Army promotional video courts Haredi youth

A video posted on YouTube Saturday by the Defense Ministry seeks to encourage the enlistment of youth into the ultra-Orthodox IDF battalion Netzah Yehuda by promising they will be prime marriage material by the time they are released.

The video opens with a Haredi man entering an office for arranged marriages, where he asks about a match for his youngest daughter, Miraleh.

The owner of the shop opens a big sliding door, revealing the potential candidates for marriage, standing frozen like mannequins in a store.

One by one the store owner passes the Haredi youths and details their merits, only to be rejected by the hopeful father.

The last candidate, the father is told, is “outside his budget.” The reason, the store owner explains, is that he served in the special Haredi battalion in the Israel Defense Forces, acquiring physical skills while never abandoning the study of the Torah, which was incorporated into his army service as an integral part of the program.

What makes him particularly worthy as a match is that he has also acquired a profession, fully paid for by the IDF.

The father naturally exclaims that money is no object when looking for a match for his daughter, and that only the crème de la crème will do.

The store owner wraps up the groom-to-be and the video fades out with the father and store owner sharing a toast of sacramental wine.