The Chochmat Nashim Podcast: Women Talk Judaism · Jewish Coffee House

Women Warriors of the IDF (Season 8 Episode 13)

·26 min

The episode opens with Hakarat HaTov, a recognition of the good. Anne Gordon thanks Shoshana Keats-Jaskol for helping run a tremendous fundraiser that enabled Chokhmat Neshim to keep going for the coming year. The hosts stress that they depend on crowdfunding and that every shekel, every dollar counts. That practical opening sets the tone for the rest of the conversation. The topic then shifts to women in the military. The episode is framed as still relevant even though it was recorded before the war in Iran. The hosts point out that one of the navigators on those missions is a woman, and that one of the pilots bringing rescued Israelis home is also a woman. That detail gives the conversation a sharp present-tense urgency. The two then lay out the range of views on women’s service. One position is that women should be able to do any role, just like men. Another position is that women should not be in the army at all. A third position allows women to serve so long as they do not bother men, which the hosts connect to Haredi objections to military life. They treat that view as revealing rather than neutral. The conversation then turns to women pilots and women-only units. The hosts note that women have already shown they can serve in demanding roles. Alice Miller’s petition to apply for Air Force pilot training becomes an important reference point. The hosts say she was approved to go through the training but did not make it through, while also noting that many men do not make it through either. Her importance lies in opening the door for the next generation. From there the discussion broadens to the larger question of whether women can do everything in the army, and whether they should. The hosts make room for the idea that not every woman wants combat. They say that is a real question for religious women and for anyone who is not physically suited to that kind of service. The episode ends by returning to the social question rather than pretending the issue is settled. Israeli norms are shifting, and the hosts want listeners to think seriously about where those shifts should go. They close by inviting audience response across their social platforms.

As heard by us

A blunt, thoughtful conversation about women in the army and the shifting norms around their role.

The episode keeps women in the IDF at the center, but it opens with gratitude and fundraising before moving into the harder question of how a small organization keeps going.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a candid Jewish debate about women in the military, start here.

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