On Wednesday night the eve of 12 Kislev 5775 a ceremony was held marking the conclusion of basic training on a base that contains an area intended exclusively for chareidi soldiers who are serving in the ‘Bina B’Yarok’ program in the Intelligence Corps.
According to the Chabad Online report, the soldiers were instructed to join the graduation event despite the fact the program included female vocalists. Soldiers tried to be excused from the event because of the kol isha but the base commander would not hear of it, instructing them to stand together in a designated location to avoid hearing the female performance.
After they learned that they were indeed segregated but placed between two regular units, one of the soldiers felt it was inappropriate and decided not to take part despite a warning from a commander of “severe consequences”.
The solder was summoned before an officer on the base to face the consequences of his actions. He was told that he would have to redo the enlistment process in the Bakum base because he was being thrown out of the unit. The soldier’s father is quoted telling COL that he was promised there would not be any women including commanders and the IDF did not keep its word. He added the soldiers are not always receiving mehadrin food as promised and now his son is punished for adhering to halacha.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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16 Responses
What’s with the singing? Do other armed forces in the world have ceremonies with singing? As a non-veteran, it seems so bizarre to me.
Why is his father confused. You don’t listen to gedolei hador you suffer the consequences period
Glad the frum soldier STOOD UP FOR HIS RIGHTS!!!
I’m with you #1, ridiculous singing ceremonies!!
Israelis can’t actually fight Hamas so they try to sing instead.
Gawd! Why didn’t he just stuff his ears with cotton and be done with it? This is the class of soldier that if it is Shabbos, will hesitate to do melacha. Let him repeat the training.
Like the self hating antisemites they are, they will torture the Shomray Torah u’Mitzvos in order to break them.
THESE ARE ALSO OUR ENEMIES.
Druze soldiers are highly honored and valued by the IDF. If an officer displayed animosity towards them, it would be the end of his career (meaning the officer woujld be deemed unfit for service in the IDF due to his bigotry).
We can conclude that the IDF does not honor or value service by hareidi soldiers, perhaps suggesting that those who want to serve an unwilling master are somewhat misguided.
Kal haMiracheim al haAchzar…
How dare anyone criticize a Jew for following the Torah and refusing to stay at yet another Zionist shmad event?
And to the extent of “let him repeat the training”?
…sofo liHyos achzar al…
Mr ‘mitkugel’ It is a chilul Hashem for a man to stand in attendance where a woman is singing. Unless you are clearly wearing sound blocking headphones. You should try a little ‘kishka’ and ‘eyermit tzeible’ to enhance your repitoir.
He probably is a soldier that knows that Hashem is the ultimate authority, not his commander. Kudos to him.
The IDF wants more frum people to join yet causes them to transgress! They should teach the commanders how to relate and what to expect from frum people so these incidents do not happen.
Seems like the officer allowed them to stand where they wouldn’t hear and respected his rights completely. He then chose to be more machmir and not stand between these units for some reason.
At the end of the day one can be more machmir but not at the expense of unity and potential chilul Hashem.
Redemption is a process with stops and starts. Mr Ari Free im not sure where you live but Israli soldiers who are willing to give up their lives and limbs for Am Yisrael are a lot frummer than a Bochur in Brooklyn. There is no kedusha in Chutz Laaretz for goodness sake!!!!
lmost every coutry has military ceremonies that invlude music (parafes, etc.). Sometime it is vocal, somtimes instrumental.
Is this soldiers grounfing is Yiddishkeit so shallow that onhe hint of a kol isha will seriously undermine him> If so, I would seriously question his up-bringing.
An important serial number or code he must write down. Wiring that must be disconnected. A door that needs to stay open but everything is muktza. He will choke, dreaming about his punishment if he touches a pencil, or brushes by a female officer in the hall. He is NOT IDF material! His duty is to serve and protect Israel, the moment he enters…
Moose613: are you even Jewish? Your asking what’s gonna happen if he hears kol isha? What’s gonna happen if your mechael shabbos? We follow the Torah even if we don’t understand .if it says you shouldn’t hear a women sing who are you to criticize his upbringing why don’t you look into your own?
Efraim312:
That’s A”Z, not Judaism.
Moose613:
The Zionist army, the army of a putatively JEWISH state, must not force any of its soldiers to violate even the spirit of Jewish law.
This has nothing to do with his “weakness” and everything to do with Zionism and its ongoing shmad.