Chareidi soldiers who enlisted nearly two years ago in the “Tomer” Company—the Chareidi track within the Givati Brigade—told Ynet that the unit has been disbanded and that they have been reassigned to a regular company serving in Gaza, where they can no longer maintain the Chareidi lifestyle they were promised when they enlisted.
Speaking to Ynet, several soldiers described feeling betrayed. The soldiers enlisted in November 2024 under a framework designed to accommodate their religious observance. Several weeks ago, they were integrated into an operational company currently serving in Gaza alongside secular soldiers.
“We feel betrayed,” one soldier said. “They promised us something, and we came. People burned bridges with the communities they came from. Most of our company receives special welfare support for a reason. Many severed ties with their parents and families, knowing that even future marriage prospects could be damaged if people found out they enlisted. They sacrificed their past and their future to contribute to the country, and now no one seems to care.”
The soldiers said the specialized framework had ensured tefilla times and Torah study during training, but that conditions changed after they joined the battalion.
“We’re invited to events that are not gender-separated. During the Nine Days, they played music and served meat. There are many gaps that simply don’t fit our religious outlook,” one soldier said.
Others said they are now assigned to duties alongside female soldiers, including kitchen shifts and serving with female paramedics.
“During training they took care of everything, and then once we reached the battalion everything changed,” one soldier said. “Why doesn’t anyone care anymore?”
Another soldier described the atmosphere in Gaza. “We’re at an outpost in Gaza, and our way of life isn’t respected. They play music on Shabbos, take videos, and post them on social media. In our company, even the non-observant soldiers respected us. They wouldn’t turn on the television or use their phones in our room. Now we’re assigned kitchen duty with women. When we raise concerns, we’re told to refuse the assignment and face disciplinary action. So we end up working with them, even though that isn’t appropriate for a Chareidi soldier.”
The soldiers said they have appealed to commanders, the brigade rabbinate, and the IDF’s Chareidi Directorate, but their concerns have not been adequately addressed.
“We’ve spoken to everyone we can. Nobody takes us seriously,” one soldier said. “As far as they’re concerned, Tomer has been closed, and that’s the end of it.”
“The Chareidi Directorate told us the company could not continue and decided to dismantle it,” one soldier said. “The commanders told us they would stop recruiting Chareidi soldiers because the company had no future and would gradually be closed. It is very painful. It was an honor to serve in Givati, but when you dismantle a company built around a particular way of life, you are supposed to take care of its soldiers. We were promised we could maintain a proper Chareidi lifestyle.”
The IDF said that recruitment to Tomer Company ended with the December 2025 draft cycle as part of changes intended to improve Chareidi enlistment frameworks and better preserve the religious lifestyle of participants.
The military added that the remaining Tomer soldiers, whose numbers have naturally declined as no new recruits joined the unit, were integrated into another company in Givati “while making the necessary adjustments in coordination with commanders.” It claimed that “any issues that arise are being addressed by the relevant authorities.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
16 Responses
it’s true. no one cares about these fake-jews. they should do tshiva and stop serving other gods
And they are still surprised why chareidim refuse to join the army?!
What an opportunity for a Kiddush Hashem. These soldiers should refuse to serve in such an environment on-masse and face the consequences. This will teach the army a lesson that the chareidim are not hefker!
These OTD bums refused to listen to Gedolei Yisroel shlit”a and enlisted despite being ordered to not enlist.
This is the natural result.
@ujm; Not every chareidy soldier is an OTD. Correct, many Gedolim prohibited to enlist even for working men, that doesn’t mean he didn’t get psak from his Rav considering his particular circumstances.
Agree with ndm; Chareidy soldiers have to show, they can’t be pushed around. When circumstances warrant, they should refuse, and hopefully the IDF, will think again. They don’t need prisoners, they need soldiers.
UJM, you are using the internet for a purpose other than parnassa despite the clear directives of the Gedolei Yisroel Shlita. So what does that make you?
