The Challenges of Being a Religious Soldier

Not long ago, a group of 60 Haredi soldiers who enlisted in "Netzah Yehuda," the previous name for the Haredi Nahal, arrived at Camp Sirkin in Petah Tikva. Originally, they enlisted in "Netzah Yehuda," but later they were attached to Camp Sirkin as a guard platoon. They received service conditions of a week on base and a week at home, and they were pleased to serve in a relaxed role. However, when looking at the results from a spiritual perspective, they are troubling, says Eliahu Lax, director of the Association for the Religious Soldier. Twenty of the sixty soldiers left religious observance, and even those who remained experienced numerous halachic issues. "This happened due to anti-religious pressures exerted by the camp's command staff," Lax states. "They claim that one of the senior officers really hates religion, and it indeed seems so. This is reflected in televisions in the rooms, the closure of the mehadrin kitchen, frequent encounters with female soldiers at the entrance, severe Shabbat issues like unnecessary jeep patrolling on Shabbat, and so on."

Three years ago, Lax, married and a father of eight residing in Jerusalem, established the unique association. In his daily life, he is self-employed in the food industry, but it seems that most of his hours over the past three years have been invested in assisting religious soldiers encountering problems in the IDF. He does this together with three partners: educator Rabbi Shlomo Goldreich, who guides the association on halachic matters, and two other partners from within the military system—one is an active duty officer, and the other is a former high-ranking officer.

"The association was founded three years ago, in 5769," recounts Lax, a National-Haredi in his outlook. "That year my son was drafted, and I was selected as a parent committee representative to support the soldiers. Within the committee, we saw many issues, even in the Haredi Nahal, concerning food supply, a mehadrin kitchen, promised but unmet Torah lessons, and more. For instance, there was a mehadrin kitchen that was closed and reopened due to our pressure. Today, we are no longer a committee but an association. We receive hundreds of contacts from soldiers every month, various and diverse requests."

Do you also assist religious soldiers who are not part of the Haredi battalions?

"Absolutely. Not long ago, I was approached by three young men serving in air defense who are Haredi and not ‘Shababniks’. They enlisted for a full three years because they hadn't heard about the Shahar project or Netzah Yehuda. They were drafted into the IDF, and when they reached the placement officer, they stated their religious needs: a place with a synagogue, no female soldiers, and Torah lessons. Initially, they were at the technical base in Haifa, and after the course, they moved to air defense posts in southern Israel, and then the problems began. They had no synagogue there, and after many requests, they were given a few prayer books and a Torah scroll, but it didn't help because there was no quorum. They could only dream of mehadrin food, and female soldiers were an issue in themselves.

"Last week, they went for a fun day at a water park. Soldiers and female soldiers went swimming together, and the company commander struggled to understand why they didn't participate in the activity. Their friction with their surroundings is very high, and I say that the time is not far off when they will leave religious observance if we do not extract them from there in time. Currently, the matter is under treatment, and I have transferred it to various bodies. We are trying to get them into the Shahar initiative, or Netzah Yehuda."

How do the commanders view your involvement?

"Everywhere, there are soldiers we've helped, and they report problems from everywhere. Gradually, the army sees us as an association that solves problems for religious soldiers in the IDF. I’ve heard that the top command of the IDF says about me, ‘Lax is no sissy’, because we are fighting for things that are veritably ‘life and death’."

One of the battles Lax was involved in behind the scenes was around the issue of women's singing in the IDF. He advised the religious soldier who appealed to the High Court on the matter and attempted to act in parallel with the commander of Bahad 1, albeit without much success. He also assisted and supported cadets from Bahad 1 who were dismissed from the officer course because they insisted on praying Shacharit despite their commander's orders. "The cadets went to bed very late one night after a certain event, and they were told to report for formation at 11:30 the next day," he recounts. "They set the alarm for 10:30 to have time to pray Shacharit before the formation. When they awoke to the alarm clock, they discovered everyone was getting up because the commander decided to advance the wake-up time to 10:30. They requested 40–50 minutes for prayer as usual in the morning, but the commander refused and said they had to attend the deputy commander's lesson—which you understand, wasn't even operational. They were tried afterward, and the trial was attended by the psychologist, platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander, and brigade commander. The psychologist, company commander, and platoon leader recommended not dismissing them, but the battalion commander was firm and decided to remove them from the officer course. We approached the soldier’s complaints commissioner, complained about the handling of religious matters at Bahad 1, and received a response that no suspicious findings were found on the ground. Since then, we've lost faith in the soldier’s complaints commissioner. By the way, we also filed a complaint against the rabbi of Bahad 1 because, in our opinion, he isn't doing his job. After all, he is supposed to ensure that prayer times are included in the base schedule. Until a year and a half ago, there weren't any times at all. In the past, prayers were held at the expense of sleeping time or breakfast. By the way, today, I can tell you that one of the cadets dismissed for prayer was my son, who will complete his military service in the coming weeks. He was in the Haredi Nahal and will be discharged next week. It should be noted that after being dismissed and returning to his original base, he was appointed as a platoon commander, even though he didn't complete the officer course." Lax says that more than once, he received offers from political figures to integrate into the system and receive government budgets to promote the issue more institutionally, but he firmly rejected the offers, mainly because they came with political agendas from figures who wanted to see as many Haredim as possible in the army and use the association as a fig leaf. "We unequivocally rejected it," says Lax. "We will not accept budgets from any official or governmental entity to avoid dictating our mode of operation. We do everything on a volunteer basis and without dependence on various bodies. Nowadays, I have connections such that I can move soldiers from place to place without too many problems, of course, if the reason is religiously justified."

In conclusion, do you think there's a place for the religious and Haredi soldier in the IDF?

"No. But I say no big! However, in the combat battalion of the Haredi Nahal, everything is quite orderly, and it can suit those who don't find themselves in the world of yeshivas and want to enlist voluntarily. In all other places—it's a blunder followed by a blunder, an incident followed by an incident. The army is not yet really ready to give the religious and Haredi soldier what they deserve. Mehadrin food is not everywhere; soldiers bring food from home; there are many places with female soldiers, and modesty is not maintained. A Haredi soldier can do night guard duty with female soldiers, and there are issues of seclusion here. Not long ago, a religious reservist had to go on a fence patrol, and they sent a female driver to him. He, of course, refused, and in her place, they sent a Druze soldier. Because he was a reservist, they let it go, but for regular soldiers, it's much more complicated. There are also female sports instructors who walk around the bases in short and civilian clothing. This poses a problem for some of the Netzah Yehuda soldiers who are at the entrance. This goes against the rules and agreements between the IDF and Netzah Yehuda."

Do you really think the IDF should recruit all Haredim, as some political entities claim recently?

"No. The IDF has nothing to do with the Haredim. The IDF is also not interested in it. This whole current campaign is driven by the political agenda of politicians against the Haredim. I know that in Tel Nof, there were until recently 10 Haredi soldiers sitting idle without any profession or role. Only a week ago, they were sent to a course. Some soldiers are sent to the police or the fire department, for instance. This merely indicates that the IDF has too many soldiers, so much so that they dispatch them outside its lines.

"Ultimately, the army does not consider the religious soldier. Often, commanders have no idea about their needs. It’s not always intentional—they just don't understand and don't know the background. The top command chain in the IDF wishes to align the enlistment of Haredim, but there is a significant disconnect between it and the lower command chain, and the instructions from the senior level are not being implemented. Sometimes it's out of ignorance, and sometimes different commanders deliberately mistreat the soldiers, making life very hard for them as religious Jews."