IDF Chief Rabbi Eyal Kaim with Chief of Staff Eizenkot
IDF Chief Rabbi Eyal Kaim with Chief of Staff EizenkotPhoto by Marc Israel Sellem/POOL

The 'Tzav 1' advocacy organization claims that the IDF is planning to force observant soldiers to shave during the upcoming Sefirat Ha'omer period by withholding shaving exemptions.

Sefirat Ha'omer is a 49-day mourning period between the Passover and Shavuot holidays, in which observant Jews refrain from shaving or cutting their hair. The IDF regularly hands out shaving exemptions to observant soldiers during this period so that they will not violate their religious beliefs.

However, the Tzav 1 group wrote in a public letter to IDF Chief Rabbi Eyal Karim that the army has been reluctant to hand out such exemptions this year, and warned Karim that this stringent policy would leave many soldiers with no choice but to violate the tradition.

"Many claims have surfaced, both from soldiers observing a traditional lifestyle and from IDF rabbis serving in various units, that it has been difficult to receive a shaving exemption, which minimizes and puts down their way of life," wrote Tzav 1 Chairman Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu.

This is not the first time that shaving exemptions in the IDF have been examined. In February, the IDF announced that it had revised its grooming standards, relaxing some restrictions and making it easier for religious soldiers to keep their beards.

While the IDF has in the past prohibited enlisted men from growing a beard, religious soldiers had previously been able to receive a deferment from the army's grooming standards for religious reasons. However, after reportedly feeling that these privileges were abused by soldiers with lax standards of religiosity, the IDF tightened the protocols in 2016, making it substantially harder for observant conscripts to receive exemptions.

While under the old rules a unit's rabbinate could issue beard exceptions, the new guidelines required signed approval of certain high-ranking officers, which led to charges that the IDF was making it harder for religious soldiers to practice their religion. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, an influential Religious Zionist rabbi, said that the revised protocol was "a dark day for the IDF" and dismissed claims that the beard ban was aimed at building discipline.

However, the IDF denied that the revised shaving ban was an attack on religious soldiers. "A religious soldier who requests to grow a beard will appeal to his commander, as will any other soldier who wants to grow a beard for other reasons," said then-IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Moti Almoz. "On the other hand, it’s impossible to maintain a disciplined military when everyone grows a beard, and therefore we’ve set clearer rules."