IDF Responds to Hesder Yeshiva Heads: No Mixed Male-Female Service in Armored Corps Pilot

The IDF responded this evening, for the first time, to the letter from heads of hesder yeshivas who said they would not allow their students to enlist in the Armored Corps because of the women-integration pilot. "Among all the options being examined in the pilot, there is no alternative in which mixed service of men and women will take place in the same framework," the military said. At this stage, it is unclear how the pilot will nonetheless move forward, five months before the date set by the High Court of Justice.

It was also said: "As of now, the pilot has not yet reached the Chief of Staff's desk, and the matter will be discussed in the near future. Senior IDF officials have been in continuous contact in recent months with heads of hesder yeshivas and their representatives, alongside additional figures in the religious-Zionist public, in this context. The IDF values and appreciates the contribution of all service members, men and women, including hesder yeshiva servicemen, to the security effort in all arenas."

The IDF noted that "after about two and a half years of intense, multi-arena and unprecedented war, during which the IDF's operational missions were expanded and the burden on the reserve system increased significantly, the IDF needs every fighter, male and female. As the people's army, the IDF sees supreme importance in integrating all sectors of the population, while making a great effort to preserve their lifestyles and needs, in a way that does not harm one population at the expense of another. The High Court did not instruct the IDF to recruit female combat soldiers to the Armored Corps, but rather instructed it to carry out the planned pilot on the matter."

They also said: "The IDF works to integrate women into combat roles whenever possible. A pilot, as its name suggests, is a preliminary trial to examine whether to continue. The pilot will be carried out in accordance with the mixed service order, while ensuring compliance with all required operational and professional standards, and according to operational need."

The IDF's response was issued five months before the women-integration pilot in the Armored Corps is supposed to begin, and it is still unclear how the move is supposed to be implemented in accordance with the High Court ruling, after the pilot was postponed several times. In September 2023, an instruction was already issued to open the trial, which was supposed to begin in November 2024, but due to operational considerations the opening of the track was postponed to the November 2025 enlistment cycle, then delayed again to November 2026, after the High Court ruled that the IDF must open the trial to women by that date.

"They have no answers, everything is very up in the air"

Over the weekend, female prospective recruits who hope to join the sought-after track told ynet that they were left without clear answers and without an invitation to a screening day. One of them is Bar Eden Senkar, 19, from Beersheba, who is due to enlist this coming July as a combat soldier in the Border Defense Corps. She said that so far, just one month before her enlistment day, she has been trying unsuccessfully to get answers from the IDF recruitment directorate, Meitav. Senkar said: "I tried to understand what is happening, but they had no answers. Everything is very up in the air and unclear." However, she stresses that for her the goal has not changed: "That is my goal, and that is what I am aiming for."

Following these remarks, 12 heads of hesder yeshivas announced that they would stop sending their students to the Armored Corps in the next enlistment. In a letter on their behalf, they said: "The IDF is the army of the people of Israel, and the sanctity of the camp is the foundation of its spirit and of the success in defeating the enemy. Bringing female soldiers into tanks together with male soldiers harms, spiritually and practically, the ability to fight."

The letter was signed by Rabbi Eliakim Levanon and Rabbi Shahar Imber, heads of Yeshivat Alon Moreh, Rabbi Hagai Londin and Rabbi Tal Shaulian, heads of Yeshivat Holon, Rabbi Yehoshua Van Dijk, head of Yeshivat Itamar, Rabbi David Fendel, head of Yeshivat Sderot, Rabbi Baruch Wieder, head of Yeshivat HaKotel, Rabbi Yossi Rodriguez, head of the hesder yeshiva Ayelet HaShahar in Eilat, Rabbi Noam Waldman, head of Yeshivat Nir in Kiryat Arba, Rabbi Eliyahu Rahamim Zini, head of Yeshivat Or VeYeshua in Haifa, and Rabbi Yaakov Yedid, head of Yeshivat Carmiel. In addition, the document said, three additional hesder yeshiva heads joined the letter and asked not to have their names mentioned.