The ‘immunized integration’ of Religious-Zionists within Israeli society: the pre-military academy as an institutional model

Military and Religion

“…In addition, since the 2000s, the Military Rabbinate has expanded its role from providing religious services to the socialization of secular soldiers (Cohen et al 2016). It follows that, as in the case of the US military, the IDF allied with religious groups; the latter attempted to increase their stronghold just when the military was experiencing a process of liberalization and secularization largely reflected in the decline in motivation of the secular middle class (see Lebel 2016).…”

“…In Israel, charged with a strong motivation to sacrifice, religious conscripts and their institutional system of yeshivas pictured a nostalgic return to authentic military values and commitment to decisive victories. Inasmuch as they became more noticeable in the combat units, religious groups portrayed themselves as a new service elite, fulfilling the mission of a Jewish avant-garde vis-à-vis the older, secular, liberal elite which was also perceived as weaker (Lebel 2016).…”

“…Second, power relations in the military may be replicated in society. In the context of military-religion relations, for example, the increased integration of religious conscripts in the IDF created a young, religious generation claiming integration within the Israeli power elites, and discarding its previous marginalized status (Lebel 2016).…”

Soldiers and Scholars: Ritual Dilemmas among National Religious Combat Soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces

“…Second are the quasi-public rabbinic seminaries that many national religious students attend before their induction into the military. The seminaries offer pedagogical instruction in Judaism and are seen as providing the pietistic direction necessary in aiding students to withstand the spiritual rigors of service (Lebel 2016). These seminaries operate in a variety of frameworks for male students.…”

“…In this way, a Hesder student can very easily find himself serving alone in a larger unit of secular soldiers. These premilitary rabbinic seminaries, along with the military rabbinate itself, publish manuals (some pocket-sized, easily meant to fit in one’s rucksack or combat webbing) that discuss and delineate how a combat soldier is meant to behave when facing certain halakhic dilemmas (Lebel 2016; Cohen 2007).…”