Chabad Lubavitch Hasidim joining IDF: the Ultra-Orthodox brigade

January 8, 2025 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch to visit the gravesite of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/AP

President-elect Donald Trump arrives at Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch to visit the gravesite of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/AP

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BROOKLYN/ ISRAEL — APPROXIMATELY 150 MEMBERS OF THE CHABAD-LUBAVITCH Orthodox Jewish sect will comprise a new brigade in the Israeli Defense Forces, the Jewish state’s military, Crownheights.info reported on Sunday. Chabad is headquartered in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and adherents often travel between Brooklyn and Israel.

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in June that the state must draft ultra-Orthodox Jewish citizens into the military; the ruling led to protests across Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported. The IDF says that the military will be accommodating to the Orthodox way of life and dietary laws. Former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, during a visit to Brooklyn’s Chabad headquarters in December 2024, encouraged the service of the ultra-orthodox in the IDF, Yeshivaworld reported.

Another Hasidic sect known as the Satmars, who live mainly in Williamsburg and a town in upstate New York, are known for their vociferous opposition to the state of Israel. In 2017, 20,000 Satmar Jews gathered in Barclays Center to protest the IDF draft law, the Jerusalem Post said.

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