IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkott recently gave an order to limit the authority of the IDF Rabbinate in the ongoing dispute over jurisdiction between the military rabbonus and the IDF Education Corps. This was prompted by a recent incident, in which a soldier brought a ham sandwich to his base and shared it with colleagues.

There was talk that rabbis would no longer be permitted to participate in military ceremonies, including swearing-in ceremonies at the Kosel but Eizenkott insists the rumors are incorrect and rabbonim will continue participating in such events.

What is now evident is the question is not limited to if rabbis will be permitted to participate but what type of rabbis. Most have been operating under the assumption that rabbinical participation refers to frum rabbis, but recent events signal a change in military policy.

According to a Walla News report, a new reserve duty unit has been established under the wing of the Education Corps with the goal of supervising religious intervention by the IDF Rabbinate in official IDF ceremonies.

This new unit is not being limited to frum rabbis, but it will also open its doors to from more liberal streams of Judaism including Reform and women. An officer in the unit explains “The IDF does not determine who serves in the unit. One views it as religious and the other cultural and therefore regarding the unit’s dealing with Shabbos, it will be pluralistic”.

The officer further explains “It is unacceptable that a person who grew up in a reform or conservative home is not permitted to share his Shabbos experience with others and what components of this are important to him. If one explains he wishes to explain things important to him but is unwilling to hear others, this is unacceptable”.

While the identity of the soldier quoted was not revealed, BaSheva probed and learned the officer in the Education Corps unit is a female, not a male. Colonel Yael Hess heads the education unit in the Education Corps. She is married to attorney Yitzhar Hess, a leader of Israel’s Conservative Movement. Clearly her view on Yiddishkheit would fall under the title ‘liberal’.

In a recent column published by the colonel, in Nissan, in the IDF’s Tanach program she address the mitzvah of wiping out Amalek, explaining it is not to be taken literally for such an act is ‘immoral and defied the prohibition against murder’. She explains we are not commanded to wipe out Amalek the man, but our obligation to eradicate the bad in ourselves. She explains this goes hand-in-hand with the IDF Code of Ethics that governs the use of weapons and force.

Last winter she sent a letter to commanders of soldiers from the former Soviet Union to permit them to take leave to return to their former country to take part in a secular holiday observance known in Israel as Sylvester. She explains in her letter that the IDF does not make such a provision, to permit soldiers to take part in a non-Jewish holiday but she feels doing so assist them in maintaining the heritage received from their parents at home.

In an article appearing in the IDF’s BaMachane Magazine two years ago, Hess speaks of her participation in the ‘Witnesses in Uniform’ program, when IDF officers in uniform visit the former death camps in Europe. She explains her deep sense of resentment when compelled to leave the men’s section of the shul and enter the ezras noshim.

After speaking with one of the rabbonim taking part in the visit, she was offered to carry a Sefer Torah in Auschwitz the following day (see photo). She explains she requested to hold the Sefer Torah and it reminded her of stories she heard in her parents’ home, parents who originated from Morocco. She explains her pain today amid the realization that the tolerance exhibited in years gone by has vanished. She speaks of the need of the both the Conservative and Reform streams of Judaism being to incorporate into the Jewish identity in the IDF and stresses her openness to all walks of life. She points out “I know what Jewish identity is” and continues explaining that her policy is one of openness, rejecting those unwilling to accept others.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office explains the program intends to expose soldiers to all walks of life, to introduce them to the various ways of life in Yiddishkheit via workshops and many other activities of the Education Corps.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photo: IDF Spokesman)