Now we will see a bunch of talkbacks complaining that Haredim are taking over the army and THEY HAVE TO BE KEPT OUT!1!

It is good they are able to extend their service and study too. Much like the GI Bill here in the US in a sense. they aren't asking for anything free. They will add an extra year and study while serving, which I see nothing wrong with. Also good to hear they are getting more of their group to go to officers school as well. I am wondering if this would be an opt in program where they may choose to only serve two years instead of three, although the work study program sounds like a great idea to me.

assholes who constantly bitch against the religious. EAT SHIT YOU MFs My kids are religious and they are protecting your ass.. I am not religious so I can swear like a sailor.

Let's be honest: these guys are not really haredim, but either haredi dropouts, our Torani dati-leumi (hardal) who want a more "kosher" army experience.

You are in desperate need of anger-management lessons.

Exactly my sentiment, if i were to write that for sure the censors from Ynet would not allow that. Many times they will not allow my TB's while I never use cursewords.

High above the hills of Judea where we religious types still get heartburn thinking of the tens of thousands of haredi Torah scholars out there our tax money are paying for, while our religious kids do either hesder or 3 years or more (lots of officer types out here in Judea). The haredim still believe their parnasa comes from my tax money and not their hard work. They still believe that every haredi shlemiel is a talmid chacham worthy of an army exemption and worthy of our tax money in their pockets...and more accurately our tax money in the pockets of the big power broker rabbis who pull their strings. Bash Bash Bash!!! The haredi are so many ignorant sheep being led by corrupt and greedy "rabbis" who believe that the rest of us should work and bleed and die for them. No way. The time is coming when we'll give exemptions to true scholars, send only them to the best yeshivas and the rest of us shlemiels will work and support the few scholars. Until modern Israel came along, that's how the Jews always did it. Haredim always worked for a living and only sent their best to kollels. Today? They suck our bank accounts for all they can. Their leaders suck as much of the public purse as they can and tell us they're "defending" us by studying Torah all day all night all life while their wives work to support the kids. Bull-hooey!!! Let's see a three or four haredi DIVISIONS in the IDF. Yea - let's see 30,000 haredim puttin on the greens, taking a gun and getting up every morning for 3 years to defend aretz kodesh with the rest of us. Time to outlaw political rabbis until they build a strong israel for all of us, not just their own bank accounts. Humbug.

for attracting servicemembers who are dedicated to improving themselves and also just as dedicated to protecting Israel.

True that some are dati leumi and some are drop outs but there are authentic chareidim there

to integrate into the nation, taking on more responsibility and risk while the military needs to be flexible enough to allow them to become acceptable members of the IDF. This has been occurring on a graduated level. Part of the reason for the Charedi becoming increasingly involved is due to the fact that they are so far behind other citizens in terms of adaption to modern life and vocational attainments. another reason is that many Charedi youths are simply not suitable for a life of religious study. The IDF becomes a good way for such marginalized youths to become productive. There is, however, one main faction in Israel which remains largely unintegrated. This is the Arab (no Druse nor Bedouin) sector where very very few of their youths either join the IDF nor complete National Service. This state of affairs is neither good for the state nor the Arab Israeli population itself.

I'm glad to see these kharedim are not only serving, but giving an extra year. This is a great development and I can only hope more kharedim will take up defending the homeland along with their studies.

Are Haredi recruits placed in what are already essentially "Haredi" units? Is that a goal or policy direction? Curious

Kol HaKavod lahem! Now how many Haredi are still not serving in any fashion? And the secular are protecting YOUR @$$ as well. The entire picture is important; not just the small photo you choose to emphasize.

This is nothing special, just a step in the right direction. 650 heredim are possibly serving 3 yrs, last time I checked that is the norm for everyone else! While their service does deserve our respect just like anyone else who serves, the problem still remains that most opt not to serve.