While the IDF is trying to promote the Chashmonaim Brigade as the ultimate solution for integrating bnei yeshivos into the army, voices from within the defense establishment itself are raising doubts about the unit’s ability to absorb mainstream Chareidi recruits, Kikar H’Shabbat reported.
Former senior defence official and financial consultant to the IDF chief of staff, Brig. Gen. (res.) Re’em Aminach, who learned at a Chareidi yeshiva in the past, said on the Black Kippot program that the brigade’s current structure is far from meeting the needs of a typical yeshiva bochur.
“There needs to be truly Chareidi brigades—ones where a Chareidi mother who sends her son can be certain he will return Chareidi exactly as she sent him,” he said.
He clarified that the problem begins at the command level: “The staff in the Chashmonaim Brigade is ‘Chardal’ (an acronym for חרדים לאומיים, referring to the Dati Leumi sector). Some of them may be more learned or makpid than her son—but that’s irrelevant. She wants a Chareidi son, and this staff does not represent the Chareidi value system she wants for him.”
“The current Chashmonaim Brigade is not suitable for the average Chareidi bochur—it’s suitable for those on the margins,” he asserted. “If you were in a dropout yeshiva—it’s fine. But if you came from Ponevezh or Ohr Elchanan? It’s not suitable. The unit simply isn’t designed for that.”
Aminach’s remarks carry particular weight due to his personal background. As someone who studied in a Chareidi yeshiva, he understands the nuances between the Chardal sector and the mainstream Chareidi world—a distinction he argues the military is failing to grasp.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
