For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field (Job: 5:23). New group of ultra-orthodox graduates of the Nahal Haredi Brigade to establish agricultural villages throughout Israel.

The Israel Defense Force, or IDF, has long been nicknamed “the people’s army” because Israel has forced conscription for all citizens at the age of eighteen.  The Haredi (ultra-religious) community, however, has mostly applied for exemption from service on the basis of a clause instituted by Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion.  The clause, written to appease religious leaders at the time and gain their cooperation in the early days of the state, calls for the exemption of students for whom “Torah is their full-time profession.”  Since the Haredi community values Torah study over other occupations, most Haredi youth never serve in the army.

There are, however, notable exceptions.  Individuals who perhaps do not fit the mold in yeshiva (institution for higher Torah learning), or who see this form of national service as a positive value despite the community’s view, do enlist in the army, usually serving in one of the IDF’s all-Haredi units.  These units provide time for prayer services and Torah study, and serve food of a higher standard of Kosher (all food served in the army is otherwise Kosher).  They also provide religious and social support to a group that is often shunned at home.

Army service is difficult enough for members of the Haredi community, coming with the stigma that it does, but for some, discharge can be even worse.  The support systems that soldiers have access to during their service disappear after discharge.  For a Haredi soldier trying to return to the community, reintegration can be difficult, sometimes impossible.

A new initiative aims to address that.  Head of the Kibbutz Movement task force, Yoel Marshak, wants to create all-Haredi agricultural communities for the veterans.  “I met with the Haredi staff that serves the veterans of the Netzah Yehudah battalion, and I heard from them that the greatest struggle is not enlistment but discharge.  They have nowhere to go, and no one to turn to after discharge,” Marshak said, explaining the motivation behind this initiative.

The plan is to create training farms, where the Haredi veterans will undergo eighteen months of agricultural training, with the ultimate goal of building all-Haredi agricultural communities.  According to Marshak, the first training farm will be in the village of Brosh in the Jordan Valley.  Other training farms will follow.

“There are already over 300 Haredim who have served and have either signed up or expressed interest in the project.  It offers a solution to the rejection they experience in the Haredi community, the the persecution and hostility directed at them,” said Marshak.  “They will live within a Haredi framework and preserve their way of life, but they will farm and fulfil the commandment of settling the land [of Israel].  Perhaps a Haredi kibbutz will be established.”  Marshak claimed the project could tap a potential audience of about 3,000 Haredi veterans.

One of Netzah Yehudah’s rabbis said in an interview with Maariv newspaper, “Our boys have a problem returning to the community.  We take them from a Haredi environment, induct them into the IDF, but after their service, they have no horizon.  The intention here is the establish a Haredi settlement, a sort of ‘Nahal Haredi’.  My vision is to reach a [state of] working life, settlement in equality and cooperation, while preserving the Haredi way of life.”

To find out more about the unique brigade of ultra-orthodox combat fighters watch the video below or visit their Facebook page: