Rabbi Ravad to be forced out of IDF
In an earlier post, I reported on the resignation of Rabbi Moshe Ravad (pictured) as the head of a program that is designed to recruit Haredim to the Air Force. Now, the chief rabbi of the IDF, Rabbi Rafi Peretz, wants to force Rabbi Ravad out of the army. Raved's service was due to end in the summer of 2012. Peretz' recommendation has been forwarded to the head of the IAF Personnel Directorate Brigadier-General Ilan Boger.
Raved's Tuesday resignation from the program came a day after the army announced it would not excuse religious soldiers from official events that feature female soldiers singing.
The IDF said that the recruitment program, known as Shahar, would not be affected by Raved's decision.
An army official slammed the resignation as "a coordinated move by elements within the ultra-Orthodox community," but added that the military did not intend to take any disciplinary action against the rabbi, given the proximity of his retirement from service.
"I participated in formulating the guidelines which inspired the Shahar Program," Raved wrote in his letter of resignation.
"I was guided by the need to allow haredi soldiers to maintain their way of life and observance. Over the past few months, the (IDF) Personnel Directorate had decided to review these guidelines. I was part of those deliberation and saw how the last draft excluded sections meant to maintain the soldiers' observance and included sections that may infringe on that."
The IDF said: "The Shahar Program is part of the national effort made to ensure members of all Israeli society serve in the IDF, including haredim. The past few years have seen a significant growth in haredim's service and the IDF lends that great importance.
"Following the conduct of the IAF rabbi, the chief military rabbi saw fit to summon him for a hearing, and then forwarded his recommendations to the rabbi's superior officers in the IAF."
My guess is that Rabbi Ravad asked his rabbi what to do and that his rabbi (or Rabbi Ravad himself) asked one of the rabbinic leaders of the Haredi community, who told him to resign. Firing him won't do anything except to deter other Haredi men from enlisting. Unless Rabbi Ravad is replaced by someone of similar stature, I would bet that 3-6 months from now, you will read that the program has fallen apart or that recruitment has dropped significantly. The IDF just doesn't get it on this one.The picture at bottom left is the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, Rabbi Rafi Peretz.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:47 AM
1 Comments:
Why in the world would Rabbi Ravad even have to consult with "his rabbi or one of the rabbinic leaders of the Haredi community"?
If you administered a certain program which had made certain promises, and then unilaterally reneged on those promises in manner that defrauded the participants, would you have to consult...?
I suspect that you, or any ethical person, would attempt to stop the fraud immediately, and if you realized that you could not, you would resign immediately.
It does not require a rabbi to figure that out. Even a [non-Israeli, non-Democrat] shaigetz would do that.
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