IDF restricts rabbis' visits to bases

Rabbis and religious leaders will be obliged to receive the approval of the chief military rabbi to visit military bases - according to a new command issued yesterday (Sunday) on the IDF website.

Until now, the guidelines IDF which regulated visits to military bases did not relate to rabbis and religious leaders. The IDF site, which posted the new command, says that this is a routine update of commands.

With the rise of the public debate on women's singing in the IDF, the army announced the recommendations of the "common service" staff, whereby entry of rabbis and heads of yeshivos will be approved by the Chief Rabbi, and at each such meeting a representative of the military rabbinate will be present. Now, as said, the approval of the chief military rabbi officially became the command.

Rabbis and religious activists often visit military bases, including mainly Chabad activists. Tzeirei Chabad website, which brings together the activities of Shluchim in Israel, reported that last Succos more than ten thousand soldiers benched on the four species.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!