The Military Rabbinate has released guidelines for military rabbis, specifying a prohibition on accepting donations from civilians without proper approval. The directive explicitly states, “There is a complete ban on accepting donations from a civilian without a donation approval, [for items] such as: mezuzahs, tefillin, Torah scrolls, and so on.”
Instructing further, it states, “There is a prohibition against giving tefillin to soldiers or placing mezuzahs received in rooms, without receiving an approval for the donation and [the items] examined by the Jewish Law department. In every request or question regarding the acceptance of donations, please turn to the relevant body in the Military Rabbinate headquarters. We are here for you, the Military Rabbinate.”
Military rabbis, serving in both regular and reserve units, expressed discontent with the directive when speaking to Arutz Sheva. They raised concerns, saying, “Socks, boxers, and deodorant we can always accept, and we have all seen the photos – why is there such inflexibility when it comes to tzitzit or tefillin? This is really disconnected.”
Officials in the Military Rabbinate, speaking to Arutz Sheva, stressed that the clarification was issued in response to complaints about religious articles donated without adherence to guidelines, some of which were deemed unacceptable according to halacha.
In response to the controversy, the IDF stated, “There has been no change at all in the IDF’s policy for receiving donations, and in the Military Rabbinate as well, every donation which is received through the accepted channels is examined on an individual basis, in order to examine the products’ intactness and ensure that the equipment donated is acceptable according to halacha.”
{Matzav.com Israel}
They won’t accept donations of yechi yarmulkas now?
It makes sense. Unless the donor is already known and vetted, how do we know that the items they’re distributing are actually kosher? Would you buy a pair of Tefillin or a Mezuzah from just anyone or do you check and recheck to make sure the Sofer is a proper Yerei Shamayim? There are all kinds of fake or invalid items. If a soldier puts on a pair of possul Tefilin, he’s in a bigger danger than not having put them on in the first place. Same (and even worse) with a Tzitzis.
They’re not saying “you can’t accept” period. They’re saying you can’t accept from anyone who hasn’t been approved. Sounds perfectly OK to me.