Weighing-in for Duty

Israel's ambassador Daniel Taub told how his son filled his pockets with coins to qualify for an IDF combat unit.

He was speaking at a fundraiser for the Orot Yehuda High School in Gush Etzion, where three of his own sons had been students.

The phenomenon of today's IDF is that virtually half the officer corps are now observant Jews wearing kippas and the vast majority of youngsters enlisting for  combat units come from the religious Zionist communities in Judea, Samaria and Gush Etzion towns like Efrat where the school is located.

'My son Judah was worried he would be underweight for the combat unit he wanted to serve in, so he filled his pockets with coins' said Taub. 

Then the envoy remarked how ironic it was that his grandfather had done just the opposite to avoid being conscripted into the Polish army.