With katyusha rockets slamming into northern Israel, the 120 young women carrying out their army service through Ohr Torah Stone’s Hadas Program played critical, round-the-clock roles in defending the country and aiding its citizens who were under attack.

“We are the eyes of this country,” says 19-year-old Nofar Tamam, one of 35 Hadas participants who is now serving in the Israel Defense Force’s Intelligence Corps after completing a year of extensive Torah study at the Midreshet Lindenbaum college. With Israel’s safety at risk, these soldiers – along with four Hadas participants serving in the top-secret General Security Service – worked round the clock gathering and analyzing intelligence vital to the country’s defense.

The 85 Hadas soldiers serving in the IDF Education Corps put aside their usual duties of training soldiers to carry out war-related assignments. Young women who had completed officers’ training assumed vital positions on army bases, relieving officers who were sent to the confrontation lines. Other Hadas participants provided crucial services for individuals and families in bomb shelters across northern Israel, distributing food and supplies and organizing activities to keep children reassured and occupied.

“As soon as we entered the shelters, we could see how scared the kids were,” recalls Hedva Henig, an officer in the Education Corps. “They really needed all the support we could give them.”

Classes and discussions about war-related ethical questions are an essential part of the Hadas curriculum in the year prior to army service. The young women continue to study these issues throughout their army service, as Hadas director Rabbi Ohad Tehar-Lev and other teachers visit their bases for regular learning sessions. Throughout this summer’s fighting, the Hadas staff stepped up their regular visits to the army bases where their soldiers are serving – all in northern Israel – to provide encouragement, support and opportunities for discussing real-time concerns.

Only days before fighting began in northern Israel, Hadas soldier Bracha Donshik was presented with an IDF citation for her exemplary performance throughout basic training for the Education Corps. A graduate of OTS’ Neveh Channah Girls’ High School, Bracha is now serving as a teacher of recruits in the IDF’s Nativ program for immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are undergoing conversion to Judaism.

Forty new students are entering the Hadas program this September. They will begin with a year of intense Torah study and then carry out a one-and-a-half-year stint in the IDF. After that, they will return to the beit midrash for five months to “recharge their spiritual batteries” before completing five more months of army service. Tehar-Lev reports that Hadas’ intelligence track has become the program’s fastest growing division, despite the rigorous army testing that applicants must pass in order to be accepted.

“We are always extremely proud of our Hadas soldiers,” says OTS chancellor Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. “But the role they play during times of crisis really emphasizes what makes these young women so special: their outstanding abilities combined with their dedication to the land and people of Israel and the ideals of the Torah.”

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