A recent controversy over a letter in which national-
religious rabbis threatened to stop sending yeshiva students
to serve in the IDF is a classic example of how the media can
blow something out of proportion, according to a report in
Ha'aretz
The headline in Ma'ariv referred to an "unprecedented
letter from Religious Zionist rabbis, including Druckman,
Melamed and Haber." Actually, Rabbis Haim Druckman, Eliezer
Melamed and Shlomo Haber never signed the letter and were
never asked to do so. (Rabbi Melamed's father, Rabbi Zalman
Melamed, did sign.) The only connection between these three
rabbis and the letter was their consent to be interviewed by
the newspaper about the letter. Rabbi Haber, head of the
hesder yeshiva in Karnei Shomron, feared further media
distortion and refused to be interviewed by Ha'aretz,
saying only: "I am considering legal action on this
matter."
The Ma'ariv headline claimed that "religious Zionist
rabbis" were calling on soldiers to disobey orders that run
"contrary to Jewish law." In point of fact, the letter sent
to the IDF makes no mention of disobeying orders (it only
states that "the presence of male and female soldiers in the
same military unit is absolutely forbidden [by Jewish law]");
nor was "disobeying orders" mentioned in the original letter
sent to the rabbis by a religious IDF officer who asked them
to send a letter to the IDF.
Only one of the rabbis interviewed by Ma'ariv talked
about the idea that soldiers should disobey orders. Melamed
told Ha'aretz that his position was based on an
instruction issued many years ago by the Military Rabbinate
when Rabbi Shlomo Goren was Chief Military Chaplain.
According to Melamed, "An official publication of the
Military Rabbinate stated that soldiers could disobey orders
contrary to Jewish law. Chief of Staff [Haim] Laskov was so
furious that he ordered the closing of the publication. Rabbi
Goren went directly to the prime minister, David Ben-Gurion,
who was also the defense minister. "At first Ben-Gurion
accepted Laskov's position and said that soldiers should obey
orders first and ask questions later. Rabbi Goren replied
that, for religious Jews, this was identical to ordering the
murder of an innocent person: One could not carry out such an
order and then complain afterward. Ben-Gurion was persuaded,
whereupon he reprimanded Laskov and even ordered an expansion
of the number of pages in the Military Rabbinate's
publication.
Rabbi Moshe Hagar, head of the pre-military academy in Yatir
(on the southern slopes of Mount Hebron), was one of the
letter's signatories. He opposes the idea of soldiers
directly disobeying orders but does propose, at most,
avoidance of an order through some excuse.
Rabbi Druckman, for his part, finds it difficult to believe
that any orders issued by IDF commanders are contrary to
Jewish law.
The letter was initiated by Rabbi Eyal Karim, head of the pre-
military academy attached to the Ateret Kohanim organization
in Jerusalem. For the past number of months, Rabbi Karim has
been operating a hot line for religious soldiers who have
encountered problems involving Jewish law during their
military service.
It is possible that the range of questions he has fielded
prompted him to initiate the letter. The former commander of
an elite paratrooper unit, he is now a paratrooper brigade
commander in the reserves. During his military service, he
has established close ties with the present chief of staff,
Shaul Mofaz, who, according to sources in the religious
community, is sympathetic to Rabbi Karim's comments. The
letter did manage to point out how ineffective the Military
Rabbinate is in ensuring that religious soldiers can maintain
their way of life in the army.
The initiators asked the rabbis to sign a letter directed to
IDF authorities and provided a long list of the problems
faced by religious soldiers, such as problems related to the
Sabbath and to kashrut.
Another problem--coed combat units--has caused considerable
disapproval in the religious community. Although there has no
been worsening of conditions for religious soldiers, a group
of female soldiers have declared their intention to petition
the High Court on this issue and the IDF has agreed to accede
to their demand.
The initiative for the creation of mixed combat units,
according to Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, prompted the rabbis'
letter to the IDF.
Earlier, the IDF rejected the accusations by some rabbis
connected to the National Religious Party that it is
suppressing the religious freedom of observant soldiers and
forcing them to disregard tradition. IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen.
Oded Ben-Ami went so far as to hint that the charges may have
stemmed from the elections.
"We have an uncomfortable feeling about this matter coming up
in this manner at this time. It would be best to remove the
IDF from and not to drag it into the political debate,
particularly at this sensitive time of elections," Ben-Ami
said.
