MI commander Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin has approved the Jewish seminary
recruitment program. The sources said the intelligence corps has established
a training and employment track for devout Jews who eat a special brand of
kosher food and reject the integration of sexes at the workplace.
In the first stage, MI accepted 70 seminary students for a long-term
program that would begin with training and continue through career service.
Many of the students are married with children and would be exempt from
working on the Jewish Sabbath except during an emergency.
"We have very high quality people who spent years studying in
seminaries, which gave them the ability for higher learning," MI manpower
director Col. Asher Fogler said.
The program was the latest in the quiet effort by ultra-Orthodox Jews to
expand their presence in the military, an effort supported by the
government. These Jews have been recruited to all-Orthodox combat units as well as work in high-level
technical jobs with the air force.
"There is competition for such people," Fogler said.
The sources said the MI program envisioned the Jewish seminary students
working in research and technical services, including software development.
They said MI has opened top intelligence units to the ultra-Orthodox,
including Unit 8200, responsible for signal intelligence.
"They built a special program here, especially for us," one recruit,
identified only as Elad, told the Israeli daily Haaretz.