On the heels of the controversy caused by Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, who last week said Jewish women become "not Jewish" after serving in the Israel Defense Forces, his associate, Rabbi Eli Sadan, came out in support of his sentiments. Sadan, together with Levinstein, is the co-director of the Otzem Pre-Military Torah Academy at Yeshivat Bnei David. "A woman has a special role, with gentleness and empathy and the great ability to listen -- not to fight and battle, but to listen and accept," Sadan said in a video aimed at students of the preparatory program and its graduates. Sadan said the program was established to help religious Zionist high school students integrate into the army and the defense establishment while safeguarding their observant identities, but "in the last two years, the army has been undergoing a process that for a moment has shaken the belief in this possibility. Factors from outside the military -- feminists, liberals, radicals, the New Israel Fund, and more -- have singled out the army as the place in which to shape the face of Israeli society, and set these processes into motion. We feel under attack." Sadan said Levinstein had been "upset, which led him to make statements that he himself does not agree with and has not taught for years." He also stressed that Levinstein has apologized, although this was for his manner of expression, not the opinions expressed. "In the midst of this crisis, I want to say that the battle for the image of Israel must take place in the Knesset, in the media, in the courts, and we encourage our graduates to enter these systems to be partners in influencing the face of Israeli society. But the preparatory program doesn't focus on fighting societal phenomena. The program has a goal: to build up the spirituality of the boys and girls so they will be able to integrate," Sadan said. Unlike Levinstein, Sadan referred to women who serve in the IDF the same way as other soldiers, including homosexuals, calling them "righteous." "We need to make a distinction. Anyone who serves in the IDF -- male soldiers, female soldiers, religious, secular, Reform, messianic, or people of the opposite orientation [gay] -- and is willing to spend three years of his or her life and risk his or her life for the sake of the people of Israel is righteous," Sadan said. However, he said that "a battlefield is no place for a woman." He said women are "capable of many things" and women had "fought with great valor" in the 1948 War of Independence and as Russian pilots in World War II. But a woman should not be "exposed to propaganda that teaches her how to kill." "Not because she isn't capable; she is. The question is whether this is a society we want to build. We want women to focus on their desire to bring life into the world, not to end life," Sadan said. "We want the army to remain the army that [first Israeli Prime Minister] David Ben-Gurion decided religious soldiers could serve in. Today, that's not what we have. There are units that have created a reality in which religious soldiers cannot serve. The question is how far that will go."
