Tel-Chai Nation

A bunch of rabbis has come forward and spoken in favor of Haredi women serving in the army:

One of the burning questions on the agenda for the religious sector in Israel has always been the issue of military service for religious women. While the chief rabbis of Israel and prominent national-religious rabbis adamantly oppose it, saying that religious women, if anything, should do national civil service instead, a recent position paper by a progressive rabbinic group has ruled that there is no real halachic reason preventing ultra-Orthodox women from serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

The paper, issued by Beit Hillel, a centrist rabbinic association of 170 national-religious rabbis and female Jewish scholars, stated that "the basis of the halachic view is that the State of Israel needs all of its citizens -- men and women alike -- to help it face its social and security challenges.

"The halachic question is whether there is a reason why women should not perform this mitzvah by serving in the military, and the answer is -- there is no reason. There are no halachic reasons barring women from joining the armed forces."

Of course not. Even women should get approval to serve, and Haredi women should fulfill this obligation to defending the country as much as their non-Haredi counterparts. The chief rabbis would do well to support this position too.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, military