Haredim want women – even female IDF officers – banned from all
public ceremonies and performances haredi soldiers might have to attend
due to “immodesty” and due to a derivative rabbinic law that forbids
males to hear a female sing. (Males can hear a group of females sing or a
female sing a religious, rather than a secular, song according to most
normative understandings of that law, but haredim reject those
interpretations.)
Haredim Want IDF To Ban Female Soldiers From Some Public Roles, IDF Refuses
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Several months ago, the IDF promised haredim that it would institute changes to accommodate haredi draftees, including food with haredi-approved kosher supervision, and male-only military bases for haredi units, even though so far there really aren’t any haredi draftees. (The few haredim in the IDF are enlistees, not draftees, and most “haredim” in haredi units are not really haredim, as several recent media reports have shown.)
Haredim also want women – even female IDF officers – banned from all public ceremonies and performances haredi soldiers might have to attend due to “immodesty” and due to a derivative rabbinic law that forbids males to hear a female sing. (Males can hear a group of females sing or a female sing a religious, rather than a secular, song according to most normative understandings of that law, but haredim reject those interpretations.)
The IDF says it has rejected that demand.
“We expect to double the number of haredim in the next four years but this will not occur at the expense of females [serving] in the IDF,” the IDF’s Chief of Personnel Branch Major-General Orna Barvibai reportedly told Channel 2 TV’s Meet the Press, adding that women soldiers and officers will continue to perform in IDF entertainment shows and will continue to provide educational content for soldiers – including for haredi soldiers and haredi units. There will not be any IDF ceremonies that do not include women, she said. “The induction [of haredim] will cost the nation but it is a price worth paying. We do not wish to give up on this potential induction base.”