IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot appears to be walking into a particularly boggy swamp
Photo: Motti Kimchi
Gideon Eshet
Photo: Alex Kolomoisky
Why not privatize the Military Rabbinate?
Op-ed: Considering the current government's makeup, no one will let the chief of staff touch the settlement set up by rabbis within the IDF, including their involvement in Jewish missionary activitIes. There is an elegant solution, however.
Second Lieutenant Y. B. was on Shabbat duty when he heard a knock on his door. The sergeant on duty and the religion sergeant stood at the doorway.
A week later, a case arrived from the IDF chief rabbi's headquarters with 200 sets of Pyrex dishes and a note: "Both meat and dairy can be served in these dishes." That was the then-military rabbi's response to the complaint. Y. B. got a kiss from his direct commander for ignoring the army's orders.
"What happened?" the officer asked. "The cupboard with the meat dishes fell down and they were all smashed," the sergeant on duty replied. "What do you suggest?" the officer asked the religion sergeant. "There is no other choice. The soldiers will have to wait until the end of Shabbat and then have a dairy meal," he answered.
Y. B. issued an order stating that the soldiers would eat meat for lunch with the dairy dishes. The religion sergeant cried out that the officer was violating the army's orders and that he would have to complain to his commanders.
Sandwichgate
Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan attacks acquittal of soldier who ate pork on base, claims act presented a 'slippery slope': 'It’s an identity issue. The IDF is Israel’s army, the only Jewish state in the world. The IDF commands are clear and state that the Jewish army eats only kosher food.'
That was the IDF in its 1960s model. Today, Y.B would have been dismissed from the army, just like the regiment commander who sentenced a soldier to military jail for eating a "non-kosher" sandwich should have been dismissed.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, it has been reported, is about to order the army to look into the division of authorities between the Military Rabbinate and the chief education officer. In response, the Association of Hesder Yeshivot wrote to the chief military rabbi and called on him to "continue advancing the Rabbinate in its activities to impart values of tradition, Judaism and combat spirit. The fact that the rabbis visited the fighters on the ground during Operation Protective Edge was an honorable accomplishment for the Rabbinate, and added strength and courage to the IDF soldiers during the battle."
The association's leaders also expressed their objection to the demand to cancel rabbis' speeches during soldiers' oath pledging ceremonies. Lieutenant-General Gadi Eisenkot appears to be walking into a particularly boggy swamp.
Does the chief of staff think the Military Rabbinate will only engage in burial and kashrut issues? What about the 'word of God,' as it is conveyed by the rabbis? (Photo: AP)
It's not complicated, considering the defense minister's identity and the government's makeup, to conclude that no one will let the chief of staff touch a single part of the settlement set up by the rabbis within the army – neither their alleged engagement in education – in other words, Jewish missionary activity – nor their general status. What does the chief of staff think? That the Military Rabbinate will only engage in burial and kashrut issues? And what about the "word of God," as it is conveyed by the rabbis?
So what should the chief of staff do about the rabbinical frenzy? He should remember that authority struggles don't end well. Minister Gilad Erdan got the authority to take care of the home front. Well, did he? Now he received the authority to take care of Israel's PR efforts. Will he? With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, it doesn’t work that way.
Yet there is an elegant solution: Privatization. Just like the army privatized part of the food preparation for soldiers through catering, there is no reason not to privatize the Military Rabbinate. There is not a single leftist right now in our political echelon who will protest the privatization. Why everyone supports it. And it can also be explained that a competition in the kashrut field will only reduce prices, as economists have taught us. And perhaps the Badatz kashrut will be cheaper than the Beit Yosef kashrut, and the army will finally be able to prove to the evil people from the Finance Ministry how efficient it is becoming and how it is saving thousands of jobs with a high pension at their end.
And then, when the annual quarrels over the defense budget begin, the army will be able to threaten to cut the "religious services purchase" budget. The Finance Ministry referred to it years ago as a "Chich trick" after late Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo "Chich" Lahat, who announced a cut in the welfare budget every time he was asked to cut the budget. A cut in the privatized rabbis' budget will alert Aryeh Deri, Moshe Gafni, Naftali Bennett and their friends – and the Finance Ministry will keep quiet. And there will be no budget cut at all.
That way, the chief of staff will kill two birds with one decision. And the rabbis, what can we do, will continue with their conventional missionary activity.
