Sunday, December 20, 2009

Insubordination

The Hesder Yeshiva program is a joint program of the IDF and the yeshiva movement that was approved by the IDF in order to ensure that young men who are Orthodox could continue their religious training program while also serving in the IDF. Of course, many of these religious Jews are very Zionistic and patriotic to the State of Israel and often they are superb soldiers. However, a problem arises if their religious authorities differ from IDF policy.
A case in point is the military support for the Government's decision to enforce the 10-month freeze on building in the West Bank. Since the settlements are mainly religious and since the settlers are physically trying to prevent the implementation of the freeze, this puts the religious soldiers in a bind, since they do not want to enforce such a policy. What makes this even more difficult is that some rabbis have come out publicly against the freeze and have encouraged religious soldiers to disobey their orders.
The issue came to a head when the Head of one of the Hesder Yeshivas, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, came out openly and advised soldiers to disobey their orders to enforce the freeze. Note that these are legal orders, they are not immoral or unethical in that no life is being taken or threatened. Refusal to obey a legal order can result in court martial and dismissal of the soldier from the IDF.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is ultimately in charge of the Hesder program, then removed Melamed's Har BrachaYeshiva from that program. This caused the Head of the Hesder movement to step in and try to bring about a compromise. Otherwise it looked as if the whole program might be discontinued. As of now Rabbi Melamed has somewhat climbed down and issued a statement making a distinction between a military order based on political considerations and a religious requirement. There is no doubt that the Army will not allow religious authorities to interefere in correct military practice. A meeting is to be held today by 50 Hesder yeshiva heads to discuss the situation.
Note that when the disengagement from Gaza took place, religious soldiers obeyed orders with very few exceptions, so there is no reason why they can't do this now. Also, it is axiomatic that all soldiers whatever their personal opinions must obey military orders. However, it might be better if the police were used to enforce the freeze rather than using conscript soldiers.

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