army. [If women are integrated] there will be units for religious soldiers and units for secular soldiers. It's a social catastrophe; a spiritual catastrophe; a national catastrophe. It's a moral crime," said Aviner.
