כ״א לחודש השנים עשר תשע״ו
Arutz 7: IDF beard storm: Recognize this face?Esser Agaroth (2¢):
Religious soldiers are outraged by new anti-beard order - and it turns out even the defense minister had one.
Gil Ronen, 2/28/2016
New IDF orders to come into force Wednesday will make it very difficult for soldiers to gain permission to grow their beards for religious reasons, but the religious website Srugim has dug up photos of senior IDF personalities who grew beards themselves.
Among these is a young Moshe Ya'alon, seen in the photo receiving a commendation from former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Shomron. Ya'alon, who is secular, is the current Minister of Defense. (cont.)
No, the most important point of this piece is not that the State of Israel's Defense Minister was caught in alleged hypocrisy.
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| Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon Israeli Defense Minister |
Was Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon wearing a beard for religious reasons? Or was he like a lot men, and felt that shaving was a pain in the tuchus? Who knows, and who cares?
As efficient Srugim's research, and as clever its tactic of presenting this photo of Ya'alon was, the most important point reported here was actually that...
The new orders have caused anger among national-religious soldiers and leaders, who say it is part of a concerted attempt of secularization by some political officers and elements of the IDF top brass.The national religious soldiers and "leaders" should be angry, and they are right. This "is part of a concerted attempt of secularization." But, they are just seeing this now?? This by far, not the first time, nor will it be the last time, the IDF will attempt to blot out any duel loyalties among its soldiers.
What? And you don't think the State of Israel hasn't been doing the very same all along?
According to the new directives, a soldier who wishes to grow or keep his beard for religious reasons will need to receive official approval from the IDF Chief Rabbinate, his unit commander and his adjutant commanding officer.What does growing a beard for religious reasons have anything to do with unit commander and adjunct commanding officer??
Absolutely nothing, unless of course the IDF "top brass" are talking about the Jewish religion, but about a State of Israel religion instead.
The new orders were revealed shortly after a 19-year-old religious officer reported being told he would have to shave his beard or face a court martial.Were these orders stealthily, made and implemented with "shock and awe," in order to make the point that in the IDF, the rabbis don't give the orders around here?
Regardless of the short-term goals of the "top brass," the overall message should be loud and clear. The IDF is not really a Jewish army.
I realize that this statement will simply be too much for the "National Religious" to fathom, and so, I will offer them an alternative, which should be more palatable to them. The IDF is an army with an increasingly fading connection to Torah. How's that for a euphemism?
With a handful of idealistic holdouts, the IDF leadership had been targeting any threat to its authority, and by extension, to the authority to the State. The Torah being the biggest threat of them all.
Of course, those who are truly in control of the State of Israel are the Labor Zionists, who have always had the ultimate goal of wiping out any truly Jewish aspects of the State, and to guide the Jewish People into full assimilation into a Western secular-led, global community. The Labor Zionists are the ones to blame.
Gee. Maybe the "National Religious" will think twice about sending their kids into the IDF to be knocked around, used, and to have their indoctrination into total State (usurping of Torah) loyalty completed?
Furthermore, 16 years ago, I learned that of the "National Religious" men who enlisted in the IDF, 25% were no longer religious by the end of their service.
Who knows what the statistic is today?
Let us hope that this will also be a consideration for "National Religious" parents to reconsider the carrying on of this custom, until significant changes are made in IDF policy toward religious soldiers, being allowed to grow a beard, being minor in comparison to the many other gross violations of the Torah.
Thank you for putting this out. My two cents on your two cents is that "religious Zionist" is an oxymoron, a contradiction of terms: One cannot worship Hashem and the State at the same time or, if one does, it's pretty much like xtianism, with its multiple god figure.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with your statement 100%.
ReplyDelete"Zionism," or the concept that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People, is only a part of the Torah and cannot be separated.
The Labor Zionists, who collaborated with the Nazis, hijacked the term,...actually this happened even before that.
They have no understanding that the Land belongs to us, only through HaShem's granting it to us. But, the reality is that they have no interest whatsoever in a Jewish nation, physical or spiritual. They just want to fool us with just enough "sprinkles" of Judaism, so that they can assimilate us into the Western ruled global community.
Many "rabbis" are collaborators, mostly out of ignorance. But, the damage they're doing is just as dangerous as those who are participating with full knowledge of the ultimate goal.
I know you don't agree with my statement 100%, in fact very few do. However, I came to the conclusion that labor OR religious, Zionism is Zionism. For their intrinsic and different reasons, they are not to be mistaken for Judaism.
ReplyDeleteI believe that beside the animosity in certain areas of the IDF against religion, their action was to stop any religious Jew from rising to the upper echelon of the IDF Command. They don't want ANY religion in the IDF decision-making. They always find a way to eliminate anyone from getting up there.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point, especially now with the well-publicized, increasing number of officers in the IDF wearing kippoth.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main goals of super mamlakhti Yeshivath B'nei David in Eli is have one of its graduates reach the rank of general.