Dati Leumi Talmidim: “We Want The Same Army Conditions The Chareidim Receive”
Rabbi Dror Aryeh, a Rosh Mesivta in Sderot Yeshiva, said that talmidim at his yeshivah are considering filing a petition to the Supreme Court demanding equality between combat units, with Dati Leumi talmidim receiving strictly gender-segregated units like the Chareidi Chashmonaim Brigade.
The IDF also promised gender-segregated units to Dati Leumi talmidim, but the promise has not been fulfilled, and a “mixed-service agenda” seeped into the battlefield during the recent war in Gaza.
In an interview with Kan Moreshet, Rabbi Aryeh referred to the remarks he made at an emergency conference of Dati Leumi Rabbanim in the wake of the IDF’s intention to advance a pilot program to integrate women into the front-line combat units of the Armored Corps’s tank crews
In his remarks, he said that the implementation of the army’s gender separation regulations was violated during the war, creating situations in which male and female soldiers stayed in close quarters with no gender segregation, contrary to existing directives.
Rabbi Aryeh also addressed proposals for separate combat units, saying that talmidim at Sderot Yeshiva are considering filing a petition to the Supreme Court in the name of equality. “The demand is, ‘What is given to Chashmonaim should be given to us too,” he said.
He clarified that this is a cry stemming from a sense of responsibility and not an attempt to dismantle the army.
He emphasized that the lack of gender separation is not only a halachic issue but a professional one as well. “They take the victims of this agenda and insert them into the combat units, and it also harms the kedushah of the machaneh.” He added that the entry of women into combat units is effectively discriminating against soldiers who are makpid on halacha.
He concluded his remarks by stating that the main demand is a principled one, noting, “We are a Jewish army,” and emphasized the need for Siyata Dishmaya and preserving the kedushah of the machaneh as an inseparable part of the IDF’s ability to meet security challenges.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)