It was surprising to see so many over weight and obese soldiers in uniform!

Israel needs an army of hardasses, not an army of lardasses.

That they IDF will no longer be serving yellow rice, yellow potatoes, yellow pasta, yellow hamburger mush, yellow kababs, yellow everything?! (All food yellow because of the sickening amounts of oil and grease used in preparation) As for the field rations, its time to modernize and stop sending soldier into battle carrying ridiculous cans of corn and cans of olives, what an outrageous ratio of quality food to weight. What could be dumber than packing a crap loaf of white bread to split among 13 people...

If it does, then there IS a God!

I did the MARVA program a few years back, and was disgusted at the food. This is what you fed Warriors? Diet is more important than all the exercise one can do. This is more than welcomed news. Good job IDF, you're doing great!

Orthodox Jews do not use the hechsher from everyone. They are very particular whose hechsher they use.

It's easier with catering, less mistakes that way. But with military kitchens, Kashrut can vary from a high standard to an open secret about it being non-existent at that particular place.

You may be able to find it in the kiryia base in tel aviv, or bigger bases, this food will never get to the warriors as they have no money and are constantly reducing the budget!!! So the soldier who does 9-5 and goes home, has a gourmet lunch, stir fry and fresh salads, while the fighters get fried crap with some more fried crap....

Israel has so many religious MKs in the Knesset.Perhaps,one or two of them should be named to resolv these matters that seem to be resolvable matters.

breast into something as unappetizing as greasy turkey schnitzl. As a reasonably competent amateur chef, I can take the same ingredients and prepare dishes that have people lining up just to smell them -- with a tenth the amount of oil. It's all a matter of competence, and concern for the welfare of young people.

out of the IDF? they will never succeed, rise up and resist!

go on then, get on with your life and leave the rest of us to believe as WE WISH!

With the influx of so many Hareidim, all IDF kitchens will become Glatt Kosher L'Mehadrin and washing sinks will be installed in all messhalls, Mikvehs will be built on every base, the day will start off with Tefillat Shacharit and an hour of Torah Study. Each Platoon will compete who can say Birkat Hamotzee and Birkat HaMazon with the most concentration. The leftists will curse Mofaz. Lapid, Livni The Frierim and Leiberman and rue the day they demanded that all hareidm serve! The word Plesner will become the worst curse word in the Hebrew lexicon. Ya Ben Plesner, Plesner Imak, Lech Kibini Plesner, etc.

My service to Israel included putting my life on the line. Can you say anything close to it, or even close to living the life of an ordinary Israeli citizen who works and serves in the IDF? What did you ever do for Israel except collecting welfare checks from the government? Worry not, my life is fine both in Israel and outside, while yours is not. However, important changes will be coming to your life in Israel very soon, so start preparing for a change.

Pity that, as a rule, you're completely and utterly wrong. Here's the thing - most of the military's top tier combat units and critical support units have more than enough people who care about Kashrut, and who are circumcised. Those "wastes" you speak of are part and parcel of providing both religious freedom and the infrastructure within the military for those of us who serve in it who require such "wastes" in our day to day lives. Wastes like being able to eat without going against the core of our religious beliefs. Well, thanks to you and yours, Michael, there are bases I can't eat in, with the exception of bought bread and water - and I had the dubious pleasure of experiencing some of those bases, thankfully for brief periods. You made this bed, Michael. I and others like me are the ones who need to correct it, day in and day out. We don't live on welfare. We don't ask for handouts. But folks like you with a secularist mindset are quite keen to discount us, thinking we'd become "enlightened" if merely shown how supposedly silly our beliefs are, even as you rush on to pounce on easier targets like the ultra-Orthodox. Well, I'm an Orthodox Jew. And I've given up most, if not all of my better years to the military. And I'm still giving. And even as you discount *me*, the invisi-religious you take for granted even as we serve, I can well understand the reservations the ultra-Orthodox have about military service and its secular environment. Because they are *right*.

It should also be noted though that based on Michael's post the automatic assumption is that because the anonymous poster is religious (not ultra-orthodox, but religious), he or she automatically did not serve. I don't get why there's such hatred of Judaism these days....

Bravo Roman for slapping Michael where it hurts. BTW, I enjoy reading all your posts.