Israeli Defense Minister Bans Army’s Chief Rabbi From Military Ceremonies
Image by getty images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A meeting between Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi and the Israeli army’s chief rabbi was canceled after the defense minister banned the chief rabbi from military ceremonies.
On Saturday, Avigdor Liberman banned Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and two other rabbis from the military events after they criticized the Israel Defense Forces’ mixed-gender units. The meeting scheduled for Monday was canceled a day earlier.
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Safed and a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, said in an interview last week with Army Radio that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should fire IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot over his decision to allow female soldiers in combat units.
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner wrote on the Orthodox news website Kipa in response to a query that it was forbidden to join mixed-gender units, and said it was better to refuse to serve than enter a mixed-gender unit. Aviner is the rabbi of the Beit El settlement and head of the Ateret Cohamin Yeshiva.
Liberman said rabbis who are state employees “must represent the state” and therefore would not be allowed at official events until they withdraw their comments, The Times of Israel reported.
“They are state employees who, among other things, receive a salary from taxpayers,” he also said.
Eliyahu’s office reportedly threatened to file a lawsuit against Liberman unless he rescinds the order.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
