A heart-warming sign that it's never too late. The third round of religious women enlisting in the IDF has begun. Over 120 religious women, aged 26-50, who had previously received an exemption from IDF service for religious reasons, enlisted last weekend for various roles in the IDF.
The majority of the group will undergo a two-week basic training and from there will be assigned according to their civilian professions: nurses, social workers, programmers, and more.
Some of them will immediately integrate into units that are already waiting for them without basic training, such as reporters – for the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, emotional caregivers – for the IDF Resilience Centers, managers – as deputy commanders, lawyers for the military prosecution, and even a pedicurist – for treating the feet of soldiers coming out of Gaza…
At the IDF enlistment center in Tel Hashomer, the women arrived with peak energy, leaving behind their homes, families, and children to take on the noble task. Many tears were shed there, but mainly a strong sense of mission. Everyone interviewed spoke about their immediate enlistment for the country, their desire to contribute to the war effort, and the great joy that they could do so even at a relatively older age.
With great excitement, the women took out their shirts, lifted their spirits, and many arrived accompanied by their husbands and children, this time not to see off a family member who was enlisting but to enlist themselves.
We went out to hear the voices from within: Yehudit Yares-Weinstein from Eitania took on the project and pushed the IDF to open the gates not only to specific professions defined by the Personnel Directorate.
Yehudit hopes that after basic training, she will be able to be assigned as a soldier in the B' stage department, which allows for the recruitment of religious women, and she will be able to push for more professionals or skilled women to enter the military units.
We also met Yiska Dekel, who is enlisting as a casualty officer. Yiska herself lost her brother Yishai Greenbaum, may his memory be a blessing, in the war, and she is determined to help families whose worlds have been shattered.
Hila Gonen, director of the Hosen Center in Sderot, enlisted in the Hosen Centers for bereaved families, families of the injured, the injured themselves, and more to provide therapeutic intervention for trauma and stress situations.
Many social workers will join the Home Front Command or serve as mental health officers, and nurses will be assigned to Ram 2 in hospitals or IDF clinics.
The third and largest cohort among all the cohorts will ensure that women with head coverings will not be a rare sight in the IDF.
Link to Srugims' video covering the emotional event: