A beret march completion ceremony was held at the Golani Interchange area in northern Israel on Thursday. Parents arrived at the site at dawn to meet their children, who had completed the physically demanding all-night endurance exercise.
However, for some parents and soldiers, the joy and excitement of the ceremony were overshadowed by a lack of consideration for their religious way of life, Arutz Sheva reported.
One father said that his family stayed overnight in nearby Mitzpe Hoshaya to arrive at the ceremony at 5 a.m. Right before the ceremony began, an announcement was made informing attendees that women would be singing at the event and that anyone who found it objectionable was welcome to step aside during those parts.
“Some families left along with quite a few soldiers,” the father said, adding that because the ceremony site was surrounded by loudspeakers, stepping away did little to mitigate the noise of the singing. “There was nowhere to escape. It was pathetic.”
He said the ceremony alternated between speeches by commanders congratulating the soldiers and their families and performances by two female soldiers and one male soldier, who sang both together and individually.
“Time and again you could see mothers wearing headscarves and men wearing kippot walking off to the side,” he said.
“Then I suddenly saw my son joining them, followed by more soldiers wearing kippot who went over to stand with their families. When the song ended, they returned to formation. Then another commander would speak, and as soon as he finished, the small singing group would come back on stage, and once again the families and soldiers would leave and stand off to the side. It was disgraceful.”
The father said his son later told him, “Is this what we marched dozens of kilometers all night for? So they could spit in our faces like this?”
He said that the hurt was evident on his son’s face.
“The feeling was that we were the outsiders—the strange ones who had to leave the ceremony. At the same time, they were telling us, ‘Well done, parents, for your dedication,’ and praising us.”
Asked whether anything could have been done, the father said that after the ceremony, several parents looked for the unit Rabbi, who had attended previous ceremonies and addressed the families, but were unable to find him.
“They told us he had left earlier,” he said.
“We couldn’t do much. It’s a military ceremony, and we respect the army and the occasion. But I’m not sure that respect is mutual.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
15 Responses
AND THEY EXPECT CHAREIDIM TO JOIN THE ARMY-HASHMAD??!!
Wow this hasn’t nlever happened before. No matter how many times we hear it the same fools can’t accept it
It’s by design. When will they get the point?
Idiots, welcome to the IDF! Thank you for being “friarim”.
Despicable. And they complain why the charedim don’t want to serve?
several people> . And they complain why the charedim don’t want to serve?
Maybe you should complain to Hashem that the world he created is no good enough for you? So, these soldiers dealt with the unfortunate situation and survived this nisayon. B’H, someone will finally get the message. The more religious soldiers will be there, the better it will be.
Reminds me of Chofetz Chaim’s guest who protested when the Rav made his bed. Next morning, Chofettz Chaim rushed to put a tefilin on him – you should not do it yourself, may tire you out …
It is a mistake to look at how the Americans respect Christianity in their military. A better standard is how American treated the Buffalo soldiers (officially called the “Colored” regiments), or how the British (and other colonial powers) treated their “Native” troops. The only reason the IDF wants religious soldiers is to try to win them over to become good secular zionists. A religious Jew in the IDF is defending the yisuv in spite of the IDF.
“The father said his son later told him, “Is this what we marched dozens of kilometers all night for? So they could spit in our faces like this?””
Yes, that is exactly why. As others have noted (B”H), the express purpose of Zionism and its shmad army is exactly that: shmad.
“no jews were hurt in the making of this news article”
Where are Dr. Goy and all the other bigmouths who say these things never happen?
Not exactly the way to court the chareidim they want so badly.
@Always-defending the Anti-Torah Zionists; So, these soldiers dealt with the unfortunate situation and survived this nisayon. NO, UNFORTUNATELY, THEY DIDN’T MANAGE TO DEAL WITH THE SITUATION AND DID NOT SURVIVE THE NISAYON SINCE THERE WAS NOWHERE TO ESCAPE!
B’H, someone will finally get the message. The more religious soldiers will be there, the better it will be. – HOPEFULLY SOMEONE WILL FINALLY GET THE MESSAGE; IDF IS NOT FOR A RELIGIOUS SOLDIER, CHAREIDY OR CHARDAL AND DON’T FOOL YOURSELF IT WILL NOT GET BETTER AS THEY WILL NEVER PUT A RELIGIOUS PERSON IN CHARGE!
New story every day and it matches what the rabbanim/moetzes keep saying for decades, and the same fools want to live in denial and say the rabbis are making it up and they’re a bunch of liars, and then they consider themselves proud Jews. Some people will lie to themselves until the entrance of gehenom
PhillyMommy – This shows exactly how much they really want the Chareidim.
AAQ – This is a recurring and deliberate phenomenon. As everyone else understands. Some understand and oppose it, and some understand and are in favor of it because they hate Chareidim (and often also Yiddishkeit in general.) But no one on either side is naive enough to think these things just happen by accident.