Photo Credit: Jewish Press
Even before the establishment of the State of Israel, there were tensions in the Palmach and the Haganah between the needs of the military and the soldiersâ religious needs. These tensions had also manifested themselves in the British army within the Jewish Legion in WWI and the Jewish Brigade in WWII, in response to which the British created a military rabbinate to provide religious services for their Jewish soldiers and to otherwise support them.
Upon the birth of Israel and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) in 1948, the need for an independent religious institution within Israelâs military to reconcile the halachic needs of IDF soldiers, for whom military service was compulsory, and the needs of the military, including its ability to respond to exigencies as they arise, became apparent.
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As told to Barbara Bensoussan by Yehoshua Parker
It was the summer of 2002, and I’d been learning for a month in the beginners’ program of a kiruv yeshivah in Jerusalem. The content was interesting, but I wasn’t yet sold on Torah Judaism. Then I found myself at the Kosel Plaza at the close of Tishah B’Av, wedged among thousands of Jews praying and singing. Suddenly, I felt overwhelmed by a profound sense of clarity and connection. All the classes I’d attended came alive for me Torah is emes, I realized. I had the same reaction Napoleon did when he saw Jews crying on Tishah B’Av: If the Jews were still mourning their Temple after 2,000 years, they would surely live eternally as a people.