Serving in the IDF, with no regrets

Since 2010, there has been a 43% increase in the number of religious women serving in the Israel Defense Forces • The IDF is making special efforts to give these women the chance to serve in meaningful roles.

Zehavit Livian

Private Avia Gahali, 20, is one of a growing number of religious women to serve in the Israel Defense Forces | Photo credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

In recent weeks, the issue of enlistment for religious Zionist young women has once again breached the walls of the nationalist-religious community into the wider public consciousness. While some conservative rabbis have gone public with their opposition to the idea, one can also find a number of fascinating instances which attest to the phenomenon's growing popularity.

Last month, when Professor Asher Cohen from the political science department at Bar-Ilan University came to lecture before a group of IDF Education Corps officers, he was forced to wait a bit because approximately half of the assembled cadets -- or, female cadets, to be more precise -- were in synagogue in the middle of prayers ushering in the new Hebrew month of Shevat.

"The interesting thing about it is that this issue doesn't seem to preoccupy the establishment by one bit," Cohen said. "There is a growing trend of greater involvement in Israeli society on the part of the religious Zionists who are more and more moving into positions of power and influence, and the enlistment of the religious girls is just another indicator of this."

"Some of the complaints against the army are based on experiences that people had when they first got to know the army 20 years ago," he said. "It was an army which I wouldn't trust with my daughter. But the army of today is undergoing a revolution. There are also important rabbis whose approval gives this legitimacy."

One of those rabbis is Chaim Navon of Midreshet Lindenbaum and the chief rabbi of the Shimshoni congregation in Modiin.

"In my view, the question of drafting girls into the IDF is not a halachic one," he said. "It's strictly an educational issue. There are educators who tell their female students that according to Jewish law, it is forbidden for a girl to be under the authority of a man who is not her father or husband. But there is no such law. Many of those who oppose [female conscription] acknowledge this."

"Still, every case needs to be examined individually," he said. "I don't think that girls need to serve in field units. This, in my view, should apply not just to religious girls. There are important, vital functions to carry out on the home front, where religious girls can serve under conditions that are conducive to their lifestyle, in large groups, and under the influence of Torah study."

Are the attacks against religious girls who serve in the IDF liable to cause damage?

"It's legitimate for an educator who opposes female conscription to state his position, but I would expect two things," he said. "First, there needs to be an accurate, forthright appraisal of the problems and not a concoction of religious restrictions. Secondly, one cannot insult the girls who chose to serve. Every new phase of a person's life is an experience that is liable to include difficulties."

"Nonetheless, from my experience, when girls go into the military after a period of Torah study and as part of a concentrated group of other religious girls, they are not influenced any more negatively then girls who perform national service. There are times when the opposite is the case. I have many female students in the army, and I'm proud of the way they are handling their service."

Opponents' ignorance

It seems that more and more religious girls are enlisting. In the last four years, the number of religious girls in the military has nearly doubled. Last year, 1,616 religious females were drafted. In 2010, the number of 935.

"The young, religious girls do everything in the army," said Brig. Gen. Rachel Tevet-Wiesel, who serves as women's affairs adviser to the chief of staff and who also enlisted into the military as a young, religious girl. "They are indispensable. At any given moment in the IDF, there are thousands of religious girls."

What is the IDF doing to encourage more enlistment by religious females?

"Before enlistment, we are in close contact with Aluma (a nongovernmental organization that prepares young women for military service). In the Meitav unit [where soldiers are first inducted], a special department was created for the placement of religious girls according to their personal information and backgrounds, so as to find a suitable environment for them.

"During the service phase, there are a number of functions. We have Captain Einat Cohen, an officer whose job is to handle all matters relating to religious women in the IDF Rabbinate as well as to liaise with religious girls. Her phone number is posted everywhere and she is asked questions that are then passed on to the Rabbinate -- questions regarding placement, married women who have conflicts in scheduling monthly visits to a mikveh, halachic questions, etc. Aside from this, there is also a hotline run by the IDF Rabbinate. The Rabbinate has taken very significant steps in the last two years because we encouraged this.

"There are other units in which female officers are responsible for the religious girls. In the Intelligence Corps, there is a female officer whose job it is to find uniquely qualified candidates for Military Intelligence, Capt. R. Many religious girls want to go into the special units in the corps, and it takes time until they receive replies to their applications due to the lengthy screening process.

"In these instances, Capt. R. expedites the responses to the religious girls. As such, the army computers have given a special designation known as 'bat heyl' which is given to every girl who has completed the state-religious school system, very similar to the designation given to lone soldiers. This requires the commander of the unit to interview her and to give her extra attention."

What difficulties does the army encounter?

"Despite all of the army's efforts, I am angry because the state-religious education system has closed its doors to us and to Aluma as well. As someone who came out of the religious Zionist community and reads the newspapers on Saturday, I am outraged. What bothers the rabbis is the fear that the girls will become sullied in the army. This is ignorance. This insults the integrity of the girls serving in the IDF.

"The public pronouncements from the chief rabbis are also hurtful. I have no intention of calling into question their integrity, but I assume that these statements stem from a lack of knowledge of what is really going on. I saw the letter sent by Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu to a religious girls' school in Modiin in which he wrote that it is strictly forbidden to permit the IDF or Aluma into the institution. From my point of view, this crossed the line. This wasn't a halachic ruling or edict."

The brigadier-general did admit that none of these issues has any effect on the girls.

