Decision makers in the IDF are aware of the military’s fiscal realities and as such, there are many cuts. These cuts include halting the distribution of the tzitzis for soldiers, the kind made with the army’s green color to permit wearing them in uniform. According to an NRG report, the military has stopped distributing the tzitzis, placing yet additional financial hardships on frum soldiers.
Soldiers are confirming that they are no longer receiving them free of charge and are told they must purchase them on their own, and they are prohibited from wearing regular ones with a white begged.
Soldiers explain that in addition to the cost, they are hard to come by since they were mass produced for the army, and therefore they were available in stores. Now that the army has stopped ordering, they simply are difficult to find.
Army rabbinate officials are already working on coming up with a solution, realizing that soldiers and tzitzis are inseparable and a solution needs to be found, quickly. During the interim period, until a solution are found, rabbinate officials have requested not to punish soldiers who wear white ones since there does not appear to be a sufficient supply of green ones in the private marketplace.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
12 Responses
A talis koton is supposed to be white anyway, to match the colour of the strings. This is in Shulchon Oruch. It’s not a hard and fast requirement, green is not possul, but it’s the way it’s supposed to be. So why would the rabbinate have promoted a green version instead of insisting that white be allowed? What rational purpose does banning white serve?
So what else that’s essential to the soldiers’ security are they thinking of cutting? Access to IDF-supplied guns and ammunition?
That’s right, save money by cutting out mitzvos. Only in Israel.
#1 The reason is security so that the white beged is not seen around the neck or coming out the back and a soldier can be spotted and shot out..
@Millhouse:
White is allowed in dress uniform, and in fatigues (“madei aleph”) and even in work uniform (“madei bet”) for non-combat soldiers.
Any combat soldier on active duty is not allowed to wear white in any way that it can ‘break’ the camouflage, so no white socks, underwear etc.
This only applies to “madei bet”, in fatigues combat soldiers are allowed to wear white.
This may also only apply to army combat soldiers, the airforce and navy may have more relaxed rules on the subject…
A combat soldier can also always color his own Tzitzis, getting a green cloth-die should not be hard at all.
Gotta cut corners where u can 😉
Why do they need to pay for the ציצות ?
I just don’t get it. I don’t mean anything negative here, uniform, weapons, military stuff fine. Religious articles ?
#7 if it’s part of the uniform then of course the army should pay for it. How can they tell the soldiers they must not wear their own taleisim ketanim but only these special ones, and then not provide them? Just as the army must provide kosher food, it must provide all the necessary garments.
By the way, tefillin are also allowed to be green. Only the retzuos must be black; having the rest of it black too is only a minhag (though, like white tzitzis, it is the minhag of all Jews everywhere, and is in the Shulchon Oruch).
And they think real Jews would agree to leave learning in order to serve with them?
Cutting back on fringe benefits!! It’s not the end of the world – if the FIDF pay for boots and things, I recko some Kiruv entity would foot the bill for the few soldiers who have tziits hanging out, in combat units, who were happy with the ones provided for free, and who need new ones.
they do want the frum to serve in the army, they really do want…