Lieutenant Colonel Rabbi Shlomo Levanon and Lieutenant
Colonel Rabbi Yehuda Machpud were appointed last week to
assist Chief IDF Rabbi Colonel Rabbi Yisroel Weiss.
Rabbi Levanon will assist Chief Rabbi Weiss with halachic
issues, replacing General (Res.) Rabbi Yisrael
Zingrevits. Lieutenant Colonel Rabbi Yehuda Machpud will
assist Rabbi Weiss with kashrus matters, replacing
General (Res.) Rabbi Chaim Baksht.
Lieutenant Colonel Rabbi Tzvi Black will be appointed deputy
head of the Religious Services Unit. He will be responsible
for the base of the military rabbinate and for issues of
marriage and burial in the IDF. It is noteworthy that Rabbi
Black has yet to be promoted to the rank of colonel, since
the Chief of Staff has decided to reduce the staff of IDF
Rabbinate.
At meetings held by the IDF Chief of Staff last week, it was
decided to cancel the independent status of the IDF
Rabbinate and make it subordinate to the IDF Manpower
Department. This means that the Chief IDF Rabbi will have no
exclusive say over IDF appointments. This decision is the
end result of the decision not to grant the rank of general
to the chief IDF rabbi as had been customary until now. In
the wake of this change in the unit's independent status,
the head of the Manpower Branch has demanded that the
rabbinical positions be cut. This would result in the
dismissal of twenty chaplains and would adversely effect the
IDF Rabbinate's work.
