Wanted: A Designer for the Beautiful National Service Garments

by Dr. Sarah Katan, gynecologist, teacher and author, translated by Hillel Fendel.

We are witness today to a small but growing trend in the religious-Zionist public of girls enlisting to serve in the army, and often in combat positions. Perhaps they feel a deep desire to take part in the same mitzvah that their male counterparts are engaged in when they leave the Torah study hall to wage the war of defense of Israel mandated by G-d in His Torah.

When a G-d-fearing young man puts on an IDF uniform for a mission of sanctity, it is like the garments of a Cohen (priest) in the Holy Temple. Is it the same for a young woman?

It would seem not. When a woman puts on male garments, this is a violation of the Torah's commandment not to cross-dress (Deut. 22,5). But does this apply to an IDF uniform?

The IDF khaki has a magic about it that arouses general national pride and nostalgia. From back in the days of the Haganah and Palmach, when women fought shoulder to shoulder with their brothers in arms, they had perfect faith that they were fulfilling a historic mission. The romantic image of a smiling, female warrior with the sun on her face, with a pony tail, light shirt, and a Sten gun flung over her shoulder, is implanted deeply in our national memory. So, too, are exemplary role models such as Chana Senesh (a young Zionist pioneer captured by the Nazis while on an Allied mission) and the many unknown females who guarded their isolated villages under Arab fire, with courage and great dedication. The nostalgic image of a proud woman fighter standing together with the male soldiers became a national symbol.

By Order: No Women in Combat

However, at some point during the War of Independence, after several instances in which the Arabs specifically targeted female fighters, the IDF-in-formation adopted a standing order that women may not be sent into combat. This order was preserved for decades – up to the "victory of progress" in our generation.

When we peel away the layer of glory of military service, a complex reality is unveiled, one that must be studied calmly and professionally. Let me introduce you to Dana, a young female combat soldier whom I met in my clinic, after she had undergone four orthopedic operations for ligament tears in her knees and ankles. With tired eyes she told me how she had dreamt of being a combat soldier, and then how the dream collapsed around her: "I couldn't get myself up out of bed in the mornings, but I kept on pushing myself – until my body left me with no choice but to stop."

As a women's doctor who has accompanied many young girls, my professional opinion is this: Combat duty is not good for women. A woman's body is made, first and foremost, for pregnancy and birth, and is certainly not built for loads and strains, as is a man's body. Her pelvis is wider, the angle of the knees is sharper, and the proportion between her muscle mass and fat mass is different. A woman's muscle mass, on the average, is some 30% lower than that of a man of enlistment age. These and other factors render the woman's mobility vulnerable to damage when under high pressure and continued load-bearing efforts. Women tend to suffer more knee ligament tears, stress fractures in the tibia (shin bones), and pains in the hip joint caused by accelerated cartilage degeneration.

And if all that is not enough, bone mass is relatively low in women aged 18-21, which can contribute to compression fractures in the spinal vertebrae. Her hormonal system is much more vulnerable to physical and mental fatigue, and sometimes also mood swings due to stress and extreme efforts. The situation not only reduces quality of life, but also risks long-term health risks; future bone mass density is harmed, increasing the risk of osteoporosis.

The Ladder Aside the Wall

In addition, women's muscles and tendons do not react as men's do to intensive physical training. Heavy loads and the like contribute to a high propensity to chronic tendon infections, shoulder tears, and ongoing lower back pain. IDF studies have shown that women require medical evacuation at twice the rate of men during infantry training courses. This must give us pause. In recent years, more cases of injuries in the pelvic area have been documented for female soldiers, starting with bruises to the pelvic bones because of falls, and ending with injuries to the pelvic floor that are liable to lead impaired quality of life. Carrying heavy equipment, long runs, and repeated falls are all liable to cause future damage to these women.

