Religious Zionist rabbis say students will not enlist in Armored Corps with women |
Religious Zionist rabbis from a plurality of institutions representing the community expressed their concern over a plan to allow women to serve with men in the Israel Defense Forces Armored Corps, with at least some vowing to instruct the students not to serve in tanks as long as that remained a possibility.
The development comes after, earlier this month, the High Court of Justice said that the IDF must begin a trial program for female soldiers to serve in the corps by November 2026, following repeated delays by the military.
The military has been planning only gender-segregated tanks. If the number of recruits allows, platoons or companies would also be divided by gender. An Armored Corps company is normally composed of 11 tanks.
This is due in large part to concerns surrounding modesty, as in some cases, crew members must use the bathroom and perform other bodily functions within the confined space of the tank. However, women and men would likely end up serving together at the battalion and brigade levels.
“It is impossible for a person keeping Torah commandments to serve in a co-ed place,” said Rabbi Zalman Melamed, head of the Bet El yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of the same name, according to the Ynet news site. “In the [religious] Zionist ‘high yeshivas,’ we have decided that we are not going to the Armored Corps as long as there is no clear decision against [having men and women serve together].”
“High yeshivas” are Torah institutions where men can indefinitely defer their army service, even though the vast majority of students who attend eventually draft, albeit sometimes at a late age and for a shorter period.
Melamed was one of the heads of several prominent yeshivot, pre-military programs, and high schools who met to discuss the issue last week at the home of the late Rabbi Chaim Druckman, who was considered one of the spiritual leaders of the community before he passed away in 2022.
Notably, the rabbis who met came from both the liberal and hard-line sides of the religious Zionist community.
“We will not serve in a field unit where there is gender integration with........