Reply To: Sherut Leumi… I don't know what to do

147, I initially thought that was true, but a few days ago, I was in a class, and my teacher kind of attacked the chareidi community, and I wanted to say something, but I didn’t because I was so shocked by it.

General: I spoke to a bunch of people who are doing sherut leumi through bat ami, and they said that nobody is boxed into a particular service organization due to hashkafa. I then went to the Agudah website and saw that the girls in their pictures did not look 100% bais yaakov. One of my friends mentioned that I actually have an acquaintance who is doing sherut leumi through aguda, but is more modern in hashkafa.

Interjection: I am 19 years old. I will turn 20 in October. I went to a public school for kindergarten, so the state deadline was September first, verses the frum, Jewish schools in my city have a December 30th deadline, so my high school class ranged from people (at graduation) being 17 years old, to people being 19 years old (I think she was held back a grade because of switching schools at some point…).

Also, in terms of seminaries being right for me, when I needed to switch, that is why I called up about 15 seminaries, but most of them rejected me because I was not a good enough fit for them (meaning I was either not bais yaakov enough for them because I was not secure in my bais yaakov hashkafos and I need to use a laptop for assistive technology because of a learning difference, or because I was not modern enough for them, and would have been the only girl there who does not wear denim, wears 50 denier tights, and not such bright colors most of the time and therefore they felt it would be difficult to make friends or for people to like me, although most of the seminaries I called up, I knew at least one girl there, and some of my friends pleaded on my behalf to schools and they said no anyway…).

My group of friends also is a very big range, specifically because I have been all over the place and have attended many types of schools and programs. I don’t consider the fact that I want to minimize the culture shock that I will face by making a decision to be something that a closed minded person would do. For the past two years, I have been in many situations where I have gone to an event in the frum community, and someone will ask me what my name is, and I never met them before, or maybe I have met them several months before for a few seconds, and I will have no idea what her name is, and that person has already heard about me from someone else, and in order to prevent me from thinking they are creepy, they end up telling me how I am connected to them (usually something like, I am doing chessed for so and so, and they told me all about you, or, i go to school with _____ and they told me about you, how is (insert whatever new project or program or school I am in) going? Eventually I got used to that, but the point is that I experience enough shock as it is, and despite that, I still have the right to enjoy my life and participate in new experiences.

General: I want to do sherut leumi because as someone who is planning on making aliyah, I feel that I should serve Israel at some capacity because the establishment of the State of Israel has done so much for me as a Jew and for us as Klal Yisrael. Even though many Jews disagree on many things, it is important for us to be there for each other. For me, I don’t typically have time to do chessed because I usually have an extremely busy schedule, so when I was younger, I would grow my hair out so that I could donate it (I have donated my hair four times, and am growing my hair out again to donate a fifth time), and in high school, I chose to enroll in classes that had mandatory community service hours, so that I would be able to do chessed as part of my school work, and give my mom a reason to drive me to whatever organization I was doing chessed for (my mom doesn’t typically have time to drive me places, and this was before I got my drivers license).

I don’t think it is acceptable to attack anyone or any movement under any circumstance.