Most Hesder yeshiva heads back call to keep students out of armored corps

Ten more hesder yeshiva heads have joined a call urging their students not to enlist in the armored corps, including Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira and Rabbi Ben Zion Algazi of the Hesder Yeshiva in Ramat Gan. The number of rabbis signing the letter has now risen to 36, and the article says many of them are among Israel’s most prominent hesder yeshiva leaders.

The letter, first reported by News 14, comes amid a dispute over integrating women into the armored corps. The rabbis said that the High Court of Justice’s ruling requiring the IDF to integrate female combat soldiers in the corps led them to conclude that service there is forbidden under Jewish law. They said the decision followed “painstaking consideration” and declared they would no longer send their students to the armored corps starting with the next recruitment cycle.

The signatories also accused the army of completely ignoring them and the requests of students slated for service. In response, the IDF tried to calm tensions, saying that even if the planned pilot for women is approved, men and women will not serve together in the same company.

IDF officials stressed that the High Court did not order blanket enlistment of female combat soldiers, only a pilot for initial testing, and said the issue has not yet been brought to the chief of staff for a final decision. The army said it is keeping the pilot within the framework of the joint-service order and the required operational and professional standards, and noted ongoing contacts in recent months with senior IDF officers and representatives of the national-religious public. It also said that after about two and a half years of intense multi-front war, the military needs every fighter, male and female, while also trying to preserve their lifestyles and needs.