Firstly, I am not an Israeli. I am not even Jewish. And I`m nowhere near being religious. But I believe in morality, ethics, honesty, principles, and sacrifice. I respect the garbage collector the same as the doctor taking my blood pressure, after all, we live in a ...society. And by choosing to live in that society, we are obligated to adhere to it`s tenets. Benefits & responsibilities go hand in hand, whether we like it or not, or else the society simply devolves into self-serving interests. This "religious" girl is honest in her trumpeting her status as independent from the citizens` debt gladly paid by others, while she gleefully enjoys her "insular lifestyle". She serves herself very well,...but as the Torah so clearly says, "...if I am only for myself, WHAT am I?" Selfishness cloaked in an Orthodox facade. Simply pathetic.

Living in NY with a name like Manny and not Jewish ? Knowing what the Torah says ? Actually it was one of our sages and it is not from the Torah "if I am not for myself then who shall be for me If I am only for myself then what am I And if not now, when . Words of wisdom Manny, profound wisdom. She is a disgrace.

Firstly the orthodox have the biggest % of Kravi fighters and your city has one of the lowest % of citizens joining the army and many who do are jobnicks. The orthodox are hated because they stand for something and live by their beliefs. Unlike you in TA who would only support the country when you are attacked in your own city but if it gets too bad you are willing to leave and find better life. The orthodox on the other hand lose their homes, children etc and are still willing to give everything up to fight for this country and what it should stand for.

the hills of Colorado - why is he silent now? He uses every single article with no connection to the secular/chiloni divide to whine about how the orthodox are maligned. And now with this crap - nothing? Time to admit that there is dreck on both sides of the religious/secular divide.

Oy shes so pretty too. ah zah zise poonim hoste. I guess we can see why Ynet published this. Tali may still be young and doesnt quite understand all the issues. But reading what she says reminds me what a JAP would say thats a Jewish American Princess. So I guess she may now be a JIP. ermm Can I be your Prince? haha. She still gorgeous I dont care what anyone says lol. Farkash? egy Magyar layn?

A kosher strictly Orthodox draft dodger Who will end up having ten kids. Good luck.

Tali has every right to refuse for whatever reason she chooses, reguardless of what the rest of you think. Shame on all you critics for slamming her so badly. I'm sure the fate of Israel is not going to pivot on this womans decision. It sounds like she has a very strong character to be able to say NO in the face of peer pressure. You wouldn't want to depend on her in a battle situation if her heart isn't into it. Women are different than men. They should be exempt from military service.

I think that you are right. I do not see how your coffee making skills or hanging around at the mall can be considered a contribution to the country. The IDF was design not to loose rather than to win. Good for you. Remember, you cannot soar like an eagle when you fly with a bunch of turkeys.

Unbelieveable! MAYBE religious people have a good reason to skip military service, but you, Tali, definitively not! You accept others to give at least 3 years of their life, if not actually their life, for the country you live in. But you see no problem in running from your most important responsibility! You are a disgrace to Israel. Thank God not everyone there thinks like you, or you'd be speaking... you wouldn't be speaking, you'd be dead.

YTali You've missed a great opportunity to serve Gd by joining the team that protects our people and gives confidence and strength to Jews throughout the world. Perhaps the highest calling. Thankfully many religious Jews do serve in the IDF. Currenly the majority of the officers in the IDF are religious, they consider their service a holy responsibility, give it their all, and get promoted. Tali Grow up!

with your 10-15 children if "womens' skeletons, and muscles are not cut out for long physical efforts."??? I mean the first pregnancy will be too hard for you if you are this frail. I personally only have 3 children & I am here to tell you getting all of them & the pram & the usual paraphanalia that they bring home from gan & not forgetting some groceries up to the second floor apartment is a bit of a drain yet when I get home I still have to find the energy to tend to them, clean the house & stay on top of the washing. Maybe God blessed me with a more manly frame of muscles?!?! Having read your previous article I knew as soon as I saw your picture that I really should not read this article but I went against my better judgment & thought I would give you a chance to redeem yourself. Needess to say I will NOT be reading any more of your tripe. Good Luck getting a shiduch dear, I am not to sure that you will seem like such a good catch with your very selfish & spoilt attitude! Being part of life you have to put others before yourself to make a difference in this world. Thank you & God bless all of our soldiers both male & female that protect us tirelessly & God bless their parents who taught them well. chag sameach

