Hasmonean Brigade’s first company completes basic training at Western Wall

The first regular company of the Israel Defense Forces’ Hasmonean Brigade completed seven months of combat training on Wednesday morning, culminating in a “Beret March” toward the Western Wall.

The 50 ultra-Orthodox troops entered the Western Wall Plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem blowing shofars and singing songs calling for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, Arutz 7 reported.

During a ceremony at Judaism’s second-holiest site, the troops received their berets following festive morning prayers together with their families and senior IDF commanders, according to the report.

Designated Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) director David Zini, who played a key role in establishing the brigade while heading the IDF’s Training Command and General Staff Corps, also joined the event.

Wednesday’s march, which started in the hills of Jerusalem, followed seven months of “tough training all over the country,” Col. A., the company commander, said in remarks published by the military.

“They completed a full training course like all the other brigades, but with special additions we managed to include for them,” he stated.

The Hasmonean Brigade—the IDF’s first fully Haredi unit—is structured to allow troops to serve without compromising their religious way of life.

Despite stiff political and social opposition from within ultra-Orthodox society, the brigade was opened in January, drafting approximately 50 recruits and 100 reservists, with long-term plans to enlist up to 4,000.

The Hasmonean Brigade was named after the dynasty that began after the Jews threw off the yoke of Hellenistic rule during the Maccabean Revolt (167 BCE to 141 BCE) against the Seleucid Empire.

The brigade requires recruits to follow a strict halachic lifestyle—that is, one in keeping with Jewish law. Observant Jews serve as commanders.

Enlistees were asked to sign a document accepting its rules. One clause states that recruits will at all times maintain a religious way of life, be careful to use “clean” speech, keep beards and sidelocks throughout their service if they entered the army with them and wear Sabbath clothes during Sabbath prayers and meals “as is customary in ultra-Orthodox society (and even a suit and a hat).”