From Integration to Segregation The Role of Religion in the IDF

The role of religion in Israeli military service is so inherently complex that it resists classification in accordance with conventional paradigms. Although certainly the military arm of a secular and liberal state, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) makes no attempt to confine religious themes to the domain of the army chaplain. Rather, traditional Jewish motifs permeate multiple areas of military life and are frequently mobilized for military purposes. Conventional wisdom has long asserted that religion plays an integrative role in Israeli military service, thereby contributing to cohesion within the ranks. After examining the basis for that claim, this article goes on to question its current accuracy. Specifically, attention is focused on evidence suggesting that the societal tensions created in Israel by differences of Jewish religious outlook and observance might now be affecting the IDF too. Three phenomena are examined: (1) non-service" on religious grounds; (2) "segregated service" on the part of national-religious troops; and (3) incipient signs of a form of "conditional service."