Were they offered the opportunity to transfer to other Chareidi units? They should have been – in fact, I saw reported elsewhere that they were, though this story does not say so.
an Israeli Yid
Joseph Goebbels,
“OTD bums”?
You’re the filthy spawn of an SS officer and not even Jewish!
Anyone who ever thinks that the army has the interests of the shomray Torah umitzvos in mind, is foolish.
They want to make you into the same as everybody else, what they want you to be. A bunch of Bennetts running around with that little quarter sized yarmulka thumbtacked to your bald head.
The rabbanim ” don’t know what they’re talking about” the same zerah amalek commenters here with the same answer no matter how many incidents hit the media. They will die before the geulah with the rest of the erev rav
This post is a chillul Hashem and inaccurate. I am in the army with these people and can attest to a few relevant points. There have been many attempts by the army to try to create a chareidi track within the army to accommodate as much as possible for a Chareidi lifestyle. Different attempts were more and less successful. Unfortunately the army has (accurately) realized that the tomer track was not attracting real Chareidim, and the majority of the people in the company were not Chareidi, a large portion not even frum. Being that this is the case, and that there are other more successful programs right now, like chashmonaim (which overall has been by far the greatest success for a program of this type), they offered the few soldiers for whom it was relevant to, to switch to a different Chareidi track, and the rest joined a regular company in the army. It is true that there are many times where religious Jews in the army need to explain to higher ups about all of the relevant halachos at times, and that the army is far from perfect, but overall the army does not try to make you not frum and accommodates very well to religious needs. It is actually against the commands of the highest ranking general in the army to cause a soldier to break Halacha.
This clearly is an unfortunate situation – article explains well wh this happened, thanks YWN: army is changing how they approach recruitment and this unit is being disbanded. Someone in the army is wrong, but it is an isolated issue. Also, it is not the end of the world – they are not being served pork. They happened to see someone else violate shabbat and work with women. Better to avoid, but it does not take away their obvious zechuyot. And listen to gedolim who are upset that some of Army missions are for improper purposes. It follows that not all missions are improper, and participating in the good ones is a great mitzva
Al pi Sh’A, someone who refuses to save a woman because of tzniut concern is a chasid shoteh. I am not sure why this particular chassidus is so popular here!
A very similar article from 2 days ago (https://ch10.co.il/en/news/1092549/) but unlike YWN it also gave the IDF response which YWN seems to have neglected to include. These Haredi soldiers were apparently given the opportunity to transfer to Haredi units/service tracks. Some did, some didn’t.
One has to ask why some of the soldiers didn’t request such a transfer but are now complaining. Perhaps there is more to this story?
I feel sick to my stomach when I hear how the IDF and the Israeli govt. are making it so hard for a Chareidi soldier to maintain his frum way of life in the army. Obviously, this will not increase Chareidi recruitment into the army.
However, I feel equally sick to my stomach when I see some of the horrible comments here about Chareidim who go to the army. You don’t have to agree with them, but to call them horrible names and talk about fellow frum Yidden in this manner is absolutely wrong and disgusting! You have absolutely no idea what went into the decisions these young men made when the enlisted.
Shame on the IDF and shame on those of you who look down and demean those who choose to join.
As per another news article and not mentioned by YWN… The IDF says that those in this unit wanting transfer to a Hareidi Unit were allowed to do so.
If true, I am not sure why these particular Haredi soldiers didn’t ask for this.
@lakewoodbubby
The gedolim (including Rav Steinman) never allowed anyone to shmad themselves in that army. Those comments were highlighting that they are not representative of permitted Jewish standards.
If anything about this makes one sick to their stomach, it should be due to the forced shmad (by “Jews”, no less) on our brethren.
AAQ:
Maybe stick to asking questions rather than proclaiming things against the Torah. Arayos, in particular, is one of only two mitzvos which Hashem exhorts us to distance ourselves, not just to not sin. Yes, what that army has done to them is at least as bad as pork.
Obviously, your quote of the halacha of saving a woman is a straw man, at best, and totally irrelevant to this.