Military Rabbinate

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Military Rabbinate
Brigadier General
  Eyal Krim
Notable
commanders		Rabbi Shlomo Goren
Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the first Chief Military Rabbi for the Israel Defense Force, and, later, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel

The Military Rabbinate (

Brigadier General. The current Chief Military Rabbi is Eyal Krim.[2]

Mission

The Military Rabbinate constitutes the body responsible for religious institutions in the military. In every

unit or military base, there are Military Rabbinate soldiers assigned responsibility for assuring religious services, in particular, Kashrut of the kitchen and the maintenance of the synagogue and its inventory. Actively serving soldiers can request from the Rabbinate representatives to perform marriage ceremonies as well as the Brit milah
.

The Military Rabbinate is responsible for treating the bodies of

Gaza disengagement plan
.

History

The Military Rabbinate was founded in 1948 by Rabbi

Mordechai Peron. From 1977 to 2000, the position was held by Rabbi Gad Navon. From 2000 to 2006, the Chief Military Rabbi was Rabbi Israel Weiss
.

Weiss introduced many changes into the Rabbinate, including giving soldiers much more access to the unit and increasing the Rabbinate's dealings with the religious soldiers. Weiss was the chief rabbi during the

2005 disengagement from Gaza and was in charge of disinterring 48 graves from the Gush Katif cemetery.[4] For that role, he has been criticized and attacked by opponents of the disengagement.[5]

Succeeding him, Brigadier-General Rontzki began his service in the rabbinate on March 27, 2006. The appointment was recommended by the then-

Minister of Defense, Shaul Mofaz
.

This new appointment was seen as a direct consequence of the controversial remarks by Israel Weiss wherein he appeared to have agreed with the former

settlers from the Gaza Strip during the Gaza disengagement plan. While Israel Weiss retracted and apologized for the "slip up", the event drew a great deal of controversy in military circles, and in Israel in general.[6]

2009 incitement controversy

According to Israeli left-wing human rights group

2009 Gaza conflict, the military rabbinate distributed a religious booklet that warned against showing mercy to enemies.[7] The publications compared modern-day Palestinians to the Biblical Philistines, and denied the historical existence of a Palestinian national identity.[8] According to Yesh Din, the booklet could have been interpreted by soldiers as a call to act outside the confines of the international laws of warfare.[7]

A

Yitzhak Ginsburg praising Baruch Goldstein (described as "chauvinist and racist incitement") can be disseminated.[9]

Following a series of inquiries, both in the Knesset and within the IDF, it was determined that the distribution of the alleged booklets took place in a few isolated incidents, by non-military personnel, without proper supervision of Military Rabbinate representatives.[10] Following this incident, guidelines were set to ensure the authority of both the Military Rabbinate and the Education and Youth Corps within the IDF.

2016 appointment controversy

In November 2016, the High Court of Israel delayed the appointment of Eyal Krim as chief military rabbi, demanding that he clarify a number of statements he had made in the past.[11] These allegedly included that Jewish soldiers were permitted to rape non-Jewish women in wartime, that women should not be allowed to testify in court due to their "sentimental" nature, and that captured terrorists should be killed.[11] The comments were published over a decade ago. Responding to the accusations, Krim said that the Torah permits intercourse with a non-Jewish woman during wartime under certain conditions, but his statements were strictly theoretical and dealt with a specific biblical passage. At the time of his appointment, he told the IDF Personnel Directorate that "there is no license in times of peace or war to sexually assault women".[12]

Gallery

  • Military Rabbinate Corps flag
    Military Rabbinate Corps flag
  • Military Rabbinate Corps pin[13]
    Military Rabbinate Corps pin[13]
  • Military Rabbinate rabbis during training, Israel 2009
    Military Rabbinate rabbis during training, Israel 2009

See also

References

  1. ^ [1] Official IDF Insignia website
  2. ^ IDF Rabbinate official website
  3. ^ IDF Rabbinate official website
  4. ^ IDF to disinter 48 Gaza graves Sunday[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ A Right Wing Activist Attacks Chief Military Rabbi Israel Weiss in Hebrew
  6. ^ "Mitchell Ginsburg: Settlers, Rabbis Debate Disobedience As Disengagement Nears" http://forward.com/articles/3419/settlers-rabbis-debate-disobedience-as-disengagem/
  7. ^ a b Joseph Nasr and Katie Nguyen (2009-01-26). "Gaza war rabbinical edict draws protest in Israel". Reuters.
  8. ^ Harel, Amos (2009-01-26). "IDF rabbinate publication during Gaza war: We will show no mercy on the cruel". Haaretz.
  9. ^ a b "A rabbinate gone wild". Haaretz. 2009-01-27.
  10. Hatzofe. Archived from the original
    on 2009-09-22.
  11. ^ a b Gili Cohen, Sharon Pulwer and Jonathan Lis (21 November 2016). "Israeli Court Delays Appointment of Top Army Rabbi Who Implied Rape Permitted in Wartime". Haaretz.
  12. ^ "Israeli Supreme Court suspends appointment of chief military rabbi over controversial comments". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 21 November 2016.
  13. ^ [2] Official IDF Insignia website

External links

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