A group of religious soldiers from Battalion 77 of the Armored Brigade sent a sharply worded letter to their commander following a two-day battalion vacation, Arutz Sheva reported.
The soldiers wrote that they were promised that the vacation would take place in a setting that was separated by gender and with respect to their religious lifestyle but were sorely disappointed when they discovered “that these were false promises.”
The soldiers said that the event was held at a place where female soldiers were walking around in clothing that was not appropriate for their religious way of life. According to Arutz Sheva, the event was held near a pool, and although the soldiers were promised that there would be separate swimming hours, this promise was also not fulfilled.
“This was a severe blow that severely damaged our faith, our values, and our way of life,” they wrote. “We expected the battalion—which is entrusted with the value of comradeship—to take care of the needs of soldiers who are shomrei mitzvot. Instead, we left with a feeling of hurt and betrayal.”
The letter was signed by dozens of soldiers from the battalion, who demanded an appropriate response to the situation.
The Chotam organization responded to the report by stating, “As we warned during a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, those who are shomrei mitzvot cannot serve properly in the IDF due to the preference for a feminist agenda. There is no possibility of recruiting Chareidim to the IDF as long as the kedushah of the camp is not maintained.”
“We call on Defense Minister Yisrael Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to prioritize the recruitment of shomrei mitzvos, to close the Yahalam (Adviser to the Chief of Staff on Gender Affairs) unit, and to strengthen the Jewish character in the IDF—for the sake of Israel’s security.”
The Yahalam unit has a feminist and progressive agenda, with the IDF describing it as “responsible for advising the Chief of Staff and the General Staff Forum on promoting gender equality and the meaningful utilization of women in service. The unit deals with unique issues aimed at promoting equal opportunities in service, expanding the participation and integration of women in relevant roles and professions, and integrating transgender soldiers into the service.”
An organization established by the wives of religious soldiers called Soldiers’ Wives For The Kedushah Of The Machaneh has repeatedly warned about the danger of the Yahalam unit.
Earlier this year, they issued a statement saying, “We are wives of shomrei mitzvot combat soldiers who experience firsthand the damage of radical feminism in IDF units throughout the war in the mixing of genders and the negative impact to the ability of our husbands to serve in the army in accordance with halacha.”
“Extremist organizations financed by foreign funds have negatively influenced the army through the Yahalam unit and have discriminated against religious and Chareidi men who preserve their way of life, thereby harming Israel’s security.”
“We call on Defense Minister Katz to remove the influence of radical feminism from the IDF and allow soldiers who are Shomrei Torah to serve according to halachah. Only by fulfilling ‘והיה מחניך קדוש’ will there be Siyata Dishmaya to the soldiers in battle.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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17 Responses
Oh wow! Anyone shocked? Serving in the IDF is akin to idolatry.
Any Shomer TorahVmitzvohs buying the crap the IDF wont interfere in their yidishkeit needs their heads examined.
Theyre all about eradicating the Pintelle Yid.
On the eve of the Yahrtzeit of the holy Satmar Rav Yoel Teitelbaum Zatzal, although he cried for every Jew, his far reaching eyes forsaw the calamity since the heretic “Jewish State” was established.
In his zchus may we merit to greet Mishiacb now!!
🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️
Is anyone surprised no not even a bit I would be surprised if they did fulfill what they promised I am also not surprised that they did not promise them even more religious accommodations that they never intended to fulfill
Reshaim omrim harbay ve’afilu miat eynom osim
lol shocking
Nothing new here, the gedolim are not idiots even though many of the commenters here think they are. They will rot in hell for speaking negatively about them
It’s a two way street. If the army wants more Haredi enlistment then they must follow through in the commitments that they make.
This has been a problem since the start of the Medinah, if not before. The Zionist movement, and the state it founded, was dedicated to the proposition that Yiddishkeit is a relic of the past and needed to be uprooted. An openly orthodox soldier (excluding those with the kipah in the pocked) has always been subject to discrimination, mitigated only by the necessity of the ruling zionists parties to be allied with various religious parties. While undoubtedly the Israeli army is the most “frum-friendly” in modern history, that is extremely feint praise.
i hope they do tshiva and leave before they get killed for the zionists
Where’s @charedi Amiti and the other fools.
So the cat is out! ALL their promises were false! WHAT THE GEDOLIM KEEP SAYING; THAT NO CHAREIDY, LEARNING OR NOT, MUST JOIN THE ARMY IF HE WANTS TO STAY FRUM, HAS NOW BEEN PROVEN CORRECT!
Decades ago, working men, even chassidish ones, served in the IDF as it was no where near as treif as today – but things have changed.
One chassidishe Rebbe told them years ago; “send home ALL the women and we’ll send you our working men”.
Even non-chareidy soldiers decried the “gender equality” policy as detrimental to fighting ability!
If more bochurim would enlist, this wouldn’t happen.
I don’t understand why the Torah learning of the yeshiva bochurim don’t help protect them.
The same idiots will come here and say the same thing that somehow their stepfather’s nephews cousin managed to get out of the Army in one piece so that’s proof that all the rabbis are wrong and that they could continue learning 8 hours a day and staying true to our way of life even in the most corrupt place on Earth, we’ve heard all their nonsense before and we don’t buy it now either
If this happened as reported, then those responsible should be called to account – whether with punishment or retraining – and steps taken to ensure it does not happen again. The army has a responsibility to take the requirements of its religious soldiers – whether Dati Leumi or Chareidi – into account, and while their can be failures in any large organization, such failures should be few and far between, and should be corrected as soon as they’re discovered.
an Israeli Yid
akuperma says:
“While undoubtedly the Israeli army is the most “frum-friendly” in modern history, that is extremely feint [sic] praise.”
No. Undoubtedly, the Zionist army is the *least* “frum-friendly”, of course, as its entire purpose is shmad, as you mentioned earlier in your post. As well, in other armies, they respect religion, very unlike the Zionist shmad army.
Having spoken this week with a very senior Israeli official who has been overseeing the process of trying to ensure that “Haredi on the way into the IDF, and Haredi on the way out of the IDF,” I can report my impression that there are good people trying their best to respect Haredi culture. It’s a process.
It’s inappropriate to paint everyone involved in this effort with a broad brush.
Let’s give our fellow Yidden the benefit of the doubt.
Girl conscription is for them to be available to entertain the boys. In the Dati Leumi community close interaction between the genders is generally not restricted so they don’t see the issue as strongly. It’s really a shame.
Only a fool would believe the promises of atheist and aporikorsim.
And as far as them being our “brothers”, Yaakov and Eisev were also brothers!!
Wow, how surprising