Military Service
Religious Jews in Israel are obligated to serve mandatory service in the IDF, like all other adult Jewish males in Israeli society. Certain segments of Orthodoxy defer their service in order to engage in full-time Torah study. Religious Zionist thought advocates that both are critical to Jewish survival and prosperity.
For this reason, many religious Zionist men take part in the Hesder program, whereby they are able to combine military service with Yeshiva studies. Others attend a pre-army Mechina, delaying their service by one year. 88% of Hesder students belong to combat units, compared to a national average of below 30%. In November 2010 the IDF held a special conference which was attended by the heads of Religious Zionism in order to encourage female religious Zionists in order to join the IDF. The IDF promised it would make sure that all modesty and kosher issues will be handled in order to make female religious Zionists comfortable.
While some religious Zionist women serve in the army, most choose national service, known as Sherut Leumi, instead (working at hospitals, schools and day-care centers).
Read more about this topic: Religious Zionism
Famous quotes containing the words military and/or service:
““My ancestors were all famous for military genius.”
My Lady smiled graciously. “It often runs in families,” she remarked: “just as a love for pastry does.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“The more the specific feelings of being under obligation range themselves under a supreme principle of human dependence the clearer and more fertile will be the realization of the concept, indispensable to all true culture, of service; from the service of God down to the simple social relationship as between employer and employee.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)