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“Not So Crazy Anymore”

How Lev LaChayal Normalized IDF Service

for Religious Anglos

Founded in 2014, Yeshivat Lev HaTorah’s Lev LaChayal program provides
a supportive yeshivah environment for Anglo students who serve in the IDF
as lone soldiers. Yedidyah Rosenwasser spoke with Noam White,

co-founder of Lev LaChayal, to learn more.

Tell us about your experience in the IDF, “but not a minute more, or your tryout their overall score. You are one of the few
and how it impacts your work with Lev is over and you’re going back to base!” people who passed.”
LaChayal. Knowing my rights, I took the full forty-five In the army, many people do not value your
My experience in the army was very minutes necessary to properly daven. Two religious rights or resent you for requiring
different from that of most guys in Hesder and a half years later, when I was training special treatment. Over time, this can have
or Machal. I drafted into an elite special newly-drafted soldiers, I happened to cross a damaging effect on the religious soldiers.
forces unit, known in Hebrew as “Gadsar paths with my old mefaked. I re-introduced At the beginning of my service, about half
Givati,” and served for three full years. myself to him and asked if he remembered of the soldiers in my unit were religious,
me. He responded, “Of course I remember but by the end of our service, many of them
I’ll never forget something that happened you”, and went on to repeat this exact story. were less observant.
while I was trying out for my unit. One
morning, as I was about to daven shacharit, I asked him why he remembered me so These challenges are even greater for lone
my mefaked (commander) told me that I well, and he said, “I, myself, am religious. soldiers who have to navigate bureaucracy,
would only get ten minutes to pray before When I was evaluating who was fit to join living arrangements, and finances all
continuing the tryout. According to army the unit, I wanted to make sure that those by themselves. In fact, loneliness is
law, during training one must be provided who were religious were truly committed to the greatest challenge religious lone
with at least forty-five minutes to daven. Judaism. If the religious soldiers conceded soldiers face; without a religious social
After explaining this to the mefaked, he and accepted the fifteen minutes I offered environment, it is difficult to remain
compromised and gave me fifteen minutes them to daven, I would deduct points from committed to an observant lifestyle. This

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