A question of service

Shortly after we moved to Israel my daughter asked me an interesting question.  She wanted to know if I thought she should do Shirut Leumi (national service) or go into the army when she turned 18.

For those not familiar with some of the background issues that might prompt such a question, a little explanation might be in order.

Technically, at age 18 everyone in the country is drafted into the army... boys for three years and girls for two. 

However, in reality there are a number of exemptions of which various members of Israeli society avail themselves.  The one that comes into play here is the exemption provided to religious women. They were given this blanket exemption because many of the army units have very close intermingling of the sexes and living conditions that are not optimal from a modesty standpoint.  There are also those for whom women in the army is simply not religiously permissible. Full stop.

While not mandatory, many of the young women who opt not to serve in the army end up volunteering for one or two years of shirut leumi (national service) instead.  This national service can be anything from working in a hospital... to teaching underprivileged kids in a development town... to monitoring security cameras in an underground bunker.  A few even do their service abroad as counselors in foreign youth programs.

It is worth noting that because there are more women in the army than are absolutely necessary for staffing needs, non-religious girls can also request not to serve... but they are technically not entitled to the exemption.  I suppose a lot of whether a secular girl can actually get out of serving in the IDF has to do with luck and protekzia (contacts).

For some religious girls the choice of army service vs shirut leumi is clear cut and there is no question about what they'll be doing.  However, many young women from the national religious segment of the population, like my daughter, see both as viable options.

So, when Ariella asked me what I thought about the subject I told her I honestly didn't have a clue... but promised to ask some of my trempisti'ot (female hitchhikers), since I frequently give rides to both female soldiers and girls going to and from their nation service assignments.

After a few months of talking with these young women I found out that those who are wavering between doing army service and shirut leumi usually do the following: 

During the year before an Israeli teenager is drafted there is a bit of competition among the various branches of the military for the best and brightest to fill the most prestigious and demanding roles in the IDF.  At the same time there is quite a bit of competition among the candidates for these positions.  So these undecided religious girls go through the interview process with the various army units and take all the requisite tests just like everyone else and then wait to see what kind of a 'package' they are offered. 

If they are offered something challenging/rewarding... and if it is something that will not clash with their religious sensibilities, then they might choose to waive their exemption.  If it turns out that they will likely end up answering phones and serving coffee for two years, many opt to do something of more value to the country (and personally rewarding) through shirut leumi.

One young secular woman I spoke with was a little miffed that religious girls had the choice of whether or not to serve.  She also resented the competition for the plum positions in the army since the non-religious girls who weren't selected didn't technically have the choice of opting out of a less desirable job. 

I don't know how I feel about that argument since no institution in Israel exists as a pure meritocracy.  Everyone seems to know someone who knows someone else who is related to the person making just about any decision that matters in life. 

The army is no different. 

Not only are strings pulled all the time, but even after a kid goes into the army every parent has the phone number of their child's commanding officer... just in case they feel he/she is being mistreated!

So back to my research for my daughter's question.

I spoke with girls who had performed their national service in development towns doing all kinds of essential social service work with poor or underprivileged kids and adults.  I spoke with girls who had been assigned to security positions in sensitive civilian monitoring facilities... and I spoke with girls who had done their national service with the Jewish Agency helping with the education and absorption of new immigrant families.

I spoke with a religious female soldier who taught Merkava tank crews how to load and fire... and another who served as an army spokesperson... and still another who served in Air Force intelligence.  I spoke with a girl who taught young soldiers from 'problem backgrounds' how to read and write so they could become productive members of society after the army.  Another soldier I spoke with taught Hebrew to soldiers who were new immigrants and taught them about the culture of their new country.  They all said that they had been able to maintain their religious standards while in the army, although the tank instructor said that she couldn't wear skirts inside the tank.

I told my daughter about all of these women... but I also told her about one woman in particular. 

Every once in a while I have to go to the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv for meetings.  The first time I went there I excused myself from a meeting to use the restroom and promptly got lost.  While trying to find my way back to the meeting I wandered into the office of an IDF Major who was standing next to her desk and reading through some papers.  She was wearing a skirt whose hem touched the floor, her sleeves came down to her elbows, and her hair was completely covered with an army-green scarf tied in a fashionable manner.   She was so obviously religious... yet she was also a mid-ranking IDF officer holding a responsible position in the Ministry of Defense. 

I told my daughter about this woman, not because I have the faintest idea what she actually does, but because of something I hadn't thought of while talking to all of these other women.

The Army is an incredibly important part of the social fabric of Israel.  The experiences people have in the army - for good or bad - stay with them throughout their life.  More importantly, the army is the one place where people from all backgrounds are forced to live and work in close proximity to one another... so it is a fantastic educational opportunity. 

These days religous and secular don't have much interaction beyond finger-pointing.  In the early days of the State it was much more common for religious and secular populations to overlap.  Today mixed religious/secular neighborhoods are a rarity and there is a growing distrust along this fault-line in Israeli society.  The army is perhaps the last opportunity for religious and secular individuals to meet and find out that 'those religious/secular people' are not the enemy at all.

In the mean time, Ariella isn't in any great rush to make her decision.  After all, she isn't even 12 yet, much less 18!  But the fact that she and her friends are thinking and talking about such things tells me that I need to take her questions seriously.

I'm proud of her for asking any question that shows she wants to find her place in Israeli society... but I'm especially proud when a question of service is not about whether to serve... but rather how.