Religious schools halt sending students to the IDF Armored Corps

The Association of Hesder Yeshivas announced on Thursday that it will no longer send students to the IDF Armored Corps, a move expected to shift hundreds or even thousands of students into other units. The association represents about 45 leading institutions, including Merkaz Harav, Har HaMor, Ateret Cohanim, Shavei Hebron, Maale Eliyahu and Beit El.

The decision comes, according to the yeshivas, after repeated efforts to integrate female soldiers into the corps, similar to changes made earlier in the Artillery Corps. The group said the timing followed a letter from the IDF chief of staff meant to ease tensions between rabbis and the army over women serving in combat roles.

Leaders in the yeshivas rejected that appeal, calling it “another attempt to lull the rabbis of the yeshivas.” They argued that the chief of staff understands the problem but is not confronting “the axe of the High Court and women’s organizations.”

The practical result, they said, will be the redirection of large numbers of soldiers who had traditionally served in the Armored Corps to other IDF branches. The campaign began gaining momentum after more than 30 hesder yeshiva heads signed a letter urging students to avoid armored units because of female combat soldiers, and it later expanded with support from Rabbi Yigal Levinstein and several leading pre-military academy heads, who called on students to serve in units without mixed-gender service.