In a letter to a conference of yeshiva heads in Jerusalem, Rabbi Eliyahu Zini — head of a Hesder yeshiva in Haifa and uncle of Shin Bet chief David Zini — wrote that he told Defense Minister Israel Katz that the opposition to mixing female soldiers with yeshiva students is a matter of 'be killed and not transgress,' and that there will be no compromise. Channel 12 reported the letter.
Rabbi Eliyahu Zini, head of the Hesder yeshiva in Haifa and uncle of Shin Bet chief David Zini, has written a sharply worded letter to a conference of religious-Zionist yeshiva heads taking place in Jerusalem. In the letter, reported by Channel 12, Rabbi Zini states that he told Defense Minister Israel Katz that the opposition to integrating female soldiers with yeshiva students in the IDF is 'a matter of be killed and not transgress' — a halachic term meaning one must die rather than violate the prohibition — and that there will be no compromise.
The letter comes amid a growing debate over mixed-gender service in the IDF, which has seen opposition from prominent religious-Zionist rabbis. As The Zioneer has previously covered, the Shin Bet chief — Rabbi Zini's nephew — had earlier blocked a proposal to create separate IDF units for different Haredi communities, warning against 'factions.' Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, another leading religious-Zionist figure, recently called for a mass protest against the mixed-gender policy.
The statement by Rabbi Zini, a respected figure in the religious-Zionist community, signals that the opposition to the IDF's current policy remains strong and that senior rabbis are prepared to take a firm stand.
- DevelopingZamir calls for unity as rabbis threaten to bar students from tank units over mixed-gender pilot
- StrongPre-army seminary rabbis join hesder yeshiva heads in urging students to avoid mixed-gender units
- DevelopingForum Dvora warns IDF against yielding to rabbis' threats to bar women from service
- DevelopingRabbi Yaakov Ariel calls for mass protest against mixed-gender IDF service
Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
- Internal intake