Military Rabbinate
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The Military Rabbinate is a unit in the Israel Defense Forces that provides religious services to soldiers, primarily to Jews but also including non-Jews, and makes decisions on issues of religion and military affairs. The Military Rabbinate is headed by the Chief Military Rabbi, who is ranked a Brigadier General.
The Military Rabbinate constitutes the body responsible for religious institutions in the military. In every unit or military base there are Military Rabbinate soldiers assigned responsibility for assuring religious services, and in particular, the Kashrut of the kitchen and the maintenance of the synagogue and its inventory. Actively serving soldiers can request from the Rabbinate representatives to perform marriage ceremonies as well as the brit mila. The unit otherwise attends to marriage bureaucracy and divorces of individuals during their military service.
The Military Rabbinate is responsible for treating the bodies of soldiers from the Halakha standpoint, including the identifications and post-mortem treatment of bodies, and conducting military funerals. The Military Rabbinate also attends to the burial of enemy soldiers and the exhuming in conjunction with prisoner exchanges. Prior to the establishment of ZAKA, it was also responsible for treating the victims of suicide attacks. More recently, it was placed in-charge of dismantling of the cemetery in Gush Katif during the Gaza disengagement plan.
The Military Rabbinate was founded in 1948 by Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who headed it until 1968. Until 2000, the Chief Military Rabbi tended to remain in their positions for a considerable period of time. After Rabbi Goren, from 1968-1977, the Chief Military Rabbi was Rabbi Mordechai Peron. From 1977-2000, the position was held by Rabbi Gad Navon. From 2000-2006, the Chief Military Rabbi was Rabbi Israel Weiss.
On February 16, 2006, the head of the Human Resources Directorate, Aluf Elazar Stern, announced that the new Chief Military Rabbi will be Colonel (Res.) Rabbi Avichai Rontzki who was then elevated to the rank of Brigadier-General. A recommendation by the Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, was passed to and approved by the then Minister of Defense, Shaul Mofaz. The new appointment took effect on March 27, 2006.
This new appointment was seen as a direct consequence of the controversial remarks by Israel Weiss wherein he appeared to have agreed with the former Chief Ashkenazi National Authority of Religious Services Rabbi, Avraham Shapira, who called on soldiers who are religious Jews to disobey orders to forcefully remove settlers from the Gaza Strip during the Gaza disengagement plan. While Israel Weiss retracted and apologized for the "slip up", the event drew a great deal of controversy in military circles and in Israel in general.
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