During his clarification meeting with Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai on Thursday, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed explained that he relies on the p’sak halacha of the late Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Goren zt”l, who ruled soldiers may not remove Jews from their homes in Eretz Yisrael, expounding on the late rabbi’s Torah.

The meeting lasted for about 90 minutes, and according to both sides, it was conducted in a productive and respectful fashion. Vilnai reportedly expressed his appreciation for the hesder institutions and the highly-motivated soldiers, but told the rabbi that it the IDF cannot tolerate a situation in which soldiers feel there is another authority, other than their commanders.

It would appear that Vilnai was less than impressed with Rav Goren’s p’sak, informing the rav hesder must publicly announced their unquestionable loyalty to the IDF or face the consequences. The rav asked for a number of days to respond, and Vilnai gave him a deadline of Sunday.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)