The I.D.F. Against Bearded Soldiers

[edu]

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/408636/idf-bearded-soldiers-banned-from-participating-in-ceremonies.html
IDF: Bearded Soldiers Banned from Participating in Ceremonies

[edu]

israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209109#.VxP7ejHzZrM

IDF: We changed beard rules to make it as difficult as possible
During heated discussion, Personnel Directorate head admits army changed rules because it didn't like seeing bearded soldiers.
The IDF's personnel directorate subcommittee, under the leadership of MK Yoav Kish (Likud) discussed tightening the restrictions on soldiers growing beards today (Tuesday).
The meeting saw a range of opinions on the charged issue. MK Kish proposed allowing a unified standard for all soldiers, including secular ones, while allowing religious soldiers the option to grow a beard in accordance with their worldview.

MK Menachem Eliezer Moses (UTJ) argued that the Military Rabbinate must be involved in the decision, while MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) said that the new rules should remain as they are.

During the course of the discussion, the head of the IDF's Personnel Directorate Branch revealed that, under the previous terms, no fewer than 25,000 shaving exemptions were given out. He claimed that the old system hurt the army's appearance and so new steps for receiving permission in order to make the process as lengthy as possible.

MK Shelah claimed that "the IDF's instructions on growing beards are not an attack on religious soldiers and don't affect their lifestyle. I checked the information with senior military officials, and soldiers whose religious identity includes growing a beard can continue growing it as before. The instructions are to renew the basic discipline, without which the army cannot function.

"The attacks on the IDF and on the Chief of Staff over this come from political reasons: This is a 'price tag' action against placing the Jewish Identity branch under the Personnel Directorate. Just as with the attacks on Lieutenant General Eizenkott over the rules of engagement, we have here a forceful attempt to show the army and the society who is in charge. Only the commanders will lead the IDF, according to their professional and ethical judgments, and not rabbis or those who act in the political system," he added.

MK Kish said that "If a religious soldier wants to grow a beard, there doesn't need to be a discussion about it here at all. As for secular soldiers, there must be clear criteria. Why prevent people from growing beards in any manner? Times change. If we can say that you're allowed to wear earrings, we can also allow beards."

When it was made clear that the new procedures have not yet been put into effect, MK Kish added, "We may meet again on this topic in another couple of months. It's important to understand that the environment has changed. Today, growing a beard is almost the standard. I expect that the IDF will adapt itself. The issue does not hurt the army's appearance according to the spirit of the times."

[edu]

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Rabbi-compares-IDF-new-beard-permit-rules-to-actions-of-Nazis-446358
Prominent rabbi compares IDF new beard permit rules to actions of Nazis

Nazi cutting beard of elderly Jew, Kielce, Poland. (photo credit:YAD VASHEM)

Large numbers of religious IDF soldiers have had requests to have a beard while serving denied in recent weeks, ahead of a new directive from the IDF Manpower directorate which will make it more difficult to obtain permission to grow a beard.

The development led to Bayit Yehudi MKs Moti Yogev and Betzalel Smotrich to call for the new directive to be scrapped.

In general, it is prohibited to have a beard while serving as an IDF soldier or officer but until now exemptions could be granted by the IDF Rabbinate.

Jewish law prohibits shaving with a razor blade, although shaving with an electric shaver is permitted. Many religious people are stringent not to shave at all however.

In December, a new directive was issued by the IDF Manpower Directorate which will require not only approval from the IDF Rabbinate but also from the soldier’s unit commander and from the IDF Adjutant Corps, a branch of the Manpower directorate.

The new requirements are set to go into effect on Tuesday and requires anyone who has had a beard until now to re-apply for the exemption.

The prominent national-religious figure Rabbi Shlomo Aviner compared the new IDF beard rules to the Nazis who humiliated Jews often publicly by cutting off their beards.

"Except for the Nazis in Germany it does not say anywhere that a non-religious Jew must shave," the rabbi told the Srugim religious news outlet. Aviner, head of the Ateret Yerushalayim Yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Old City and the rabbi of the Beit El settlement, was responding to the concern that if permits for beards are given to religious soldiers, secular soldiers will also want to grow them.

Aviner said the IDF rules were reminiscent of "dark times" and in this connection he described a Holocaust era photo in which "German soldiers can be seen standing by two Jews while they force one to shave the other's beard off in front of the entertained crowd."

The Association of Hesder Yeshivas said on Sunday that in recent days it has received hundreds of complaints from religious soldiers who say that their requests were denied or unanswered, meaning that they will have to shave their beard by Tuesday.

The Hesder program combines three and a half years of religious study in yeshiva with 17 months of IDF service.

According to a spokesperson for the association, it spoke with some 400 religious soldiers who requested permission to have a beard, half of whom had their requests denied.

It said that in once case, a battalion commander instructed his entire battalion including two platoons of Hesder soldiers that they could not have a beard.

In another report received by the association, a soldier said that he was denied an exemption by his officer who told him that there was a directive from the the office of the chief of staff to reduce the number of permits issued  allowing soldiers to grow a beard.