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Last update - 09:34 29/03/2009
IDF lets rabbis blur boundaries between religion and state
By Haaretz Editorial
Tags: Israel News, IDF

The plans to renovate the swimming pool at the army's Bahad 1 officers' school are not surprising, but they should be cause for concern. At first glance, it's an issue of adapting to changing needs at the base as a result of the rising number of religiously observant trainees and officers. In practice, it is another ill wind blowing from the religious radicalization that is taking control of the Israel Defense Forces.

The new norm is light-years away from the IDF's noble aspiration of permitting all people to conduct their daily lives in accordance with their needs - religious or otherwise - during their military service. The IDF has always created an environment that meets the needs of the religious, particularly in matters of kashruth, worship and Shabbat observance. Despite considerable difficulty, such as the need to violate the Sabbath for military exercises or operations, religious soldiers have been successfully integrated into the army.

The current demand for stricter observance, to accommodate the rabbis of the extreme right-wing, nationalist-ultra Orthodox stream, is not the natural result of the rise in the number of knitted-skullcap wearers in various IDF units and training bases. Rather, it is due to the persistence of a few rabbis whom the IDF allows to blur the boundaries between religion and state, and between the messianic and the military. These rabbis, whose strongest representative in the IDF is the chief military rabbi, Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki, seek to apply the worldview and lifestyle of the extreme side of the nationalist-ultra-Orthodox camp to the army of the people.
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It is being done in a blunt, aggressive fashion: Soldiers and officers walk out of a performance featuring female singers for fear of transgressing against the religious injunction against hearing women sing in public. Rabbis - who have usurped the role of the army's education officers - give pre-battle speeches in which they encourage combat soldiers to kill and destroy in the name of an angry and jealous God. And female soldiers, whose numbers on the battlefield have also risen sharply, are deemed to be a distraction that should be removed from sight.

Israeli society, including the IDF, has undergone enormous changes since the founding of the state. The official melting pot, with its strictly secular character, has given way to softened multiculturalism. Extremist elements who seek to impose a racist, chauvinist, separatist and dangerous agenda on the army and the state exploit this shift. The defense minister must stop this destructive process, revise the IDF's regulations and redefine the army as an institution belonging to the entire society.
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  1.   you really hate religious soldiers 03:47  |  Ben Packer 29/03/09
  2.   good..about time israel takes the view of 04:02  |  alp 29/03/09
  3.   Extremists 04:06  |  Hannah 29/03/09
  4.   Extremists 2 04:18  |  Hannah 29/03/09
  5.   A deluded Haaretz editorial 05:05  |  D. Miller 29/03/09
  6.   P. 05:38  |  N. 29/03/09
  7.   If this continues, my children won`t go to the army. 05:53  |  Northern 29/03/09
  8.   Are Haaretz staff editorials ever NOT anti-Israel? 05:55  |  John Doe 29/03/09
  9.   religon and tolerance are mutualy exclusive. 06:15  |  kia 29/03/09
  10.   Blatantly 07:42  |  Robert Haymond 29/03/09
  11.   Vile rhetoric - unsubstantiated claims 07:54  |  Lemmings Hotline 29/03/09
  12.   Damn if you do and damn if you don`t 08:34  |  Zev 29/03/09
  13.   Bad news 08:58  |  Elina 29/03/09
  14.   Thank you, Kia (#9), 09:19  |  Robert Haymond 29/03/09
  15.   to 13# and 9# 09:40  |  Northern 29/03/09
  16.   Northern, it used to be the other way 09:41  |  Zev Davis 29/03/09
  17.   The army of the Jewish state needs to accomodate Jews 09:48  |  Dani 29/03/09
  18.   #9 kia 10:04  |  Daybreak 29/03/09
  19.   Hypocrites 10:32  |  Baruch Gold 29/03/09
  20.   but Israel has already those lines blurred. 11:36  |  JO 29/03/09
  21.   Zionism, by definition, blurs the line between religion and state 12:18  |  peacelover 29/03/09
  22.   i.e. the "Jewish state" 12:22  |  peacelover 29/03/09
  23.   always fascinating... 12:39  |  samos 29/03/09
  24.   IDF lets rabbis blur boundaries between religion and state 12:44  |  sherman 29/03/09
  25.   A Jewish state - not a Judaist state 13:04  |  Optipessimist 29/03/09
  26.   #21 peacelover 13:08  |  Daybreak 29/03/09
  27.   To all the above Judeophobes 13:27  |  Akiva P 29/03/09
  28.   listen carefully to N° 9 13:42  |  amos 29/03/09
  29.   Professing the existence of God 13:53  |  allang 29/03/09
  30.   WOW! Really! 13:58  |  Deborah 29/03/09
  31.   Haaretz lets journalis blur boundaries between left and hate 14:07  |  shlomo 29/03/09
  32.   I don`t see the connection 14:07  |  Jon 29/03/09
  33.   the rabbis should have NO say in military or state affairs! (3rd 14:09  |  eric 29/03/09
  34.   Ich verstay nicht! 14:29  |  Yosef 29/03/09
  35.   allang on the existence of G-d 14:29  |  Akiva P 29/03/09
  36.   # 35 Akiva ...... having reservations 15:21  |  allang 29/03/09
  37.   A State or a Nation? 16:02  |  lee 29/03/09
  38.   Enlightenment and Halacha 16:43  |  VivaEnlightenment 29/03/09
  39.   What boundaries? 18:27  |  Giora Me`ir 29/03/09
  40.   Let`s hear it for Trumpeldor! 18:52  |  Zev Davis 29/03/09
  41.   What a change....... 19:04  |  Dave heidenfeld 29/03/09
  42.   Listening to singing women is a halachic problem 19:30  |  Michael Klein 29/03/09
  43.   #9 kia 20:57  |  Elina 29/03/09
  44.   was that you landau, who wrote that nonsence? 21:52  |  dave 29/03/09
  45.   Ssme Thing Happening in US 22:06  |  Arik Silverman 29/03/09
  46.   How about military issue earplugs 22:56  |  David 29/03/09
  47.   Michael Klein @#42 23:25  |  Akiva P 29/03/09
  48.   dispicable 23:39  |  JoJo 29/03/09
  49.   Fear of observant Jews in IDF 00:33  |  Paul 30/03/09
  50.   To Arik Silverman: Religious Soldiers Are a Part 00:43  |  Dav Lev 30/03/09
  51.   To Yossi (Cont): The IDF Needs to Accommodate 00:56  |  Dav Lev 30/03/09
  52.   Jesus christ the builder 01:03  |  jesusalen 30/03/09
  53.   very depressing 01:12  |  Alex 30/03/09
  54.   religion/state 01:59  |  Dick Langton 30/03/09
  55.   Holy State 02:58  |  Mark Marshall 30/03/09
  56.   Haaretz the tolerant , that means it expects it from 03:15  |  TOMY 30/03/09
  57.   IDF lets rabbis blur boundaries between religion and state 06:19  |  Eli Berger 30/03/09
  58.   To 47, Eli Berger: Quite right 07:03  |  Hannah 30/03/09
  59.   Give it up 08:53  |  har 30/03/09
  60.   Religion and State 08:53  |  Moshe 30/03/09
  61.   IDF lets rabbis blur boundaries between religion and state 03:59  |  Richard Szental 31/03/09
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