Israel Navy Sponsors Kashrus Competition

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israel-navy“Survivor” – the Israel Navy version: The IDF Rabbinate, scratching its head over how to deal with kashruschallenges in the military, is coming up with creative solutions.

Next week, the Israel Navy will launch a competition between elite naval commando unit Shayetet 13’s missile ship crews to see who has the fewest violations of the laws of kashrus. The prize? A “fun day” in the IDF Rabbinate – including a tour of a heritage site, a talk with a rabbi, a full-length performance by the house troupe, and a barbecue – all 100% kosher, of course.

In recent years, as the number of observant soldiers in the Israel Navy’s various units increased, the IDF Rabbinate identified the missile ships’ Achilles’ heel – because of the unique on-board conditions, the sailors cook for themselves in the galley, without familiarity of the laws of kashrus, which leads to many violations.

Since the ships are at sea, there is no way of sending out representatives of the rabbinate to kasher dishes or instruments that have been made non-kosher. The solution is to give the soldiers an incentive to maintain the galleys’ kashrus, especially those who don’t keep kosher.

The Israel Navy Rabbinate launched the competition as a way of increasing awareness of the issue and the IDF hopes that it will help increase bonding and the sense of brotherhood within the unit.

Starting next week, the number of each crew’s kashrus violations over the course of a month will be counted, and the one with the lowest number will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the winner will be determined through routine inspections of the ships.

“Kashrut problems are very common,” a military source explained. “It makes religious soldiers serving on board the ships uncomfortable, since they are forced to make to with dry goods that don’t need to be cooked until the ship docks again and the galley can be made kosher. It damages the cohesiveness of the unit.”

{Ynet/Matzav.com Newscenter}


3 COMMENTS

  1. Why do ships allow any sailor to cook for himself? Isn’t their a cook on board and kitchen who does all the cooking? Also, sure that a quarter of the soldiers aren’t even Jewish today, since they brought in thousands upon thousands of non-Jews making them citizens. Big tzoros!

  2. The Israeli Navy does not have many large ships. Most have a small crew and there is no room for non combat personnel. This is a hopeful step forward. Maybe the next step will be to offer training in Kashurut for the sailors?

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