The Military Rabbinate ( he, חיל הרבנות הצבאית, ''Heil HaRabanut HaTzvait'') is a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

that provides

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

services to soldiers, primarily to

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s, but also including non-Jews, and makes decisions on issues of religion and military affairs. The Military Rabbinate is headed by the Chief Military Rabbi, who is ranked a

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

. The current Chief Military Rabbi is

Eyal Karim Eyal Moshe Karim ( he, אייל משה קרים) (born February 8, 1957) is the head of the Military Rabbinate of the Israel Defense Forces. Early life and career Karim grew up in Givatayim, Israel, and studied at Yeshivat Bnei Akiva. In Augus ...

Mission

The Military Rabbinate constitutes the body responsible for religious institutions in the military. In every

unit Unit may refer to: Arts and entertainment * UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' * Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation Music * ''Unit'' (alb ...

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

, there are Military Rabbinate soldiers assigned responsibility for assuring religious services, in particular,

Kashrut (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

of the kitchen and the maintenance of the

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

and its inventory. Actively serving soldiers can request from the Rabbinate representatives to perform marriage ceremonies as well as the

Brit milah The ''brit milah'' ( he, בְּרִית מִילָה ''bərīṯ mīlā'', ; Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazi pronunciation: , "Covenant (religion), covenant of circumcision"; Yiddish pronunciation: ''bris'' ) is Religion and circumcision, the cerem ...

. The Military Rabbinate is responsible for treating the bodies of

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

s from the

Halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

standpoint, including the identification and post-mortem treatment of bodies, and conducting military

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

s. In the past decade, the use of

Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) is a computerized system maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 1999. It is a national automated fingerprint identification and criminal history system. IAFI ...

was implemented, setting the IDF at the cutting edge of fingerprint identification technology. The Military Rabbinate also attends to the burial of enemy soldiers and the exhuming in conjunction with prisoner exchanges. Prior to the establishment of

ZAKA ZAKA ( he, זק"א, abbreviation for ''Zihuy Korbanot Ason'', , literally: "Disaster Victim Identification") is a series of voluntary community emergency response teams in Israel, each operating in a police district (two in the Central Distr ...

, it was also responsible for treating the victims of

suicide attack A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...

s. More recently, it was placed in charge of dismantling the

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

Gush Katif Gush Katif ( he, גוש קטיף, , Harvest Bloc) was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza strip. In August 2005, the Israeli army forcibly removed the 8,600 residents of Gush Katif from their homes after a decision from the Ca ...

during the Gaza disengagement plan.

History

The Military Rabbinate was founded in 1948 by Rabbi

Shlomo Goren Shlomo Goren ( he, שלמה גורן; February 3, 1917 – October 29, 1994), was a Polish-born Israeli Orthodox Religious Zionist rabbi and Talmudic scholar who was considered a foremost authority on Jewish law (Halakha). Goren founded and ser ...

, who headed it until 1968. Until 2000, the Chief Military Rabbi tended to remain in their positions for a considerable period of time. After Rabbi Goren, from 1968 to 1977, the Chief Military Rabbi was Rabbi

Mordechai Peron Mordechai Piron ( he, מרדכי פירון; born Egon Pisk; 28 December 1921 – 28 May 2014) was the second chief military rabbi in the history of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), after his predecessor, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, created the position ...

. From 1977 to 2000, the position was held by Rabbi

Gad Navon Gad Navon (1922 – 25 June 2006) was the third Chief Military Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces. Biography Mimun Fahima (later Gad Navon) was born in Morocco. He was ordained there as Rabbi after completing the study of the entire Talmud. H ...

. From 2000 to 2006, the Chief Military Rabbi was Rabbi

Israel Weiss Israel Weiss ( he, ישראל וייס, born 1949) was the Chief Military Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces serving in the position between 2000 and 2006, with a rank of Brigadier General. His predecessor in that position was Rabbi Gad Navon. B ...

. Weiss introduced many changes into the Rabbinate, including giving soldiers much more access to the unit and increasing the Rabbinate's dealings with the religious soldiers. Weiss was the chief rabbi during the 2005 disengagement from Gaza and was in charge of disinterring 48 graves from the

cemetery. For that role, he has been criticized and attacked by opponents of the disengagement. Succeeding him, Brigadier-General Rontzki began his service in the rabbinate on March 27, 2006. The appointment was recommended by the then-

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

Dan Halutz Dan Halutz ( he, דן חלוץ, ; born August 7, 1948) is an Israeli Air Force lieutenant general and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz served as chief of staff in 2005–2007. Biog ...

