Rabbi Dov Lior Backs Haredi-Style Yeshiva Rabbis Opposing Mixed Tank Service

Rabbi Dov Lior has publicly backed a letter from hesder and preparatory-school rabbis opposing the integration of women fighters into the armoured corps, and urged religious soldiers to stand by their principles. In a special recording, he said there is no operational necessity that justifies mixed combat service and warned that such service harms the sanctity of the military camp.

Lior, president of the rabbis' organization Torat HaAretz HaTova, said the issue concerns a basic religious value even in wartime. He cited the Torah phrase, "And your camp shall be holy," saying it is a spiritual merit that helps the camp win battles.

He called on representatives of the religious public not to accept mixed companies of men and women in field units. "It is very important to stand firmly on this, for all our public emissaries, not to agree in any way to mixed companies in the service of boys and girls," he said. He added that such mixing could, in his view, "lead to breaches in modesty boundaries."

Lior also rejected arguments that women are being added to combat units because of military necessity, asking whether his community should submit to what he described as "terror" against the sanctity of the camp. His remarks follow a public declaration by rabbis in Torat HaAretz HaTova, led by Lior and Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, which said that integrating women fighters into the tank corps is, in their view, a "severe Torah prohibition" that could harm both religious soldiers and the fighting force.