Many jobs in the IDF require brains not muscle. In a comparison of performance, many female soldiers equal or exceed their male competition: military intelligence, training instructors, nurses... Tali is correct that the IDF does not do a good job in processing recruits. The strength of character a recruit is all that saves that recruit from a feeling of failure or hopelessness. Tali has an 18th century attitude towards the woman's role in the iDF that must operate in the 21st century. mioshe, Israel

You really understand nothing about the military on almost every level. I ended up in the IDF at 25, serving a year in a combat unit, which I didn't have to do by the way. Busted my ass and earned an immeasurable amount of prestige and respect for the better because of it, here and abroad. I certainly don't expect you to understand any of it, after all, you'll spend the rest of your life cleaning & cooking with your legs up in the air popping out kids just like you, G-d help us.

if everyone would have your oppinion, who will take care of your settler kids getting "safely' to and from??? My kids are suffering all what you are recounting just so that people like you can criticize freely in this country of all us. Shame on you for not doing civil service. there is no quits. Who is feeding your brat with the social security money, my salary !!!! Shame shame on you specially on the holidays where my kids are trying to upkeep your safety, which you do not deserve.

From one religious girl to another, what a horrific light you have just painted religious women in. While I chose not to do military service for a number of reasons, religious considerations being primary, I still served my country. While my brothers and sisters were putting on a uniform and defending the borders, I was helping internally. I did Sherut Leumi (national service), created SPECIFICALLY for women who have religious problems with the female role in the army. I received a pittance which was barely enough to live on and worked with new immigrants, helping them find their way and become active members of Israeli society. Your claim of pride at avoiding any type of service is sullied by your selfishness. There are so many ways you could have served your country, but instead you chose to brag how you did precisely the opposite. Please leave. Why should my brothers be risking their lives in the Israeli army for the likes of you?

As a woman, I completely resent the way you seem to "represent" women in your article. It is very clear that you don't understand women nor their role in the military-and that includes religious women. It is clear that you have never lifted a finger to help anyone other than yourself, or you would doing national service right now instead of complaining about something that you aren't doing anyways. Being religious or a woman does not exclude you from participating or giving back to the country in which you live.

She doesn't look very orthodox either.

If you are too cowardly, lazy, and treacherous to contribute to the defense of Israel, at least have the decency not to run around shooting your mouth off, you little nothing.

I am not going to rattle on about whether you made the right decision or not. Quite frankly, it is none of my business. However, I do want to comment to you about "the surreal situation, sitting with foreign nationals, handicapped, and other special cases." Well, let me tell you something. My daughter is "a special case." She wasn't needed in the IDF, in fact, she was exempted. But, she decided she wanted to be part and parcel of the country she was born in, to give of herself in any way possible regardless of the position she may be offered. She was willing to simply make coffee for officers, clean up offices, clean toilets, wash dishes, etc., because she wanted to be in uniform and be proud of being "a special case in uniform." So, she volunteered !!! Well Tali, my daughter is in uniform and in the IAF. I cannot go into details about her position, but it is one of prestige, honour and respect. We are all so very proud of her achievements todate as she is too. The last six months have made her stronger, wiser and more mature. We are all grateful to the IAF for having given her an opportunity of a lifetime. Oh, by the way, she is seriously considering signing up for quite a few years....so don't knock it if you haven't tried it.

