As tens of thousands of reservists are being called up to the northern front in the battle against Hezbollah in Lebanon, all logistical operations are kicking it up a notch. With the start of the High Holidays and Sukkot approaching, flying under the radar is the fact that the role of the Israel Defense Forces’ Rabbinate just got tougher as well. It was never going to be easy providing for soldiers’ religious needs in the Gaza Strip during the holiday season, and the recent escalation with Hezbollah to the north has only deepened the challenge. Yet the IDF Rabbinate is stepping up in a major way.
Under the directive of the IDF Chief Rabbi, Brig. Gen. Eyal Krim, the Military Rabbinate has set itself the mission of ensuring that every soldier hears the sounding of the shofar—whether in Gaza or on base, in combat or on guard duty. To meet this challenge, the Military Rabbinate has supplied an enormous quantity of 5,800 shofars—selected from a much larger sample—to meet the highest standards of Jewish law.
An additional aspect of preparing for the Tishrei holidays during multi-front combat involves the IDF Rabbinate gearing up to offer extensive support to reach all soldiers in the field. Along those lines, the Military Rabbinate has supplied some 80,000 prayer books (machzor) for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, including about 25,000 pocket-sized editions adapted for combat soldiers. This is of particular importance during the holidays because while many soldiers know significant portions of the daily or Shabbat prayers by heart, the holiday prayers include unique additions unfamiliar even to one who prays regularly.
The same rabbinate is also getting ready for Sukkot. Eating in the sukkah is a tradition beloved by secular and religious Jews alike. But how to do so while fighting in Gaza? Or while simulating combat conditions in the north?
In the latest edition of Israeli innovation, the IDF Rabbinate has commissioned a special model of an “operational sukkah”: the “Frontline Soldier’s Sukkah.” It meets all the requirements of Jewish law for a traditional sukkah, but it is no traditional sukkah. Remarkably enough, it can be quickly assembled, disassembled and carried with one’s gear from place to place to suit the challenging conditions faced by soldiers in the field.
Additionally, the Military Rabbinate has issued more than 12,000 sets of the “Four Species” or “Four Kinds” (selected from a sample of some 25,000 sets) that have been thoroughly checked by the rabbinate’s branch of Jewish law to ensure that every soldier can fulfill the holiday commandment—a Jewish ritual that involves waving a bundle of four plants during Sukkot (an etrog, or citron fruit; lulav, frond from a date palm; hadas, myrtle bough; and aravah, willow branch).
The rabbinate notes that the distribution of this equipment has been ongoing for weeks due to the logistical complexity of reaching tens of thousands of regular and reserve soldiers spread throughout the country in various states of readiness.
Times like these highlight how privileged we are to have a Jewish army and how vital a role the IDF Rabbinate plays in retaining its Jewish character.
