12 Hesder Yeshivas Announce They Will Stop Sending Students to Armored Corps Over Women’s Integration

12 major Hesder yeshiva heads announced on Tuesday that they will stop sending their students to the Armored Corps starting with the next draft cycle, following the High Court of Justice ruling requiring the IDF to integrate female combat soldiers into maneuvering tank units.

In a letter sent by the rabbis, they said they viewed the decision very seriously and attacked the positions of the government and the IDF on the issue, demanding that the army find a solution for students with a combat profile who cannot serve in the infantry. “We are pained by the feeble response of the State of Israel and the IDF, which did not express opposition to this move,” the yeshiva heads wrote in their letter. “The IDF is the army of the people of Israel, and the sanctity of the camp is the foundation of its spirit and of its success in defeating the enemy. Bringing female soldiers into tanks together with male soldiers is a spiritual and practical blow to combat capability.”

“After careful consideration, we have decided that service in the Armored Corps is prohibited according to Jewish law, and therefore we will not send our students to serve in the Armored Corps starting with the next draft,” the document said. The rabbis clarified that the thousands of students who enlist in other combat units will continue to do so with commitment and strength.

Among those who signed the letter were Rabbis Shahar Imber and Eliakim Levanon, of the Alon Moreh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yehoshua Van Dyke of the Itamar Yeshiva, Rabbi Haggi Londin of the Holon Yeshiva, Rabbi Baruch Wieder of the Yeshivat Hakotel, Rabbi David Fendel of the Sderot Yeshiva, Rabbi Noam Waldman of the Nir Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba, Rabbi Yossi Rodriguez of Eilat, Rabbi Eliyahu Rahamim Zini of Haifa, Rabbi Tal Shaulian of Holon, and Rabbi Yaakov Yedid of Karmiel. Three additional yeshiva heads joined the document but asked not to have their names mentioned.

The rabbis’ decision comes in response to a recent High Court ruling, which stated unanimously that the IDF has a legal obligation to maintain equal opportunity between the sexes in assignments to combat roles. By majority opinion, the justices ordered that a trial involving women in the Armored Corps begin as early as November 2026. The justices ruled that preventing women from serving in a particular role would be allowed only as an exception, and that the burden of proof rests with the army.

Chairman of the Democrats party Yair Golan criticized the yeshiva heads’ announcement: “This letter is a disgrace. Women will serve wherever they want, and in every role the IDF needs them. Everyone will enlist for full military service, including Religious Zionists and Haredim, and no sector will set conditions for the state. The IDF is the people’s national army, not a sectoral militia.”