"The train has already left the station long ago, and the girls are enlisting," she said. "So let's guide them in the correct manner. We'd be happy if people got behind the girls so long as their education is one that inculcates values and is sincere, and not one that will deny them important information. A poll commissioned by Aluma among 25-year-old religious girls who completed their army service revealed that over 85 percent of them either maintained the same religious lifestyle and devotion to Torah or saw that devotion strengthened. This result didn't surprise me."

Still, how do you reach these girls?

"We get a sense from the girls on the ground that they want to know more. Some of them are exposed to the Aluma organization, and home meetings are arranged through word-of-mouth."

"No regrets"

Sharon Brik-Dashan is the director of the female religious enlistee program at Aluma, which was created to "enable religious girls to perform significant service, to be a part of the Israeli nation within the frameworks that are appropriate to them.

"We are a database of information for the religious girls who enlist," she said. "We gather as much reliable information as is necessary about tasks in the army and we advise them accordingly. There are girls' schools that open their doors to us, and on the flip side there are girls' schools that want nothing to do with us. In the middle, there are girls' schools that are opposed to military service, but the educational staff is aware of the girls who chose to enlist and who recognize the importance of giving them proper guidance. Today, there isn't one school whose girls do not enlist, and the heads of the schools and the rabbis understand this."

Corporal T., 20, an intelligence investigator who resides in Jerusalem, is a religious girls' school graduate.

"I came up through a very conservative, elitist school which is in favor of contributing to the state but only by way of national service," she said. "According to the school's guidelines, enlisting in the military is forbidden since it contravenes a ruling by the Chief Rabbinate."

"When I told my parents that I wanted to enlist, they didn't like the idea, but they are learning to accept it. When I announced this in school, I was called in for conversations with the teacher, the guidance counselor, and the principal. I felt as if the way the teachers were treating me had changed."

Are there moments when you regret your choice to enlist?

"I have no regrets. If there's a problem, the thought process should be on how to deal with it. I had various difficulties. In the army, it was hard for me not having religious girls with me. There is no Shabbat atmosphere and I need to create it myself. Nonetheless, I have never encountered unfair treatment from my commanders."

"One incident that I remember well took place at the funeral for my friend's mother. I got to the funeral wearing an army uniform, and I knew that the teachers from the religious girls' schools were going to be there. I remember how I hid, since I was so scared they would see me. It's really embarrassing how in one place I could proudly walk around in the uniform while in another place I need to hide from the others."

"At the end of the funeral, my teacher spotted me and chastised me for being in uniform and without a skirt. She reminded me of our chat from the girls' school about enlisting and she wondered to what extent I would stand behind the statements I made to her at the time. For all intents and purposes, she intimated that I didn't live up to my word. I told her that I was firmly rooted in the belief that I was doing the right thing, and that it was her choice to judge me or not."

Do you think this is still the prevailing attitude there?

"I think they are less extremist in this regard. They understand that this is a trend in the community. I suggested that the teachers at the girls' school give out my phone number to girls thinking about enlisting, and one of the teachers said: 'Do you really think I'll give your number to one of the girls?'"

When I ask Corporal T. if she feels as if she has gained more by virtue of her army service, she replies: "There's no question I've grown stronger, and it's also because of the fact that I'm wearing pants. I really believe in what I'm doing. When a secular person asks me what I'm up to, I'm compelled to open up a religious book and understand. I've grown more committed religiously because everything I do is done with no regrets, and people respect this. They change their minds about religious people."

With the grace of God

Similar sentiments are expressed by Corporal R., 19, who serves as an investigator at Military Intelligence.

"When I got my initial call-up notice, I didn't rule out the possibility of enlisting, and my parents supported me," she said. "The only condition was that I should receive a position that has no equal in national service and that it would not infringe on my religious lifestyle. I got my education at a very religious girls' school. I felt that if I revealed [the fact that I was going to enlist], I'd be the black sheep of the school. Out of 110 girls in my class, just four enlisted, and this is the most to ever come out of one class in the history of the school."

What difficulties did you encounter in the IDF?

"On the day of my induction, I asked for an ankle-length skirt, but we didn't get one. We began making phone calls, and we reached Aluma. They connected us with Captain R., and within hours we received our skirts. There are more difficulties, but I have to say that they pale in comparison to the acceptance and tolerance we experienced in the army."

Before Capt. Shiran Amos, 23, an assistant to an officer in the Operations Branch of the Etzion Brigade, enlisted in the IDF, she attended the Tzahali pre-army preparatory academy, where she decided she wanted to be a guide in the Armored Corps.

"I felt I needed to prove that I was going to do significant service, aside from the deep desire to contribute to the country," she said. "I felt secure from a religious standpoint when I got to the army. I wasn't scared to stand in front of 20 combat soldiers while teaching them nor was I scared to go into the tank with them. The biggest challenge was in my current job, the operational one, where there is no difference between a regular weekday and Shabbat, except for the kiddush. This decision came about as a result of understanding the need for the job, and this just intensifies for me the significance of Shabbat."

Private Avia Gahali is a 20-year-old combat soldier from Kiryat Ekron. After she was given the blessing of her school's rabbi, she decided to enlist. "Somehow I got to Aluma and told them that I want to go into combat," she said. "They told me there wasn't much time, but two weeks before my induction they managed to get me a spot in the tryout, and I was accepted."

The operational battalion in which she serves is made up of female combat fighters -- one-sixth of whom are religious -- and their job is to gather intelligence from the field as part of a unit, over a period of time in difficult conditions.

"It's the belief that is very strong in me," she said. "I feel that God is telling me that he is with me all the time. One can pray here in front of the mountains. It's as if the prayer that goes, 'A song of ascents, I raise my eyes to the mountains from whence will come my help,' was written for those moments."