Meet the haredi women helping others like them join the IDF while maintaining their values, serving their nation, the community, and their families.
Maybe it’s something about the name, but there seem to be a lot of Esti’s (short for “Esther”) doing groundbreaking work in Israel. Each in her own way, these women continue the work of Queen Esther, getting involved where and how the community needs them – even at personal risk. At Purim time, during the war to bring down the oppressive Iranian Islamic regime and for International Women’s Month, I’m pleased to introduce you to another Esti: Esti Solomon.
Solomon is the latest haredi woman I’ve had the privilege to interview who is making waves to further her community, via her ATIDA (“her future” in Hebrew) organization. Not everyone loves what Solomon is doing, however, and like the other women active in her community, she has her share of detractors.
Paving a fresh path
Solomon helps integrate haredi women into the army. Her work has drawn the attention of fanatics paid to make trouble for those widening the path on which haredim in Israel tread. They’ve held screaming protests in front of her home. They’ve plastered pashkevelim (posters) warning against her and her work along city streets. They’ve tried to get her canceled. You see, in a world where the IDF is seen as the anathema to the haredi lifestyle, integrating haredi women into its ranks is heresy of the highest order.
But that lifestyle also dictates that the wife is the earner in the home while her husband’s days are dedicated to learning Torah. It further includes having many children. Thus, demand for well-paying jobs is high among haredi women. This means women are being trained in hi-tech, computers, and programming.
For Solomon, connecting hard-working, intelligent haredi women with the IDF was an answer to multiple needs. Not only would it bring professional haredi women to the IDF for stable, high-paying work, but it would also connect haredi women to other parts of Israeli society, which are often pitted against one another.
Solomon said that embarking on this unforgotten path stemmed from her “love of Am Yisrael” and the opportunity to build bridges of trust in the people of Israel through complementary needs.
Over 600 ultra-Orthodox women join IDF hi-tech units
When it began in 2017, the Haddasim program consisted of 13 women employed by the Air Force. Now, thanks to ATIDA, the NGO that Solomon established in 2020 with Moshe Morgenstern, a lawyer and deputy mayor of the majority haredi city of Bnei Brak, over 600 women are working in hi-tech units, with a projected 800-plus by the end of 2026.
ATIDA’s mission is to strengthen the economic well-being of haredi society by empowering women with advanced technological careers, enabling them to integrate into Israel’s defense hi-tech sector while preserving their religious values and cultural identity.
To accomplish this, ATIDA places a strong emphasis on skill development, comprehensive training, social and cultural integration, and the creation of pathways to success.
Because haredi women seek rabbinic approval to work in certain arenas, it also meant bringing the haredi rabbinic world to sit with the IDF, learn about the program, discuss the needs of the women, and see just how far the IDF was willing to go to integrate and make them feel welcome.
It turns out to be quite far. The program includes cultural bridge-building through adapted work environments and IDF sensitivity training, and diverse teams.
Participants undergo months of intensive professional training designed to bridge the gap between their academic studies and the highly specialized demands of Israel’s defense technology ecosystem. Upon completion, they are placed in technological roles across the defense establishment for contracts lasting up to three years.
In the current cohort – the program’s fifth – 180 women are integrated into units. More than 1,200 candidates have already applied for the sixth cycle, with the selection process beginning this March. At the conclusion of the selection period, approximately 200 additional women are expected to join the program, expanding placements to new technological campuses across the country and creating new opportunities for women from Israel’s southern region.
'Haredi women fear loss of way of life, not war'
For the first time, women will serve in the IDF tech campus in Beersheba. As a general rule, Solomon said, “The ultra-Orthodox love the nation of Israel, but they are terrified of their children becoming non-religious. To integrate their beliefs and their service, the women receive halachic guidance when operational needs require work on Shabbat.” The program works with both the IDF and rabbinic authorities to ensure its success.
ATIDA recruits, trains, and places haredi women in IDF hi-tech positions. Their joint venture with the government and the IDF creates unprecedented opportunities for economic advancement among haredi women. Placed in strategic units with a three-year contract, women work among different IDF units across Israel.
The women work in units of the IDF, such as the Air Force’s Ofek 324 & 108; Intelligence Corps units, including 8200 and 81 (the special operations technology unit); the Ground Forces Technology Division; the Communications Corps; the Home Front Command; the Manpower Directorate; and in IDF-designated projects at Elbit Systems.
Units are spread across the country, from the Intelligence Corps in Safed and naval bases in Haifa to the Center. They include Galilot 8200; Ramat Gan Unit 81 and Sapir Unit; ICT Corps in the triads; the Ground Force in Tzrifin and Tel Hashomer; Home Front Command in Ramle; Palmachim; and the Military Intelligence Department in Jerusalem Command.
Promoting workforce success
The program promotes women’s success in the workforce. “Instead of making NIS 7,000 a month, salaries can reach up to NIS 40,000 a month. They can support their family and pay taxes instead of living on welfare,” said Solomon. Though 73% of ATIDA participants were raised in poor neighborhoods, 100% of ATIDA graduates are employed. Their average starting salary is NIS 25,000.
I asked Solomon if the women from her program were involved in the current Iran war. “Dozens of women from the program are involved in the current operations. They received rabbinic permission to be on duty on Shabbat. A number of them knew about the operations and were a meaningful part of them. Our staff is working with them throughout, meeting their religious needs, providing food, and obtaining approvals. In the Air Force, intelligence, Home Front Command, and cyber units, the women and the program coordinators are all proud to be part of defending Am Yisrael.”
In fact, as we went to press, a message came to Solomon, one of positivity and praise for her program participants. On Shabbat morning, as Operation Roaring Lion began, many soldiers were called up to the IDF central command.
The first to show up were the ATIDA women, no questions asked, ready to serve. Since then, they have contributed to key intelligence that was presented to the head of IDF intelligence. Their activity was carried out with full rabbinic guidance and approval, given the clear halachic imperative of pikuach nefesh – saving lives. “Haredi women taking on such sensitive and heavy security responsibilities is giving hope for a larger future haredi integration into the IDF,” said the commander of the base, expressing deep emotion at seeing Jewish unity and shared purpose. “You are doing something historic here.”
For those on the outside, these statements and the reality they describe can be hard to believe. After all, it was only a few weeks ago that two female soldiers were chased down the streets of Bnei Brak in what looked like a scene from a horror movie.
The soldiers had been visiting another soldier as part of their duties when a rumor was spread that they were there to give draft notices.
In minutes, the streets were filled with screaming haredi men and boys, and the young women had to be extracted under armed guard. Riots, fires, and arrests followed. The government, outside of platitudes and weak condemnations, is doing nothing to address the massive chasm that exists between the haredi population and wider Israeli society.
It takes a village
It seems, once again, the work is left to the women to complete. Perhaps, God willing, through this program and others like it, the disdain and deep ignorance the two segments of society often have for each other can be diminished.
And perhaps the baby steps can be seen in what a haredi man who learns full-time said to his wife, who works in the intelligence unit 8200 school, which was closed due to the war: “I will stay home with the children. Your work is more important at the moment than mine. You’re defending Am Yisrael. I can learn at home while watching the children.”
In this month of Adar, leading up to Nisan, miracles starting with the hidden and ending with the revealed are the norm. May we see them in our time.