, and approved by the then-

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Shaul Mofaz Shaul Mofaz ( he, שאול מופז; 4 November 1948) is a retired Israeli military officer and politician. He joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1966 and served in the Paratroopers Brigade. He fought in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, 1982 Le ...

. This new appointment was seen as a direct consequence of the controversial remarks by Israel Weiss wherein he appeared to have agreed with the former Chief

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

National Authority of Religious Services Rabbi,

Avraham Shapira Avraham Shapira ( he, אברהם אלקנה כהנא שפירא; 20 May 1914, Jerusalem – 27 September 2007) was a prominent rabbi in the Religious Zionist world. Shapira had been the head of the Rabbinical court of Jerusalem, and both a ...

, who called on soldiers who are religious Jews to disobey orders to forcefully remove

settlers A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

from the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

during the Gaza disengagement plan. While Israel Weiss retracted and apologized for the "slip up", the event drew a great deal of controversy in military circles, and in Israel in general.

2009 incitement controversy

According to Israeli left-wing human rights group

Yesh Din Yesh Din: Volunteers for Human Rights ( he, יש דין) is an Israeli organization working in Israel and in the West Bank. The organization was founded in 2005 by a group of women who previously worked with the organization Machsom Watch. The p ...

, during the 2009 Gaza conflict, the military rabbinate distributed a religious booklet that warned against showing mercy to enemies. The publications compared modern-day Palestinians to the Biblical

Philistines The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...

, and denied the historical existence of a Palestinian national identity. According to Yesh Din, the booklet could have been interpreted by soldiers as a call to act outside the confines of the international laws of warfare. A

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

editorial described the booklets as "sermons that preach, in the name of ostensibly religious values, the killing of civilians", and which "opposes all the combat values formulated in the IDF throughout the generations". The booklet includes sermons written by religious Zionist leader

Shlomo Aviner Shlomo Chaim Hacohen Aviner (, born 1943/5703 as ''Claude Langenauer'') is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi. He is the rosh yeshiva (dean) of Ateret Yerushalayim (formerly Ateret Cohanim) and the rabbi of Beit El, an Israeli settlement. He is consider ...

. It also accuses the material of fostering an atmosphere in which extremist sermons by

Yitzhak Ginsburg Yitzchak Feivish Ginsburgh (Hebrew: יצחק פייוויש גינזבורג; born 14 November 1944) sometimes referred to as "the Malakh" () is an American-born Israeli rabbi affiliated with the Chabad movement. In 1996 he was regarded as one ...

praising

Baruch Goldstein Baruch Kopel Goldstein ( he, ברוך קופל גולדשטיין; born Benjamin Carl Goldstein; December 9, 1956 – February 25, 1994) was an Israeli-American mass murderer, religious extremist, and physician who perpetrated the 1994 terrorist ...

(described as "chauvinist and racist incitement") can be disseminated. Following a series of inquiries, both in the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

and within the IDF, it was determined that the distribution of the alleged booklets took place in a few isolated incidents, by non-military personnel, without proper supervision of Military Rabbinate representatives. Following this incident, guidelines were set to ensure the authority of both the Military Rabbinate and the

Education and Youth Corps The Israeli Education and Youth Corps ( he, חיל החינוך והנוער, ''Heil HaHinuh VeHaNo'ar'') is the IDF Manpower Directorate corps responsible for the education of soldiers and commanders in Israel's military. It is designed to instruc ...

within the IDF.

2016 appointment controversy

In November 2016, the High Court of Israel delayed the appointment of Eyal Karim as chief military rabbi, demanding that he clarify a number of statements he had made in the past. These allegedly included that Jewish soldiers were permitted to rape non-Jewish women in wartime, that women should not be allowed to testify in court due to their "sentimental" nature, and that captured terrorists should be killed. The comments were published over a decade ago. Responding to the accusations, Karim said that the Torah permits intercourse with a non-Jewish woman during wartime under certain conditions, but his statements were strictly theoretical and dealt with a specific biblical passage. At the time of his appointment, he told the IDF Personnel Directorate that "there is no license in times of peace or war to sexually assault women".

Gallery

File:Flag of the Israeli Military Rabbinate Corps.svg, Military Rabbinate Corps flag File:Military Rabbinate corps pin.png, Military Rabbinate Corps pin
Official IDF Insignia website File:Rabanim015.JPG, Military Rabbinate rabbis during training, Israel 2009

References

External links

Israel Defense Forces: Military Rabbinate
{{Israel Defense Forces Military chaplains Military units and formations of Israel Religion in the Israel Defense Forces Orthodox Judaism Military units and formations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Israel