“The new track, nicknamed ‘Prime Minister's Office,’ will begin in September with five young women who have passed the army's rigorous testing for the highest levels of intelligence work,” reports Rabbi Ohad Tehar-Lev, director of Hadas. “Like the participants in the existing education and intelligence tracks, participants will study for nearly a year at Midreshet Lindenbaum, serve in the IDF for one-and-a-half years, return to the Beit Midrash for five months to ‘recharge their spiritual batteries’ and then carry out five more months of army service.”

Eager to work with Hadas soldiers, whose commitment to serving their country is strengthened by their intense Torah study, the IDF willingly accommodates this unusual arrangement, enabling Hadas soldiers to attend bi-weekly sessions on their bases with Tehar-Lev and other Lindenbaum teachers, where they discuss issues relating to religious observance and army service. “These encounters are a compulsory part of their schedule,” stresses Tehar-Lev. “The combination of Torah and army develops a strong inner complexity and profound spiritual depth.”

Tehar-Lev believes that the desire of so many young, religious women to serve in the IDF stems from the growing trend of advanced Torah learning for women, a phenomenon spearheaded by Midreshet Lindenbaum over a decade ago. “Women are studying more,” he explains, “and more options are becoming available to them. They want to serve their country fully, just like their peers, but at the same time they remain dedicated to and immersed in the real Torah world.”

Even as they bring new ability and enthusiasm to the army, Hadas soldiers are also breaking down the barriers between religious and secular Israelis. “Many people on my base had literally never met a Torah-observant person before,” recalls Eliana Gertz, 20, who recently completed two years of intelligence work. “As we lived and worked with the other soldiers and developed close friendships with them, we were able to successfully shatter many of the negative stereotypes that they had about the religious population. At the same time, in order to answer questions that were raised by our secular peers, we were forced to think a lot about issues that we had never really thought about before and formulate decisive and well-articulated positions on a host of subjects.”

	Hadas Education Corps soliders  at a recent course graduation where, once again, the Outstanding Student Award was bestowed upon a Hadas participant: Devorah Geldman (left).