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OTS Newsletter - Winter/Spring 2006HADAS: Bridging the Gaps For the past eight years, the Hadas program has been providing young religious women with the opportunity to serve their country as soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces without compromising their religious identity and practice. In doing so, they are not only finding personal fulfillment, they are also serving as bridges between the various sectors of Israeli society.
This past summer wasn’t an easy one for us,” reveals Rabbi Ohad Tehar-Lev, director of the revolutionary Hadas Program at Midreshet Lindenbaum, which has been sending motivated, religious girls into the Israeli army for the last eight years. “Seventeen of our students were involved in one way or another with the disengagement from Gaza. It was not an easy time for anyone in Israel.” Many of the Hadas soldiers, like their peers, struggled with their responsibilities to the army on the one hand, and their sympathies for the residents of Gush Katif on the other. Tehar-Lev supported them every step of the way, encouraging them and even providing them with counseling. In this way, the outstanding women participants of Hadas were offered a means to rise above the conflict, ultimately serving as a vital bridge in the torn and divided country. “Hadas is a microcosm of what went on in Israel during the disengagement,” explains Rabbi Tehar-Lev. “Our girls were in the army, and they had no choice but to serve their country faithfully, but some of them are from families of settlers. We even have a few in the program who were from Gush Katif. All in all, it was a very emotionally difficult experience,” he says. Tehar-Lev is now involved in trying to mend the rift in Israeli society by bringing together girls who were evacuated from Gush Katif with those who participated in their evacuation. “This is a new beginning for us,” he says. “These young women have the opportunity to be a bridge in society, to heal some of the fractures that were caused by the disengagement. As extraordinary soldiers and Torah-observant role models, they can bring us back together.” Meanwhile, another new beginning is taking place at Hadas with the launch this year of a new track: the top-secret General Security Services (GSS).
Moriah Meidler, an 18-year-old from Rechovot, chose this track despite knowing that it would be challenging. “I wanted a year of learning before I started the army so I can be stronger in my connection to Torah and Hashem,” she explains. “You never know what you’ll encounter in the army, and I want to be prepared spiritually.” Participants in GSS track began this first year of learning in September. After a year-and-a-half of army, they will return to the beit midrash for five months of study, capping off their Hadas experience with a final five months of IDF service. “I consider it a great privilege to have been given this amazing and unique opportunity to combine all of the things that are important to me,” says Moriah, “contributing to my country through service in a top-notch IDF unit, intensive Torah studies and social interaction with people like myself as well as people from completely different backgrounds.” Learning side-by-side with both the new recruits and the Hadas participants in the middle of their service are women who have finished the program but have chosen to return to the beit midrash for further study. “After the army, people travel all over the world to find themselves and experience new things,” says Ruth Tsuria, who finished her service in the army Intelligence Corps. “Instead of going to India or the Far East, I’m finding myself and having my growth experience right here in the midrasha.” Indeed, the serious learning atmosphere was one of the program components that initially led Ruth to choose the Hadas program. Looking back on her time in the army, the 21-year-old credits Hadas with preparing her completely to adjust to the secular environment. “But one of the most important things we learned at Hadas was the value of Kiddush Hashem [the sanctification of God’s name],” says Ruth, who still maintains contact with many of the non-observant friends she made in the army. “I found that my secular peers were interested in my way of life, my opinions and so on. With one officer, I had a regular havruta learning session, which represented his very first encounter with a traditional learning of the Tanach,” she relates. Says Ruth: “I wish there were more programs like this in Israel, providing more options for young women to really make a difference in society.”
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