Your IDF Experience Starts Here
Our Pre-Drafting Division
When Israelis join the IDF, they have had many years to build circles of support to guide and advise them. Yeshiva students usually have relatives, teachers and madrichim who can explain how to navigate the institutional culture as a religious soldier. Israel’s lone soldier organizations usually cater primarily to men. Religious girls from overseas, often with limited Hebrew and no Army background, face multiple challenges when deciding to draft.
Cheilech serves as a comprehensive support and guidance resource for religious girls who are considering or actively pursuing service in the IDF. Working closely with major drafting frameworks such as Machal, Garin Tzabar, and Nefesh B’Nefesh, as well as relevant government bodies, we help young women navigate every stage of the drafting process – from initial deliberation through to unit selection – with practical clarity and religious sensitivity. We foster community among draftees through dedicated peer platforms, and maintain active relationships across the lone soldier support network.
Cheilech Hotline
The Cheilech team had been amassing information and experience by working with different divisions of the IDF, the Ministry of Defense, the Machal program, and other pre-army and lone soldier programs. Using this knowledge, we advise and direct the many girls who reach out to us for guidance.
Pre-Army Learning Program
In September 2026, Cheilach will run a series of weekly evening meetings in Jerusalem designed to prepare religious girls for service on both a practical and spiritual level. It is organized by Rav Asher Manning in partnership with Mizrachi Tzemach David Women’s Learning Hub.
Our Post-Drafting Division
Cheilech is dedicated to supporting religious female lone soldiers throughout their active service in the IDF. We maintain close, ongoing contact with our soldiers, tracking where they are based, understanding their needs, and stepping in to help resolve the practical and religious challenges that arise in the course of army life. We work in close coordination with lone soldier organizations and the IDF’s own religious support structures to ensure that each soldier has a strong circle of care around her.
Mentorship & Support
We are building a layered mentorship and hospitality network that will connect each soldier with a personal support figure, a host family for Shabbatot and milestone ceremonies, and a veteran female soldier who served in the same unit. We are also working to address the lodging challenges faced by religious female lone soldiers and to bring programming, including learning, events, and Shabbatonim, directly to soldiers on base.
Torah and Chizuk Content
Our team of religious guides provides weekly English-language Divrei Torah in written and formats, which we share with our WhatsApp community groups. We also answer relevant halachic inquiries of all kinds, and encourage Chayalot to post their own Torah-related messages on our Shu”t WhatsApp group.
We are developing a multi-layered Responsa system that includes a Q&A WhatsApp broadcast channel for Chayalot, a group of Rabbinical consultants including Army Rabbis and Rabbaniot, and a Q&A WhatsApp group run by and for Chayalot. We are also translating Torah content from other religious Army organizations, and looking for sponsors and translators to help us publish halachic guides in English for lone soldiers.