The National Religious Party has asked for an urgent meeting with Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz in light of the recent decision to incorporate the IDF Chief Rabbinate into the army's Personnel Branch. The decision is supposed to go into effect this Tuesday, but Mofaz has not yet responded to the NRP request. MK Sha'ul Yahalom told Arutz-7 that the decision would "destroy the army's provision of religious services and would cause damage to religious-secular relations in the army."
According to the new arrangement, decisions such as where to post rabbis and kashrut supervisors, and how many of them should be appointed, would be left up to the IDF Personnel Branch. Budgetary decisions would no longer be in the hands of the Chief Rabbi. "This will also lead to two things," Yahalom said. "First, religious soldiers will no longer have as much trust in the Chief Rabbinate - as it is now, they enlist in the army willingly, knowing that they are backed by an independent Chief Rabbinate, but this will now change. In addition, the quality of the rabbis will drop, as the Chief Rabbi will no longer be the one to appoint the rabbis of the various regions, but rather the IDF Personnel Branch..."
Yahalom acknowledged another problem: Brig.-Gen. Rabbi Yisrael Weiss is the first IDF Chief Rabbi not to have the rank of Maj.-Gen. "The problem was that he was appointed as a Colonel," Yahalom said, "and we were happy at the time, because they appointed a religious-Zionist rabbi - but it's true that we should work on making sure the Chief Rabbi is of the rank of Maj.-Gen."
According to the new arrangement, decisions such as where to post rabbis and kashrut supervisors, and how many of them should be appointed, would be left up to the IDF Personnel Branch. Budgetary decisions would no longer be in the hands of the Chief Rabbi. "This will also lead to two things," Yahalom said. "First, religious soldiers will no longer have as much trust in the Chief Rabbinate - as it is now, they enlist in the army willingly, knowing that they are backed by an independent Chief Rabbinate, but this will now change. In addition, the quality of the rabbis will drop, as the Chief Rabbi will no longer be the one to appoint the rabbis of the various regions, but rather the IDF Personnel Branch..."
Yahalom acknowledged another problem: Brig.-Gen. Rabbi Yisrael Weiss is the first IDF Chief Rabbi not to have the rank of Maj.-Gen. "The problem was that he was appointed as a Colonel," Yahalom said, "and we were happy at the time, because they appointed a religious-Zionist rabbi - but it's true that we should work on making sure the Chief Rabbi is of the rank of Maj.-Gen."