IDF Chief Education Officer Brig.-Gen. Elazar Stern is about to be promoted to the rank of Maj.-Gen. and will be appointed head of the army's Personnel Corps. Stern is a religiously-observant Jew who graduated from Yeshivat Netiv Meir High School together with MK Avraham Burg in 1973. In June 2001, Stern suspended the appearance of the IDF soldiers' journal BaMachaneh after it featured articles deemed "not appropriate," including insults of IDF officers and Air Force pilots, and one about a high-ranking officer who revealed that he is a homosexual.
The advancement of religious officers in the army was the topic of discussion this morning between Arutz-7's Emanuel Shilo and Col. (res.) Rabbi Moshe Hager, head of the pre-military yeshiva academy in Beit Yatir. Hager agreed that Stern's promotion was a step in a positive direction: "The position of chief of Personnel Corps is a very central and important one, and deals with long-term manpower planning in the IDF."
Shilo: "On the one hand, Stern is now the 3rd or 4th religious Maj.-Gen. in the past years, but on the other hand, none of them are in top combat positions."
Hager: "The position of Personnel Corps Chief can sometimes be more important than that of the head of a regional command. It deals with shaping the future character of the IDF. We are not dealing only with the short-term considerations of how to deal with terrorism, but also with the long-term view of the face of the IDF."
Shilo: "We see that with the growth of the pre-military yeshiva academies, young religious men are joining the ranks of the junior officers. We have not yet seen if this will continue to the senior officer positions. Do you think that this will in fact happen, or is there something stopping them from reaching the top positions?"
Hager: "First of all, today is the anniversary of the death of Col. Dror Weinberg [38-year-old Hevron Brigade commander, a former student of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook who was killed last year, along with 11 others, in a battle with terrorists in Hevron]. He was certainly not the product of the pre-military academies, yet it is very likely that he would have advanced to the position of regional command chief. I don't think there are any external brakes on the advancement of religious officers; whoever is good, moves up. There may be another problem, and that is that some religious men don't see themselves fitting into the lifestyle of a career officer, which is very demanding on a religious family."
Shilo: "But there were complaints, for instance regarding the lack of promotion of Effie Eitam [who was not promoted to Maj.-Gen. and retired from the army almost three years ago] - and Ya'ir Naveh, too [who also did not pass the Brig.-Gen. level], spoke about it - that one who wears a kippah [skullcap] has to be very much better than others in order to be promoted."
Hager: "I don't want to relate to this... but I don't think it's connected with the kippah. I think that the great influence of religious Zionism is not necessarily in the top brass, but in the critical mass of young religious soldiers and officers, hundreds and thousands of them, which really provides the spirit of the army. We saw this during Operation Defensive Shield."
Shilo: "But aren't the main decisions made by the top officers?"
Hager: "The main decisions are made where the spirit of the people below influences the decisions of the people above. It was always this way: When the spirit below is in favor of fighting terror, then those who call to refuse such orders are only a tiny proportion. This is the main thing - every religious soldier and junior officer who does reserve duty has a say in this."
Shilo: "So you don't think it's so important for religious soldiers to reach the top ranks?"
Hager: "It's important - but more important is the critical mass that I spoke about before, the junior officers who actually determine the face of the IDF."
The advancement of religious officers in the army was the topic of discussion this morning between Arutz-7's Emanuel Shilo and Col. (res.) Rabbi Moshe Hager, head of the pre-military yeshiva academy in Beit Yatir. Hager agreed that Stern's promotion was a step in a positive direction: "The position of chief of Personnel Corps is a very central and important one, and deals with long-term manpower planning in the IDF."
Shilo: "On the one hand, Stern is now the 3rd or 4th religious Maj.-Gen. in the past years, but on the other hand, none of them are in top combat positions."
Hager: "The position of Personnel Corps Chief can sometimes be more important than that of the head of a regional command. It deals with shaping the future character of the IDF. We are not dealing only with the short-term considerations of how to deal with terrorism, but also with the long-term view of the face of the IDF."
Shilo: "We see that with the growth of the pre-military yeshiva academies, young religious men are joining the ranks of the junior officers. We have not yet seen if this will continue to the senior officer positions. Do you think that this will in fact happen, or is there something stopping them from reaching the top positions?"
Hager: "First of all, today is the anniversary of the death of Col. Dror Weinberg [38-year-old Hevron Brigade commander, a former student of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook who was killed last year, along with 11 others, in a battle with terrorists in Hevron]. He was certainly not the product of the pre-military academies, yet it is very likely that he would have advanced to the position of regional command chief. I don't think there are any external brakes on the advancement of religious officers; whoever is good, moves up. There may be another problem, and that is that some religious men don't see themselves fitting into the lifestyle of a career officer, which is very demanding on a religious family."
Shilo: "But there were complaints, for instance regarding the lack of promotion of Effie Eitam [who was not promoted to Maj.-Gen. and retired from the army almost three years ago] - and Ya'ir Naveh, too [who also did not pass the Brig.-Gen. level], spoke about it - that one who wears a kippah [skullcap] has to be very much better than others in order to be promoted."
Hager: "I don't want to relate to this... but I don't think it's connected with the kippah. I think that the great influence of religious Zionism is not necessarily in the top brass, but in the critical mass of young religious soldiers and officers, hundreds and thousands of them, which really provides the spirit of the army. We saw this during Operation Defensive Shield."
Shilo: "But aren't the main decisions made by the top officers?"
Hager: "The main decisions are made where the spirit of the people below influences the decisions of the people above. It was always this way: When the spirit below is in favor of fighting terror, then those who call to refuse such orders are only a tiny proportion. This is the main thing - every religious soldier and junior officer who does reserve duty has a say in this."
Shilo: "So you don't think it's so important for religious soldiers to reach the top ranks?"
Hager: "It's important - but more important is the critical mass that I spoke about before, the junior officers who actually determine the face of the IDF."