"The enlistment of girls to the army is considered forbidden by Jewish law ..." SO HOW ARE THESE GIRLS "RELIGIOUS?" GIVING ANY KIND OF STAMP OF APPROVAL CAN EASILY BE MISCONSTRUED AS ACCEPTANCE. HOW MANY ABORTIONS ARE THERE IN THE IDF ANNUALLY? I HATE TO GUESS!

Hi Baruch, welcome back to the world after davening just yesterday that we should remove "sinat chinam" from our midst. Perhaps the very question you raise - "Religious?"- is apt for you as well.

General Stern says "...cohesion contributing to closeness." That's the problem. Too much closeness between officers and young women soldiers. That's why the IDF constantly suffers from rape scandals. Mixed-gender armies are not a good idea.

The Rambam lists as Prohibition 39 in his Sefer HaMitzvos that: Women are prohibited from wearing men's clothing including the wearing of armor and the carrying of weapons... Sorry, girls, but no army for you.

Girls should not go into the army to begin with, BUT those who do should be treated with utmost respect, not used as playthings or camp followers. More haredi men should go into the army and there would be no need to draft women.

there is no halachic prohibition for women serving the army in times of big danger. There are other poskim aside Rambam in the orthodox world I understand they are a total nuisance, as far as I heard from male soldiers.

The future is black, not orange. We nee d to learn this. By the way, when did Ynet knight this guy as chief Rabbi? Makes me suspicious already.

Jewish women, either in military or elsewhere, are paramount to the prosperity of Jews, not merely our "survival". It's a shame it's taken so long for this to happen, but better late than never. It sets an higher ethical standard than countries that brutalize and murder their own daughters and sisters with heinous abuse and so-called "honor killings". Be proud of our sisters!

First off, as far as beged eash is concerned, maybe no one has noticed, but religious girls can wear army skirts that are tzanua. As for, carrying a weapon, maybe no one else has noticed, but in many parts of Israel, for eample, the gush, hebron, women carry guns due to pikuach nefesh. If its okay then, then to carry a weapon in the army that defends the land of Israel, also seems okay. And if a gun is kli eash, then a minivan is kli easha. Shomer shabbat in the army? not a problem. shomer kashrut in the army? not a problem. If interaction with men is the problem, then I wonder how learning from male insturctors for magen david adom in sherut leumi is justified. There are many roles in the army, that prefer women due to a womans nature. Teachers, for example. And what about Yael? Devorah? The obligation to defend the jewish people and the land of Israel rests on the entire Jewish nation, not just men. Dafka because someone is religious, whether male or female, they should serve in the army, thus playing a part to ensure the survival of the jewish people in our land and bring us closer to mashiach. "leevshee beegdey tifartech ami"

How disgusting. Praising ANY PERSON, in the army of Moloch, as a "holy army".

YOU WROTE: "Rabbi Aviner: "Support religious girls who enlisted to IDF"" BUT THE ARTICLE THEN SHOWS CLEARLY THAT RABBI AVINER IS FIRMLY AGAINST RELIGIOUS GIRLS JOINING THE ARMY. WHY MUST YOU TAKE HIS KIND WORDS OF SUPPORT AND KIRUV TO THESE GIRLS (THAT ARE VIOLATING THE DICTATES OF THE TORAH THAT THEY WERE RAISED TO FOLLOW)- AND TWIST IT INTO AN ARTICLE MAKING THE RABBI SOUND LIKE HE SUPPORTS THEIR DECISION TO VIOLATE HALACHA??

than arabs. And Rambam if he were alive today would change his mind.Or would say men who do not wear armor and carry weapons should wear women's clothes,because they are not men.

a lot of people here are talking about the prohibition in halacha of women holding weapons. there is also a halacha that when there is a milchemet mitzva, all of israel must fight. only cohanim who serve in the temple are excused. so how does this excuse all the haredim (and others) who dont fight...even in the special nahal hardei units. because there are tens of thousands of perfectly healthy men who will not fight even though it is forbidden to refuse, then women will have to fight. and as for women not being allowed to wear mens clothes, the pants are specially made for women. and if there is a problem with that, why do haredi women wear mens shirts, even if specially made for women. they are still beged ish by the same standards

More interaction between religious Jews and secular Jews is a GOOD thing. My wife and I would never have become religious if we hadn't had M.O. friends and other "religious" friends that were warm and inviting, answered basic questions, and generally showed themselves as positive individuals. If the only "religious" imagery you have is the media/secular charicature of obnoxious Haredi (the Hareidi camp oftens misses demonstrating subtlety that causes people to panic when first exposed to religion). So many religious leaders worry that when religious Jews and secular Jews, the religious Jews will be drawn to the secular lifestyle... newsflash, the ranks of BTs demonstrate that the religious lifestyle competes fine in the marketplace of ideas. When religious Jews freely encounter secular Jews, secular Jews lose their stereotypes and become open. When it is forbidden fruit, the secular lifestyle seems fun... ooh, free sex and sports, sounds good, but ignore all the downsides... when you see everything, you see why we've kept our customers for 3000 years.

just a few concerns: women are generally asigned minor jobs in the army, some really disturbing, such as coffe makers, some "serve men" mentality are taken lightly by some chauvinistic "have a right on you" officials G-d forbid that a woman should be taken into captivity Pose a severe tziniut problem at many locations They could be wasting biological reproductive years With all of this taken care of i see no problem in having women serving in the army. Even i would be far from encourage it.

Boruch - Erik already made my point, but I just wanted to 2nd his stance. There is no place for sinat hinam . If you insist on armchair quarterbacking from Brooklyn, at least do it in a positive way. These girls deserve support for their mesirat nefesh and tzionut - you obviously have the capacity for neither.