Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Tzefat issued a statement on Wednesday agreeing with Rabbi Aviner’s statement that religious soldiers should not enlist in the army until the IDF can sort out the segregation issue and ensure that religious soldiers will not be in mixed units. According to Rabbi Eliyahu, Rabbi Aviner’s strong stance on the issue showed pointed to just how much of a serious matter this has become. Furthermore, Rabbi Eliyahu asked that the Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot hand in his resignation.

In light of the growing sentiment against the IDF in Religious Zionist rabbinic sectors, a group of Religious Zionist Rabbis came out an publicly showed their support for the IDF and for Eizenkot’s leadership thus far. The Rabbis showed their support for Eizenkot in a specially drafted letter that was cosigned by various leading Rabbis in the sector to the Chief of Staff. Rabbis Yaakov Meidan of Yeshivat Har Etzion, Haim Druckman of Yeshivat Ohr Etzion, and Eli Sadan of Mechinat Bnei David in Eli joined together to bless Eizenkot and display their appreciation for his efforts on behalf of religious soldiers in the IDF.

“As you enter your fourth year of service as the Chief of Staff of the IDF, we wanted to thank you for everything that you have done for the safety and security of the people of Israel as well as the strengthening and coalescing of the IDF. In specific, we wanted to express our gratitude to you for helping make the IDF a “people’s army” and allowing each and every soldier to feel comfortable serving in its ranks while adhering to his or her beliefs. Your efforts are praiseworthy. We are proud to educate our students with the ethos of doing everything they can and giving their all to the IDF and serving in combat units. We are certain that you will continue to do everything in your power to continue these important steps that you have embraced in the past year with regards to these matters.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)