It was Friday night leil Seder but for members of the Charuv Battalion who were anxiously waiting their yomtov meal had to make do with cold deli after it was learned that someone heated the food on Shabbos. The mashgiach realized that a soldier was in the kitchen and heating food on Shabbos and ordered the meal trashed, compelling soldiers to eat a cold yomtov Seder meal.
Not pleased with the news parents of the soldiers leaked the event to Carmela Menashe, a veteran military correspondent who was more than pleased to broadcast the event, telling the nation how the soldiers were deprived of their meat meal because of the mashgiach.
IDF officials confirm the details of the report, adding the NCO (non commissioned officer) who was mechalel shabbos was summoned before a senior officer to explain his actions and he is being punished for violating IDF regulations which include adherence to Shabbos in the dining room, in this case the violation of operating an electrical kitchen appliance.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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16 Responses
Kol hakovod to the IDF, which isn’t ignoring the instance of Shabbos desecration, but is taking stern action.
Important story–not so much for the details, but for the fact that there are so many religious soldiers putting their lives on the line so Diaspora Jews can enjoy the comforts of Pesach in 5 star hotels.
I am the first to comment on this story, and I feel compelled to do so— just for Haakora Hatov to these brave young men.
There can be 70 plus comments on this site for the latest news on the health status Gedolei Hadoor ( an important item, no doubt ), but how about acknowledgement of these Jews allowing us (with the help of Hashem) enjoy our homeland.
Every mashgiach’s dream is to throw out an entire meal.
I never got the chance during my mashgiaching days.
If he was only reheating and not actually cooking, couldn’t they wait until it cools and then eat it?
As long as the food was previously cooked and simply being reheated on somthing like a blech or other hotplate, why did they have to trash it and make these soldiers eat cold food for the seder?
Once again proving that the army is committed to keeping Torah and mitzvos….U’mi k’amcha Yisrael….
Surprise, surprise.
You can have a newspaper full of these type of IDF stories every day.
why not give the food to people who do not care or to people who are not jewish in isreal instead of dumping it
To No. 3
You make a joke that it is “every mashgiach’s dream” to be able to throw out a whole meal so that these brave men and women in the IDF had to eat cold rations while you sat at your seder table. Perhaps you should feel the pain of the soldiers rather than the joy of this mashgiach who you suggest was living out his fantasy.
There are really two issues here. One is whether an act of mechalel Shabbos took place. That should be easy to determine, partly on the testimony of the soldier, and also the reports of eyewitnesses, if any. If there was a pre-existing flame, and he was just reheating, it may be he wasn’t mechalel Shabbos. But the mashgiach and the officer were apparently accepting that a violation of Shabbos took place. There must have been a basis for their assumption.
The other issue is violation of an order to keep Shabbos in the kitchen. As a veteran myself, violating a clear order can be a serious offence, all the more so since as an NCO, he probably had supervisory duties. What if there was an order to stay away from the Lebanese border, and he violated the order and brought troops there, and the result was casualties or deaths?
#1 and #6, the IDF is very very far from “committed to keeping Torah and mitzvos”. The kovod belongs to this one mashgiach, who risked making dangerous enemies for the sake of Hashem. I’m sure his career will suffer as a result, because he will be labelled a troublemaker. He could have turned a blind eye, or thought up some half-baked kulla, but he knew that his first responsibility is to a Higher Authority and he made a kiddush Hashem.
To No. 9
It is every Mashgiach’s dream, and it’s not out of an uncaring attitude toward IDF Soldiers, or any other Jewish Human Beings who will lose out on their meal, rather those people are part of the dream. As they eat their cold deli they will be happy knowing it’s kosher, and that their mashgiach isn’t out to lunch and has the guts to stand up to people throwing cold deli sandwiches at him, and people on online forums.
To no. 2:
No, it it is nothing but Zionist propaganda that these IDF personnel are enabling diaspora Jews to enjoy Passover in 5-star hotels in Florida, etc. How can these soldaten who are thousands of miles away from the world’s major Jewish communities serve as defenders of say, American, or British, or Australian Jewry? A quick glance at a world map would show that IDF power projection is a major logistical challenge. Besides, as it indicates in the Dayenu paragraph, Judaism survived all these centuries without a land, and can still survive without a state, beacause of the Torah. I would venture to say that the IDF’s reputation for flouting the Geneva Conventions (as indicated in numerous youtube videos, UN resolutions, and critical reports from Human Rights groups) makes Jews around the world less safe because the goyim will tend to associate the actions of the Israeli state with Jews as a whole.
What I see here are a bunch of comments from people who have little knowledge of Halacha and reality. Whatever…
Standing O to the mashgiach for doing the right thing!!
three oaths, before you made a fool of yourself, you should have read the comment more fatally carefully! It says nothing about Florida. There are five star hotels in Israel, too.