Rav Shalom Berger, the Rebbe of Mishkoltz, visited the IDF yesterday and was hosted by the Chief Military rabbi, Brig. Gen. Rav Rafi Peretz, in his office at the Kirya Base in Tel Aviv.
The Rebbe made headlines late last year when he stated that there was no need to attack Iran, because the Ribono Shel Olam would destroy Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without a need for Israeli military intervention. (See Matzav.com‘s report here.)
Brig. Gen. Rav Peretz discussed the service conditions for chareidi soldiers, and explained that the IDF goes to great lengths to make a strict chareidi lifestyle possible within the IDF. He gave a detailed account of the strict kashrus supervision that makes it possible for every soldier to eat at any IDF kitchen without worrying about insufficiently strict kashrus.
The Chief Military Rabbi explained that “since the IDF deals in maintaining the sovereignty of this nation, it truly protects our soul and is very connected with it, and that is why connecting to the [Jewish] roots is natural for the IDF, and you can see everywhere that the army is happy about this deep-rooted Jewish connection.”
The Rebbe gave a shiur in Gemara to hundreds of religious and chareidi soldiers who serve in the Kirya Base. After meeting chareidi soldiers, he said they impressed him as “having fortitude.” He told the Chief Military Rabbi that some yeshiva bochurim who want to opt out of a life of Torah study consult him about enlistment. “Now I see that they will be in good hands,” he said. He commended the IDF for its Shachar program for absorbing chareidim and predicted that the flow of chareidim to the army would grow.
{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel, with reporting by Arutz Sheva}
beautiful