IDF Written Agreements for Accommodating Hareidim
For years, the treatment of hareidi-religious soldiers in
the Israeli army has been based on oral agreements and yet-to-be-signed orders,
orders which were subject to abuse in certain divisions. But on Sunday, IDF
officials finally signed a written order outlining in full the mandatory
procedures for accommodating hareidi-religious soldiers.
Special conditions have been extended to soldiers from
religious units such as Nahal and Shachar, in which high standards of kashrut
are maintained, Shabbat is strictly observed and there is complete separation
between male and female soldiers.
However, these conditions were based on oral agreements,
which meant that soldiers had nowhere to turn to when they felt these
conditions were not being met. Soldiers voiced frustration that because the
agreements were not binding, some commanders refused to follow them as
promised.
Eliyahu Lax, Chairman of the Organization for the
Religious Soldier, has made repeated calls for official guidelines and has
claimed that public promises to make army service more religious-friendly do
not always materialize and that the lack of a written standard regarding the
treatment of hareidi-religious soldiers in the army makes the situation even
more complicated.
So it was received with much fanfare when IDF Senior
Staff signed official orders regulating service conditions for hareidim
integrated into the IDF.
Based upon the newly signed agreement, the IDF is
officially ordered to provide the soldiers with strictly kosher food, optimal
Sabbath observance and complete gender segregation, in addition to regular
Torah study and ample time for prayer three times a day.
Lax hailed the official legislation, and said that after
years of dealing with the frustration of a lack of written regulations,
"We were delighted to hear about the signing of the official orders, which
guarantees the rights of religious and hareidi-religious soldiers to serve in a
way which suits their lifestyle."
He added that this "logical step" would go a
long way in strengthening the relationship between the hareidi-religious
community and the IDF - a relationship, he claims, which was marred by mistrust
due to oral orders not being carried out as promised.
He also said that additional action needs to be taken to
lessen what he called the discrimination of hareidim in the army and said that
even with the new official orders more needs to be done to ensure the
enforcement of the orders and to ensure that the hareidim are able to serve the
country and adhere to their religious obligations at the same time.
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