In past decades, the main issue dividing the Orthodox world was the integration of women into Jewish religious life. Should women be allowed to learn Talmud? Should they be allowed to lead prayer services? Should they be allowed to read from the Torah or even to hold a Torah scroll? And, most important, should they be allowed to become clergy? [...]
But the movement is now struggling with a host of other issues. As the recent rabbinical exchange of letters attests, attitudes toward the LGBTQ community have become as, if not more, divisive an issue, and in Israel specifically, the Orthodox community has grown increasingly split over whether or not women should be encouraged to serve in the army and how much, if any, control the Rabbinate should maintain over marriage and divorce, conversions and kashrut. [...]
This backlash is also finding expression in the Israeli Army, where growing numbers of Orthodox women are defying their rabbis and signing up for military service. Indeed, recent figures show that since 2010, the number of Orthodox women joining the army has virtually tripled. Most Orthodox rabbis in Israel, including the more liberal among them, oppose military service for women, especially in co-ed units. A small, but growing number, however, are falling in line with the new trend.
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