In response to a recent request by the religious freedom nonprofit Hiddush, the legal counsel to Israel’s Defense Ministry, Achaz Ben-Ari, ordered the IDF to adopt new regulations allowing for completely secular funerals of soldiers.
IDF To Allow Completely Secular Funerals For The First Time
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
It’s a leniency we should all hope never has to be used, just as we should all hope no IDF funerals should ever be necessary.
In response to a recent request by the religious freedom nonprofit Hiddush, the legal counsel to Israel’s Defense Ministry, Achaz Ben-Ari, ordered the IDF to adopt new regulations allowing for completely secular funerals of soldiers, Yeshiva World reported.
Until now, soldiers who were killed or passed away during active duty military service had to be buried in an Orthodox Jewish ceremony, unless the deceased was not Jewish under halakha (Orthodox Jewish law). In the latter case, they had to be buried under the religious strictures of one of Israel’s recognized religious movements, be it Druze, Christian or Muslim.
Former IDF Chief Rabbi Avichai Rontsky (also sometimes spelled Rontski, Ronsky and Ronski) supports the move even though he usually is not a moderate on religious issues. He reportedly told the Zionist Orthodox news website Kipa that he does not believe it is right force a family to have an Orthodox religious funeral if they do not want it.
However, no provisions have yet been made for soldiers who belong to non-Orthodox Jewish movements, and their families’ choice of funerals will be Orthodox or completely secular.
Rontsky also told Kipa that there are many issues like this that Orthodoxy can’t compromise on, and that it is prudent to compromise here with secular funerals because there is no strong reason to fight it.