Ad
BS"D
5 Shvat 5784
Friends,
This past week, Help Rescue Our Children took out a full back-page ad raising awareness about the Israeli female draft (MonseyMevaser.com).
In one response, we were asked about the "indignities" against young women to which the ad refers. Here is one reply.
Questions:
-What are the indignities to which you are referring in the ad?
-What are your concerns with girls joining the military?
Answer:
Said indignities include - but are by no means limited to - sexual exploitation and abuse in the Army environment. Any Army environment lends itself to such problems, especially in mixed-gender scenarios.
The Israeli and American armed forces are no exceptions to that rule. Such problems have been documented by a variety of sources, from secular Israeli media, to The Jewish Press, to Chotam.org, a pro-Israel advocacy organization. Additionally, an established and esteemed American organization, Center for Military Readiness, has complied extensive information on the hazards of drafting women into the military.
The risk of mistreatment and sexual abuse if captured by enemy troops is, undeniably, another monumental concern, as brought into unforgettable relief by the unspeakable horrors of the Oct. 7th pogrom, and the agonizing, ongoing aftermath.
Female soldiers captured by the enemy lose the natural advantage of female captives, applicable to civilian women taken prisoner, and are often in graver peril of sexual abuse and death due to their status as female soldiers, especially in situations such as that in the Holy Land.
Clearly, even from a secular perspective, no woman or girl should be forced or pressured into enlisting into any military.
Indignities also include languishing in Israeli military prison, over refusal to be drafted, be it in compliance with the Torah prohibition against female enlistment into any Army, or for other reasons.
Concerns also include, for example:
* Female soldiers risk being specifically targeted by the enemy (as a female US special forces vet testified on CSPAN before the Heck Commission several years ago).
* The ability of military superiors to make life-and-death decisions affecting recruits under their command contributes to a relationship acutely endemic to exploitation of those female recruits under their command.
The recently published letters in MonseyMevaser.com also convey a sense of what our concerns are. Please see our letter to the editor (Letter vs. Israeli Military female draft: MonseyMevaser.com p.16, 18, Parshas Shemos 5784) published about a month after our previous letter on the same subject (VaYishlach, p.14).
----------
When considering the above, it becomes evident how this cause truly involves both Pidyon Shevuyim and lifesaving imperatives.
Please call us at 771-215-8892 to share with us how you could take part in this holy work.
May the unimaginable merit thereof stand by you at all times, especially when you need it most.
Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,
Executive Director,
Help Rescue Our Children
845.642.1679
Direct: 771.215.8892
Israeli Helpline: 03.721.3337
Tomim Tih'yeh: Presentations on New-Age dangers: 605-313-6831 ext. 2
torahjewsfordecency@gmail.com
Personal: Nathanadvisors@gmail.com
Tomim Tih'yeh: tomim1679@gmail.com
¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥
About Help Rescue Our Children:
This work against drafting innocent young women into the Israeli Army - or any military environment - is a direct extension of the work on which Help Rescue Our Children was initially founded about twelve years ago, namely combating local child-molestation, from a Torah-true perspective, in cooperation with a range of leading Rabbinic authorities - ever since the arrest of admitted child-molester Moshe Turner well over ten years ago.
Rabbi Leiter
