During a minyan taking place in a shul in an IDF Navy base, a female soldier was given an aliyah and permitted to make the bracha. This occurred in a training base in Haifa. Hesder talmidim who reportedly took part in the minyan remained silent according to the report. The IDF Spokesman’s Office reports the matter is being investigated towards determining future policy.
The base is question serves to train members of the navy for their assignments. This is a naval base that hosts daily minyanim, not a regular event in the navy which is the most secular branch of the IDF. Many of the soldiers assigned to the training base are hesder soldiers who serve on Dabur patrol boats. When the female soldier was given an aliyah some of the members of the minyan, including officers, voiced their objections; however the report stresses that the hesder talmidim davka did not. No explanation is given.
The gabbai who called the female for an aliyah is a civilian employee of the military. The young female is a graduate of a prominent dati leumi girls Ulpana high school in Yerushalayim and takes part in the daily minyanim in the base shul. When the gabbai called her for an aliyah she came forward and recited the bracha. According to those present for the minyan, the base rav or his representative were not part of the minyan.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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25 Responses
This isn’t the first such Reform “minyan”. It befits the IDF.
A large segment of soldiers who come in as daati leave as chilonim.
Disgusting.
The lack of proper procedure and the lack of knowledge is what is disgusting !
We are to blame for not reaching out to these lost neshomos.
Remember, we said Naaseh V’nishmah. Not just Nishmah.
Do something with your learning. Share it with all Yidden. There are millions of Yiddishe Neshomos longing to be nourished by Hashem’s Torah.
In the current climate, would adherance to halacha be considered disloyalty to the medinah?
YICHPOON! FEH! YUCH! PFEECCHHHH!
At the risk of stating the obvious, “a female soldier was given an aliyah” is arguably less significant than “Hesder talmidim who reportedly took part in the minyan remained silent.”
Ha, ha, and they want chareidim in the army?
Apparently, there is no issue of kavod hatzibur in this place, so I don’t see what the problem could be.
May she bcome a godol batorah. Was it by chance on Yom Kippur by the Torah reading of forbidden relations?
“אם קרא במקומות שקוראים בשם [של אדם מסוים כדי לעלות לקריאת התורה], וקראו בשמה של אשה שנמצאת בעזרת נשים, וידע הגבאי או החזן שהיא נמצאת בעזרת נשים, ואמרו “תעמוד גברת בינונית לקריאת התורה”, והיא באה לעלות לבימה, ובא אחר ואומר לה “לא, תרדי כי את אשה” – זה פוגע בה! למה צריך להעליב אותה? יכולה לעלות. אפילו עכשיו בזמנינו יכולה לעלות.”
Rav Ovadya Yosef
That must be why frum girls dont participate in Sherut Leumi. This is obviously a rare exception and does not absolve anyone from joining the IDF even though this woman crossed the line and left people speechless.
I dont know what the halacha says one should do in this situation and perhaps neither did these soldiers. Perhaps they reasoned that objecting would not change the fact that she was called up to an aliya and would make the bracha. It is unreported in this story, but, perhaps they walked out for the aliya?
Here is a more detailed description of what occurred as reported by a D”L website (Kipa):
כאמור, קורס לוחמי ספינות הדבורים של ישיבות ההסדר נכח אף הוא באותה התפילה. היו מתלמידי ההסדר שטענו כי מרבית הפוסקים אינם מתירים עליית אישה לתורה ובקשו למחות על כך – והיו שטענו כי אין מדובר בעלייה סטנדרטית כי אם מנהג החג בעליית כל בית ישראל לתורה וכי הגבאי כבר קרא לחיילת לעלות ולא נכון יהיה לביישה ברבים.
לבסוף, כאמור, החליטו התלמידים שלא לעצור את המעשה
Now for the true story, as my son was in that minyan. The gabbai is an old Sefardi man, a civilian, who leads the minyan made up of mostly civillians. The hesder boys who happened to be at the base on Simchas Torah were not consulted nor made aware of what was happening until the girl was walking up to the bimah. Quickly they huddled to discuss what to do. Some of the boys said she should be stopped. Others said it wouldn’t be kavod habriyos. Still others wondered what the status is on Simchas Torah since children get aliyas on that day. After the fact, they complained to their superiors so that something like this should never happen again.
My son, who was one of the objectors, asked me what he should have done. Tackle the girl?
i think she was given a “yerida”
A frum soldier who objected would be risking his military career, and from the description in the article, the frum soldiers in the unit were highly motivated to serve in the army. The army (indeed most armies that have had Jewish soldiers) offer a choice between being Jewish and being a good soldier – IDF is no different.
#10 anIsraeliYid says:
September 30, 2013 at 3:24 pm
“אם קרא במקומות שקוראים בשם [של אדם מסוים כדי לעלות לקריאת התורה], וקראו בשמה של אשה שנמצאת בעזרת נשים, וידע הגבאי או החזן שהיא נמצאת בעזרת נשים, ואמרו “תעמוד גברת בינונית לקריאת התורה”, והיא באה לעלות לבימה, ובא אחר ואומר לה “לא, תרדי כי את אשה” – זה פוגע בה! למה צריך להעליב אותה? יכולה לעלות. אפילו עכשיו בזמנינו יכולה לעלות.”
Rav Ovadya Yosef
—————————
Please provide and exact reference source.
To clarify my posting above – I’m not saying that the woman in question should have been given the Aliya – I’m just pointing out that the basic Halacha, at least according to some recognized Poskim, is that it is technically permissible (though not necessarily proper) for a woman to receive an Aliya. As such, the Hesder boys present had what to be somech on in not protesting.
an Israeli Yid
I am certainly not in favor of this female soldier receiving an aliyah. But I am in favor of her receiving an aliyah as opposed to partying,drinking,smoking,or worse. The alternative could be worse.
DISGUSTING !!!
We all know that we are going into a period in history that the world has been waiting for since creation, the last of the final steps before Moshiach reveals himself, and before the Geula Sheleimah Bekorov.
So lets wait and see what Hashem has planned for the Israeli government, who are trying to uproot the Torah, just sit back and wait it out.
I’m not sure why my post wasn’t approved, but the fact that it was Simchas Torah makes my question even stronger.
Is it assur?
#14- I think you should know that most posters here (and frequently YWN itself) have no interest in the true story if an opportunity to bash the IDF presents itself.
this is a daily accurance all over the world why all of the sudden is evreyone so upset people are just looking to bad mouth people who risk there lives for others!
Arutz Sheva posted the story today, with the facts as I described: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/172392#.UkrmhFVS2pg
#17 elishevatova – it’s from a shiur Rav Ovadia gave on a number of topics, which can be heard at http://www.ise.bgu.ac.il/faculty/kalech/judaism/ovadia_yosef.mp3 (MODS- PLEASE ALLOW – THIS IS A LINK TO A SHIUR BY RAV OVADIA). The issue of women getting an Aliya starts at around the 15 minute mark, and the specific quote is at around the 23 minute mark.
Rav Ovadia mentions that the Kavod Hatzibur issue is because having a woman lein implies that the men present can not – and they have a Chiyuv of Talmud Torah while she does not. He mentions that this may/does (hard to make out) not apply where there is one Ba’al Koreh, and the Oleh/Olah only makes the Berachos, as is the Minhag by Ashkenazim.
FWIW – I found this quote and got the reference from another website where this story was discussed – something I neglected to mention in my earlier post.
an Israeli Yid