Hesder

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Hesder (short for: Hebrew יְשִׁיבַת הֶסְדֵּר Yeschivat Hesder ) is a form of study in Israel aimed at students of the Talmud and the Torah . It enables male Orthodox Jews to continue studying at a Talmudic college (yeshiva) at the same time as they are doing military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) . In 1991 the Hesder yeshivot received the Israel Prize for their services to national cohesion .

The word hesder means "arrangement", namely a compromise between the religious obligation to study the Torah and the civil duty to defend the country. Supporters of Religious Zionism in particular take part in this program. The Hesder service lasts five years, whereas the service period for regular male recruits is three years. During these five years, participants are subject to certain restrictions, and phases of study and phases of military service alternate; in practice, they spend less time in a military context than the regular conscripts.

There are several Talmud schools that offer the Hesder program. Since the military schedule has to be brought into line with the curriculum of these universities, Hesder participants can only be deployed in certain IDF units (tank corps, some infantry brigades), and they are there usually with their fellow students from the yeshiva. The participants, called Hesderniks , are considered a kind of elite in the national religious spectrum; the group cohesion is high. The disadvantage of this formation of socially homogeneous combat groups, which is otherwise completely atypical for the Israeli army, is that an opportunity to contact conscripts from other milieus is missed, but above all that if the Hesderniks were involved in combat, the fatalities would be concentrated in one social group. That happened during the Lebanon War in June 1982 in fighting at Sultan Yakub.

The Hesder program is based on the model of the Nachal units, in which young kibbutz members alternated between military and agricultural assignments. In 1963, national-religious yeshivot suggested that the IDF offer a program for Talmud students based on this model. While the majority of conscripts with a national-religious background do normal military service, the Hesder program has become increasingly popular since its introduction in 1965.

Every year about 1200 recruits begin the Hesder military service. This form is controversial within the armed forces, and discontinuation has been considered several times in the past.

literature

  • Stuart A. Cohen: Divine Service ?: Judaism and Israel's Armed Forces . Routledge, London / New York 2016.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ online  : "Hesder, an Israeli yeshiva program combining military service with Torah studies" יְשִׁיבַת הֶסְדֵּר → ישיבת הסדר
  2. ↑ Stuart A. Cohen: Divine Service ?: Judaism and Israel's Armed Forces , London / New York 2016, p. 61.
  3. ↑ Stuart A. Cohen: Divine Service ?: Judaism and Israel's Armed Forces , London / New York 2016, p. 61 f.
  4. ↑ Stuart A. Cohen: Divine Service ?: Judaism and Israel's Armed Forces , London / New York 2016, p. 64 f.
  5. ^ Stuart A. Cohen: Divine Service ?: Judaism and Israel's Armed Forces , London / New York 2016, p. 63.
  6. ↑ http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2007/05/idf-threatening-hesder-again-on.html

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