Hey Tali, guess what! I made aliyah 8 months ago and chose to be drafted into the army. As a 22 year old woman, I feel very content with my position in the army (doing hasbara for Israel) and even wear skirts! Guess what? No one has done or said anything to make me feel uncomfortable as a religious person in the army. I'm sorry you feel the way you do. I will do my part to make sure that in the future, my children will never think or talk like you....

I am not going to attack you. I will simply say that I feel very sad about you. How can you say all this things while IDF FELLOW COUNTRYMEN died, were kidnapped since the birth of Israel in 1948? I do think that Women should NOT serve in ANY ARMY at all. But, Israel is strong and will be strong because of its believes and most important, ´cos of its people. Certainly not you. Women are a great asset to Israel and to the IDF. Look, I´m a Jew from Argentina, and when I first visited Israel this last 2006-2007 December and January, I almost cried when I get to Ben Gurion, when I saw an IDF soldier in the streets, boys and girls, and I feel proud of being Jewish, that we have a state, and that every person in the IDF represents ME, AND ALL OF US JEWS IN THE WORLD! When I traveled from Jerusalem to Haifa in a bus, an IDF soldier sat by me, and I felt amongst Brothers and Sisters. See.. there´s a connection between Diaspora Jews and Israel. I also can tell you that I would be honor to serve in the IDF, I don´t even mind what unit. I´m study Psychology and I´d like to work in Israel and the IDF. Remember... a Jew from Argentina. Why I would do that? Just for the professional experience? No. Because Israel in a way, is my home too, and I will Like to contribute to its safety, to its soldier, to its society. So I feel very sad about what you wrote in your article. Really really sad. What would Shalit, Regev and Goldwasser think of your article, or Ron Arad, in the hands of our enemies?? Sad... Very Very sad. Long Live Israel

She is right. Every man that wrote bad about this girl isn't a man in my book. I don't think women should have to serve. Everythink revolves around women their our mothers our sisters and to think about them being hurt physically or mentally would make me crazy and we should be protecting them even more.I do think they should have at least basic training to learn to protect themselves.Let's keep women feminine in the end it's better for morale and maybe mankind. I'm glad in the end she did not get referred to as another green mattress.Way to go tali !

This is one of the most horrible articles I have ever read. Akin to the "rabbis" that traveled to Teheran. Who the hell are these people and what have they got to do with the Jewish people? Tali may you lay with vermin for the rest of your life, and then some. I think that is a line from the Talmud.

Having served in the military, and in an non-combat unit to boot, I can understand Tali's tone and message. The military is not in most cases a great place for women. In my own unit, women were forced to do the most menial work, as training them for anything that required actual capacity would take up too much of their already short service. The ladies I served with look back on their service as a warped waste of time. I have seen countless acts of sexual harassments, and can vouch for a general attitude of misogyny and denigration. And with a greater number of soldiers being made available to the service over the last few years, as our population has grown, I find it appropriate to expand opportunities for non-military service available to people such as Tali, for whom the military would clearly be a less effective use of time, both for her own development and the country. Its not like the schools and hospitals and welfare programs are overflowing with labor resources. (No, I’m not just writing this to disagree with my dad… !)

"all israel are responsible one for the other". tali, the question isn't whether you like the army, or whether the army likes, or needs you. at a time when israel is under attack, the question everyone must ask is: " what can i be doing to help?" because if you're not helping, what right do you have to expect the protection of the state, and more particularly, of the army, in which you choose not to inconvenience yourself? i have far more respect for the intelligence and integrity of the druze community that insisted on the right to join the idf, than the orthodox (men or women) who think they are too good to serve.

Hie - I think it's wonderful what you've done. I agree with you and have been told before that in the army you have to really press hard to find a good place in the army but that it's worth it in the end. You are a great example to kids like my daughter who's going into the army soon. She said she's going to aim for somewhere that she can contribute rather than just settle for what there is. Although she's very nervous about it, she realizes that it's better to do her service and have it done, knowing that she has contributed her bit to her country. Thank you for your contribution to this site in giving hope to others.