Even young women who ostensibly meet the same physical requirements as men, in actuality don't fill them. The army actually bends its own rules in order to show results that will fit the progressives' needs. Remember the small ladder that was placed against the wall so that the girls could climb over it just like the boys? Incredibly, the officers in charge of that training exercise actually thought it was a good idea to make believe that the females had passed the test. By what right does the IDF promote moves that endanger the quality of combat?

Our female high school graduates must know and internalize: National Service – in hospitals, schools, communities, and the like – is not a lesser form of helping our country than is military service. National Service, called Sherut Leumi, provides a framework in which young women can contribute and assume responsibility to a high degree, without dangers of physiological harm.

And all this is without reference to the spiritual and Halakhic problems females face when serving the armed forces, from which they are largely saved in the various National Service frameworks.

In my opinion, the girls must be enabled and encouraged to make an intelligent choice, based on medical and other information. They must not be fooled into thinking that serving in the army will provide them with absolute equality. True equality, rather, is when each girl is given the opportunity to know and to choose.

Not to mention: Do we really want to be "equal?" Men and women are different in their very essence – and this is a good thing.

My heart skips a beat when I see you, soldier of Israel, adorned with a long beard and sidecurls, dressed in an IDF uniform, with a countenance of grace. It brings to mind the Yom Kippur prayer, "Truly how wondrous was the look of the High Priest when he emerged from the Holy of Holies after having atone for Israel." I'm now busy looking for a talented dress designer to fashion garments for the wife of the High Priest, for the girls of the National Service.

Unwanted Foreign Funding

Adapted from an article in Besheva magazine by Nitzan Kedar, journalist and author, translated by Hillel Fendel.

A Congressional inquiry is underway into U.S. financial intervention in Israel's affairs and attempts to sway it leftwards. Both the U.S. and Israel Tell Sources, "Mind Your Own Business!"

During the seemingly long-ago era before the infamous October 7^th and the ensuing war in Gaza, one of the issues that the Israeli nationalist camp was focused on was that of foreign funding for the left-wing anti-judicial reform protests. Some claimed that various foreign entities were involved in fueling the anti-government unrest, while many dismissed these claims as fake news.

It now turns out that the smoke in this case seems to have signaled a bona-fide fire – and the U.S. Congress is taking action. Various steps are being taken in both Israel and the United States both to prove that this funding happened - directed against the sitting Israeli government and against objectives that Israel seeks to advance - and also to cut off significant portions of it.

American Money for Intervention in Israel

In recent months, with relatively sparse media coverage, a Congressional investigation into these monies has been underway, spearheaded by Representatives Jim Jordan and Brian Mast. As of now, the relevant committee (actually, two committees working as one) has revealed that the Biden Administration provided grant funds to groups that contributed, directly and indirectly, to the widespread protests in the year before the war, and at other times, that sought to undermine the Israeli government. In addition, according to the committee, documents obtained during this investigation suggest that the Biden-Harris Administration funded groups with ties to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.

In March of this year, the Congressional committee sent letters to six U.S. and Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to request documents related to any grants, cooperative agreements, or other awards received from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or the State Department. The NGOs are: Blue White Future, Movement for Quality Government in Israel, Middle East Peace Dialogue Network, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, PEF Israel Endowment Funds, and Jewish Communal Fund.

Almost all of them are associated with left-wing, liberal, and/or progressive causes, such as the two-state solution and opposition to the Netanyahu government, although the last two are merely "donor-advised" conduits for various causes, including many associated with the left-wing camp.

As many members of Congress allege, U.S. government funding of these groups is most certainly an acute case of official meddling in internal Israeli affairs. The legislators are greatly concerned, mainly because, as they say, American taxpayers want to see their money being used for their own affairs and not those of other countries.

The committee sent letters last month to some of the above NGO's, alleging that Blue White Future received some $18 million from the PEF Israel Endowment Funds as well as approximately $4 million from the Middle East Peace Dialogue Network. The Congressmen maintain that though the organization denied receiving direct funding from the U.S. government, it did not provide documents proving the nature of the funding from third-party funds.

