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Without a Lord of (military) Hosts By Haaretz Editorial Tags: military rabbinate, IDF  The chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces, Brig. Gen. Avichai Ronski, is trying to instill "a Jewish awareness for a victorious IDF" into the army's units, officers and soldiers. Amos Harel reported in yesterday's Haaretz about the efforts by Ronski and his subordinates - former secular Jews who became religious - to disseminate religious propaganda under the guise of "using motivations and understandings gleaned from the Bible and the heritage of Israel to enhance the army's ability to achieve victory." These activities are being funded by donations from outside sources, which are not available to the IDF's Education Corps. The chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, has not yet put the military rabbinate in its place. Instead, he merely ordered an inquiry, after which the division of labor between the rabbis and the education officers will be redefined. But the chief of staff's tolerance is out of place. The military rabbinate's desire to expand beyond the narrow boundaries of meeting the religious needs of interested soldiers undermines the foundations of the IDF's existence. Israel is a state of democratic law, not one of religious law. And it has a secular majority, which would be outraged if anyone tried to change its way of life through religious coercion. The army, being an instrument of society that is run by state institutions, limits the rights of those who serve in it. But it may do so only in a limited fashion, and for a suitable purpose. The senior command's acquiescence in military rabbis' efforts to expose nonreligious soldiers to religious propaganda violates the obligations of the chief of staff and his generals - and the defense minister and the cabinet above them - toward citizens whom the law has forced to don a uniform. Advertisement The danger is especially great in an army built on the unity of command, with no external sources of authority, whether political or religious. Every military rabbi has his own rabbi; these rabbis must not be allowed to intervene in the army's life and influence the minds and hearts of young men in compulsory service. It is not the military rabbis who will decide the great questions of Jewishness and Israeliness, religion and nationality. A secular soldier is not inferior to a religious soldier, and it is terrible for his officers to preach that it would be better for him to abandon his way of life and his beliefs and follow in the path of Ronski and his rabbis. This affair raises other troubling issues, too. The Education Corps, which is the military rabbinate's rival in the current battle, is itself a problematic remnant of the politruks at the time of the state's establishment, and in the modern media age, it could be eliminated: Instead, the army could just give its soldiers access to information and entertainment. If the Libi Fund, which was established 30 years ago to solicit donations to help develop weaponry outside the regular defense budget, is indeed serving as a clearinghouse for financing religious propaganda, it should be dismantled. And when Ronski retires, apparently next year, the title of his position should be changed to "chief religious services officer." The injection of a religious dimension into the Israel Defense Forces' goals constitutes a serious internal threat. This is not just because Druze, Muslims, Christians and others also serve in the IDF, nor is it just because democratic orders are liable to conflict with rabbinic orders, especially with regard to the territories and the settlements. It is also because Israel must refrain from any hint of a religious war between the Lord of Hosts and Allah. Israel would lose such a war, even if it won on the battlefield. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Ugly becomes uglier Report: Pennsylvania Republicans email likens voting for Obama to rise of Hitler. Mr. Wobbly Man Dennis Ross explains why he's working for Obama and how he'd talk to Iran.

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