Avi kane, you write, “More and more religious soldiers are top brass in the IDF. ”
Define religious. As I have observed it Dati Leumi practice a different religion from Charedim. WHen I came to israeli, i was not Charedi, but when I saw how most DL conduct themselves I realized I had to make a choice. and these military DL, they are commandos with yarmulkas. There’s more to being a Jew than keeping kosher. There are frum values, ways of carrying oneself. Swagger, arrogance, and faith in F-16s is not exactly the Rambam’s Judaism. The greatest crime of the MIzrachi, who the Brisker Rav, the Chazon Ish, and most gadolim openly opposed, was making secular zionism seem Jewish. and the DL make it seem as though one can be frum in the military. Maybe you can be minimally observant there but you can’t be a traditional fully dedicated yid there. I don’t care how many photos of soldiers with tefillin you show me.