The Jordan-Mast Congressional committee also demanded that The Abraham Initiatives – a Jewish/Arab Israeli organization that says it seeks to "guarantee and protect the full citizenship and equal rights of its Palestinian citizens," and wants Israel to "exist peacefully alongside an independent, sovereign Palestinian state" – reveal information on grants it received from the Administration, including $375,000 from the State Department in 2021.  The Abraham Initiatives was also asked to detail its connections with Blue White Future, the New Israel Fund, and others. Tides Network, another left-leaning donor-advised fund, was similarly asked to explain a $25 million grant it received from USAID.

Jordan and Mast spelled out their accusations clearly: The Biden Administration gave money with the purpose of "trying to undermine the democratic government of Israel." They noted that "the use of federal grants in this way not only endangers the relationship between the United States and one of its closest allies, but also undermines basic civil liberties." This could even constitute a criminal offense, they said, and requested the organizations’ cooperation for an official investigation.

A main player in the investigation is USAID – a U.S. government body alleged to have transferred millions of dollars to organizations connected with terrorist orgs and anti-Semitic groups. This is largely why the Trump Administration recently took significant actions to dismantle it, effectively halting its operations. On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order freezing nearly all U.S. foreign aid for a 90-day review, and it was announced soon afterwards that the lion's share of USAID’s global staff would be placed on administrative leave or terminated.

A Legislative Bill in Israel

Similar efforts to stop foreign intervention in Israel are being taken in Israel itself. Likud MK Ariel Kalner is sponsoring a bill to levy an 80% tax on donations from foreign countries to Israeli associations and organizations. The law would also forbid Israeli courts from hearing suits brought by associations funded mostly by foreign countries. (Both of these rules will not apply if the funded org is also supported by Israel.) The Finance Minister and Knesset Finance Committee, according to the proposed bill, will have the joint right to exempt the 80% tax if "special" conditions apply.

MK Kalner explained: "The bill is intended to completely dismantle organizations that violate laws, such as the law against BDE, or that call for disobedience to IDF orders… But we have no issue with [countries] that fund organizations dealing with their culture or aid to Holocaust survivors. It's organizations that file petitions in courts, create protests, or lobby for political causes that are problematic. Therefore, any organization receiving foreign funding will have to declare that it is not using that money for anti-Israel activities."

Kalner says the problem has long been very extensive: "Since 2012, more than a billion shekels have been funneled to associations that advanced political agendas in Israel, creating the idea of 'settler violence,' calling for sanctions against residents of Judea and Samaria, and promoting the two-state solution. Even the campaign that seeks to emphasize supposed 'religious coercion' in Israeli society was funded, according to our understanding, by the German government."

Incredibly, Kalner notes, "Israel's Supreme Court has been flooded with some 1,000 petitions over the past eight years on these types of issues. It is mind-boggling that these organizations continue to function here with foreign funding, especially, as we recently saw, regarding the protests against the judicial reform and, consequently, against the duly-elected government of Israel. This is why this bill is genuinely part of our ongoing struggle for independence; it seeks to preserve the sovereignty of the State of Israel."

Asked whether the Biden Administration had attempted to block the bill from being passed, Kalner answered in the affirmative: "This happened when I first raised it, in May 2023. The Americans, together with European countries, pressured strongly against it. This is why I raised it against immediately after Trump took office this year, with the understanding that in the U.S. they also are trying to counter this trend."

"The associations are also very much against this bill," Kalner said. "This is a problem that not only we are suffering from; I heard from officials in Hungary and Slovakia that foreign countries are trying to meddle in their internal affairs as well."

With both the U.S. and Israel working to stop the worrisome trend of foreign intervention in other countries' affairs, transparency regarding the issue is on the rise. The more we see associations of a particular political bent opposing Kalner's bill, the sharper is our realization that dealing with this problem is both important and inevitable.