Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, head of the Petach Tikvah hesder yeshiva [in which students combine Torah study with army service], wrote an open letter to Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer in the wake of the events of last night. The letter states:
"From today onwards, a soldier will not be able to trust his commanders. Not only soldiers who are loyal to the Sabbath will not be able to be sure that orders given them are truly vital [and must be carried out even at the expense of Sabbath desecration because they involve matters of national security or the saving of lives], but also other soldiers with other principles that need not be violated except in certain cases will not be able to adhere [with confidence] to their commanders' orders.
"The gash that you as Defense Minister have torn [between the commanders and their soldiers] is so wide that the only way you can mend it is by resigning and thus saving the army. How can a spiritual leader, whether from the right or left, tell his students who are soldiers that they must trust their commanders' orders to shoot at a certain point even if civilians may be hurt, if he can't trust them that it is truly a case of saving other lives? How can a spiritual leader tell his soldier-students that they must trust their commanders' orders that [could] involve the betrayal of his cherished religious beliefs?
"Do you expect that every soldier should now filter every order he receives through his own private filter, and then [possibly] not carry it out? Your answer is most likely 'no' - but this is precisely the situation to which you have brought us.
"From your lukewarm reaction to what happened over Shabbat, I understand that you still do not understand the depth of the crisis - which means that you can no longer lead the army in the fulfillment of its missions. As a soldier and an officer, a father of sons, the head of a yeshiva, a regular citizen, and mainly as someone who sees the army and its proper functioning as one of the main pillars of our society, I call upon you - who holds the army dear - to rescue the army from this crisis of confidence between officers and soldiers, and to resign."
"From today onwards, a soldier will not be able to trust his commanders. Not only soldiers who are loyal to the Sabbath will not be able to be sure that orders given them are truly vital [and must be carried out even at the expense of Sabbath desecration because they involve matters of national security or the saving of lives], but also other soldiers with other principles that need not be violated except in certain cases will not be able to adhere [with confidence] to their commanders' orders.
"The gash that you as Defense Minister have torn [between the commanders and their soldiers] is so wide that the only way you can mend it is by resigning and thus saving the army. How can a spiritual leader, whether from the right or left, tell his students who are soldiers that they must trust their commanders' orders to shoot at a certain point even if civilians may be hurt, if he can't trust them that it is truly a case of saving other lives? How can a spiritual leader tell his soldier-students that they must trust their commanders' orders that [could] involve the betrayal of his cherished religious beliefs?
"Do you expect that every soldier should now filter every order he receives through his own private filter, and then [possibly] not carry it out? Your answer is most likely 'no' - but this is precisely the situation to which you have brought us.
"From your lukewarm reaction to what happened over Shabbat, I understand that you still do not understand the depth of the crisis - which means that you can no longer lead the army in the fulfillment of its missions. As a soldier and an officer, a father of sons, the head of a yeshiva, a regular citizen, and mainly as someone who sees the army and its proper functioning as one of the main pillars of our society, I call upon you - who holds the army dear - to rescue the army from this crisis of confidence between officers and soldiers, and to resign."