Twelve leading Roshei Yeshivos of Hesder issued a joint statement on Tuesday declaring that they are forbidding their talmidim from enlisting in the IDF’s Armored Corps in the next draft cycle.

The move comes in response to the IDF’s decision to advance a pilot program integrating female soldiers into tank units. The program, expected to begin with the November draft, was advanced following the High Court ruling requiring the IDF to integrate female soldiers into tank units this year.

In a letter sent to the IDF, the Rabbanim wrote: “We, the undersigned, Roshei Yeshivos Hesder, whose students are serving on the front lines of the war, view the High Court’s decision requiring the IDF to integrate female soldiers into tank units with great severity.”

“We are pained by the weak response of the government and the IDF, which expressed no opposition to this move. As Roshei Yeshivos, we are fully aware of the weight of the responsibility placed upon our shoulders. The IDF is the army of Am Yisrael, and the kedushah of the military camp is the foundation of the IDF’s spirit and its success in defeating the enemy. Integrating female soldiers into tank crews alongside male soldiers has both spiritual and operational consequences that harm combat effectiveness.”

“After careful and extensive deliberation, we have concluded that service in the Armored Corps is prohibited according to halacha, and therefore we will not send our students to serve in the Armored Corps beginning with the next draft cycle,” they wrote.

“The thousands of our students who enlist in combat units will continue to do so out of a feeling of shlichus, but the responsibility rests with the IDF to provide an appropriate combat framework for soldiers with combat profiles who are not suited for infantry service.”

IDF officials have expressed deep concern over the decision, warning that the dispute could significantly affect tank crew staffing at a time when the Armored Corps continues to play a central role in combat operations on multiple fronts.

 

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)