"We are in an era of mitzvah war and everyone should contribute as much as they can, including women in my midst"/photo adaptation, Tal Shalu
In recent years, the issue of female combatants in the IDF has often come up for lively and heated discussion, when on the one hand the supporters of opening up all IDF units to women, including the special units, and opposed to them, the opponents with a variety of arguments from the world of health along with halachic arguments.
Even in the liberal wing of religious Zionism, which mostly supports and encourages the recruitment of girls into the army, there were many who opposed the integration of female fighters into the infantry brigades and the special units. The main opposition was to the creation of mixed gender units
. From a halachic point of view, this is a complex and complicated thing that is not suitable for everyone," said in 2022 the chairman of the Beit Hillel rabbinic organization, Rabbi Meir Nahorai, in an interview with Kahn Network 2.
The head of the Tzali training school, which prepares girls for conscription, Rabbi Michal Negan, even joined a petition to the High Court last June, which sought to prevent the integration of female fighters into the special units, before a careful examination of the issue and the examination of the health and physical costs paid by the female fighters
. In this aspect, during the dramatic days of fighting in the Gaza Strip, many female fighters participated in battles, among them female armored fighters, female infantry officers and female police officers who were part of the forces that stopped the invasion of Hamas terrorists to the south.
A few weeks later it became known that female fighters, combat medics, doctors and paramedics also took an active part in the ground maneuver in the Strip.
Rabbi Negan said in an interview with the 'Kipfa' website last December that "there is nothing to be concerned about with the issue of support for combat service, since the real question is whether the IDF has the possibility in terms of personnel to give up the presence of women in these units?
I think the answer is no."
One who is also convinced of the need to recalculate a course is the head of the Lindenbaum Midrash of the Or Torah Stone network, whose graduates all enlist in the IDF, Rabbi Ohad Taharlev, who is also the chairman of the Enlisting Midrash Forum. "First of all, it is important for me to emphasize that I present the My reflections and position as a private person and not by virtue of my position.
I have not yet had a discussion on the matter with the heads of the midrash and the heads of the network and my educational team, yet I think that a rethinking should be done.
"We all saw what the female fighters did on the seventh of October and since then in the fighting in Gaza. The reality has changed. In the past, there were all kinds of voices that warned of female fighters who would fall into captivity and here, unfortunately, even without serving in the army, what happened to quite a few women happened, and we were not told because of this to the girls not to live here. We We are in an era of mitzvah war and everyone should contribute as much as they can, including women in my midst."
According to him, his position on female combatants is not new, but according to his method, the combat military frameworks should be adapted so that women can serve in them, I always thought that girls were capable but I also thought that there was a problem in terms of the existing frameworks in regards to the gender aspect.
It is our duty to think about how to create special martial arts courses for girls in general and religious girls in particular.
They should be allowed the maximum gender and religious envelope so that they can serve and contribute."
IDF female fighters in action/official website, Tal Shalu
In your opinion, women can and should also serve, say, in the Golani and the Defense Forces patrol?
"I'm not going into the military and professional needs and considerations, but the motivation for fighting among girls is very great and has grown even more significantly since the beginning of the war.
With the right shell, female staff and gender and religious support, the sky is the limit."
I mean, you're talking about gender units, combat units for women only?
"Definitely.
I'm talking about gendered and non-mixed units.
For me, a tank class and other gender frameworks can definitely work.
As an educator, and not necessarily as a rabbi, I think that the gender element in me is very critical from a human point of view.
In Gaza, paramedics served inside tigers with only men around for long hours.
It is very complex.
I asked someone what she did when she had to go to the bathroom, so she replied that everyone looked away.
Although it is a war, it is still a difficult struggle that gender frameworks solve.
With the girls' motivation to serve among the Olim, there are also the needs that need to be adequately addressed."
Rabbi Taharlev turns to his fellow rabbis and warns, especially in light of the war and its consequences, that if they do not take the initiative when it comes to serving women as fighters, they will have to face greater challenges, "My position is We as rabbis and educators should always take the initiative, advance a cure for the plague.
Those who do not will find that there is no vacuum.
The girls will go wherever they want anyway.
God speaks to us also from reality and not only from the books. That is why we need to lead and not be with a broken trough in the face of the challenges of the fighting girls."
Are there any practical initiatives that you are already promoting in practice for the death of the army?
"I always have a conversation with the various parties, inside and outside the military system, in many areas and in this. But I can't go into detail. There is no blessing except in what is hidden from view. Bad people want to kill us and hurt us and not just take our country. That's why we will have to protect ourselves, men and women, and live with a complex and challenging reality that in Gaza we will face."
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