What about the girls?
There is no reason haredi girls shouldn't do national service
The esteemed judges of our Supreme Court spent months considering the legality of the so-called Tal Law that grants a blanket exemption to ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students and grants a veneer of legality to the discrimination between secular and haredi boys.
But as usual, the men of the Supreme Court forgot one thing: The Tal Law is illegal for another, completely disconnected reason – it pointedly ignores half the population. For a brief moment, let us point the spotlight towards a corner of this debate that has heretofore been ignored: Why does the law require secular young women to enlist in the IDF or to serve in some other, recognized, national service capacity while excusing haredi girls from the same requirement?
Ongoing discrimination
Since the state was established, Israeli girls have been discriminated against by being required to enlist in the IDF, at the risk of arrest, imprisonment and other legal penalties should they refuse. But only secular women who sit in military jails endanger themselves with a black mark of a criminal record in future. Haredi girls of the same age, are not required to enlist.
I can recognize the potential spiritual, and even physical, need for an elite group of students to "keep the fire of our ancient texts burning," as haredi Knesset members and public figures said in response to last week's Supreme Court ruling. It is certainly appropriate to excuse an elite group of Torah scholars from military service in order for them to dedicate their time to studying the deepest secrets of Torah. Same goes for particularly gifted artists, dancers, athletes and musicians.
But what about the girls?
Teaching women Torah
Hundreds of thousands of haredi girls are free as birds from any and all civil responsibility, at a time when according to Halacha, they are not only exempt from the mitzvah of studying Torah, but they are forbidden to do so. "One should not teach women Torah because (it could lead to) sexual promiscuity," says the Talmud (Tractate Sotah), upon which comments Rabbi Elazar, "A man who teaches his daughters Torah is actually teaching her silliness.
The 12th century authority Maimonides adds: "A woman who studies Torah is rewarded for doing a mitzvah, but it is not the same as a man's reward, because she was not commanded to study." And Rashi, the 11the century sage sums the issue up: "By learning Torah a woman will learn to be cunning, and will figure out how to cheat on her husband."
What about the law?
As a woman who served three years in the IDF, it is not clear to me why I the state has burdened me with civil responsibilities while excusing other women my age who are not allowed to study Torah? The 1953 law making military service mandatory also provides a non-military national service option for woman, but who obeys that law?
I once wrote about this discrimination to Justice Tzvi Tal, who headed the commission charged with finding a solution to this problem. Here's the response I received:
"There is no connection between the Tal Law and women's service in the IDF. The exemption for women is enshrined in sections 39 and 40 of the military service law… when one of the explicitly stated conditions are met – such as marriage, pregnancy, motherhood, reasons of conscious or availability of kosher food.
"I would say that lawmakers recognized that in each of these cases there existed relevant reasons to justify different standards or discrimination. And, by the way, I consider the duty to serve a privilege, not unfair discrimination."
Let them serve
Alas, I do not share the judge's opinion. I believe the time has come to level the playing field with regard to rights and privileges of young women in our society, without regard to their religious beliefs.
If the haredim say their girls can't serve due to reasons of modesty, I'd be happy to create the conditions that would allow them to serve. Let them serve close to home, in their own communities. Let them do national service by serving the communities in which they live by working at old age homes, hospitals, helping the disabled or other such projects.
We should certainly provide options that would allow haredi girls to maintain their standards of modesty, but we should certainly not offer a blanket exemption from serving this country and our society.
Or I would propose a blanket exemption for all women from IDF service, and consider their service as voluntary, rather than as legally binding. One way or another, I am waiting for the brave female lawyer to come with me to the Supreme Court to right the wrong of discrimination against secular women. It's enough already.
Roni Aloni-Sadovnik is a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem
