B"H
Adar II, 5779 / March 11,'19
Unlike the vast majority of modern nations, Israel not only has women serve in its
military, it forces it's own 18 year-old girls to enlist in IDF military service. This, in
clear violation of Halacha, Jewish Law, as articulated since the earliest days of
State. Rabbis from across the spectrum, including leading Rabbis of the National
Religious camp, have consistently declared women serving in the military as
absolutely prohibited. Many leading Rabbis have signed public statements
emphasizing that this prohibition extends to the obligation to give up one's life rather
than submit to military service. Many Rabbis have declared that merely entering the
IDF draft offices to try to avoid conscription as similarly yai'horeig v'al ya'avor,
because of the specter (increasingly confirmed in recent years) of IDF officials
convincing, intimidating, or deceiving girls to relinquish their legal rights and enlist.
In theory, by Israeli law, "religious" girls are, until recently, to be automatically
exempt from military service. Again, Jewish Law makes no such distinction, and
requires us to that ensure no girls or women serve in the military, religious or
otherwise. The Brisker Rov ZT"L is quoted by Rav Aharon Soloveichik ZT"L as
being opposing the drafting of non-religious girls even more vociferously than he
opposed the drafting of religious girls.
An Oct.'15 Supreme Court pronouncement shifted the burden of proof of religiosity
onto the girls, allowing the government to challenge her claim, and try to discredit
her. Thus, many reported cases of religious girls being forced into the pervasively
immoral environment of military service just because they were intentionally tripped
up by trick questions, thrown at them by (often antireligious) IDF officials, or
otherwise denied the religious exemption to which they were entitled, even
according to Israel's own laws.
Another alarming development is that, increasingly, Israeli girls are even being
forced into combat units, and even mixed-units with men. Predictably, immoral
misconduct and assault is a major problem (e.g. see Jerusalem Post, Nov.20,'18) a
phenomenon highlighted by the ongoing plight of an Orthodox Jewish girl of Sefardi
background, Rinat bat Chedva, 19 years old.
Rinat had enlisted in the IDF in Dec. '17, after being persuaded by an official IDF
headhunter, operating under the impression that doing so would not prevent her
from Torah observance.
Reportedly, while in the IDF, in mid-2018, she experienced repeated incidents of
immoral assault, including assault perpetrated by at least one superior. She
reporting it to IDF authorities. Allegedly, they ignored her complaints, and even
covered it up. Traumatized, she had no recourse, and, on Aug. 29, '19, Rinat
heeded her parents' pleas to flee the abusive IDF environment. She hid at home for
almost five months. Then, on Jan. 22, '19, at 2:30AM, Rinat was arrested,
and cruelly punished with abusive incarceration. She was sentenced to 41 days in
military prison for "abandoning" the IDF. Additionally, in an earlier military court
proceeding, her attorney's attempt to obtain a religious exemption was rebuffed. The
Israeli court proceeded as if being repeatedly abused in the IDF had as little impact
on her religious rights as it did on her human rights (which she apparently "ceeded"
to the Israeli government on her enlistment).
Worse, in the wake of her refusal to return to the IDF under ANY circumstances,
starting Feb.11, the military justice system escalated their re-victimizing of their own
abuse victim, subjecting Rinat to ongoing solitary confinement. This persecution all
resulted from her refusal to buckle to all of the pressure and manipulation employed
by the government, to compel Rinat to return to the very military system that abused
her.
Her appeal for an exemption based on her very obvious inability to serve for reasons
of emotional incompatibility with IDF service, under the circumstances, was
inexplicably denied on Feb. 21.
Although freed from prison on Friday March 1, she has not yet been given the
exemption to which she is clearly entitled. Therefore, Rinat now lives in constant
trepidation of arrest and further abuse at the hands of the military courts.
Various people in the Orthodox Jewish community internationally have been working
to help Rinat, to assist her in obtaining the full exemption she's entitled to, and to
save others in the IDF from Rinat's plight.
Although the increasing IDF persecution of religious girls seeking religious
exemptions brought this issue to the fore initially, it's important to emphasize that as
Jews, as per our timeless Torah principles, we absolutely oppose any girls or
women being drafted or mistreated, regardless of color, race, ethnicity, national
origin, level of religious observance, or faith, and are obligated to do whatever we
can to help them avoid military service.
We ought keep Rinat bat Chedva in our tefillos daily until she's freed from all service
demands. And we must raise the alarm, and oppose the drafting and mistreatment
of all girls and women in the IDF, again, regardless of religious observance.
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