[NGFP-BookClub] Being Kosher in the IDF

[Aron T]

Professor Gavison

In the second paragraph of your covenant, there is a statement which seems to be non-controversial - The IDF should be kosher. But like everything else in Israel, nothing is ever simple. When I did my army reserve duty, when we weren't serving in the West Bank our unit was stationed in the Jordan valley. My unit was composed of mostly olim (mostly in our thirties and forties), since at the time Israel believed that they could make soldiers out of us oldies (today the laws of army service have drastically changed). So here I was in some remote border outpost with 2 Russians, 2 Romanians, 2 Ethiopians and 2 Americans (one being me), giving up 30 days away from our families. Only our NCO was a sabra, and younger than the rest of us. One of the Russians was the best cook in the unit (this was a hobby not his professional role) so we were glad to have him. We didn't have a fridge, just a cold locker, with ice (occasionally) which was lined with bottles of vodka and beer (for the R & Rs). Supplies were brought to us by truck and they usually consisted of cottage cheese and a few wilted vegetables. So we would try to bring some decent food from home when we got our occasional leave. But for the most part we lived on omelettes, Israeli salad and pasta. Air conditioning in the hot wilderness - no way.

So one day a couple of air conditioned jeeps pull up and a bunch of young well dressed soldiers came out. They told us they were there for a "kashrut inspection." We all started to laugh because all the time we had been there we had not seen meat once (I didn't care since at the time I was a vegetarian but the rest of the crew was none too pleased). But still our "cook" had to take them on a tour of our "kitchen" and we spent an hour of  our rest time entertaining these unwanted guests. 

As soon as they left the curses started to fly.  All of us were really angry. One of the reason our food supply was so meager was because the good food was stolen by the guys who made the delivery. Why didn't the army devote resources to rooting out this corruption instead of doing kashrut inspections? And why do young kids nearly half our age work in well paying army job (from which they retire at forty with huge severance fees),  sitting in air conditioned offices doing fluff work like "kashrut inspection" while we have to be dragged from our homes and families for thirty days rotting in the wilderness? And why do we reservists have to bring equipment paid out of our own pockets to make sure the sanitary conditions in our "kitchen" had a modicum of safety? Shouldn't the army be worrying about us not getting dysentery before worrying about "kashrut  inspections?"

It's not that any one of us had an objection to the kitchen being Kosher. On the contrary, until that point the secular Russian cook was very respectful in trying to keep things kosher for those who cared, even though he knew very little about the details (so he would always ask our guidance). But the problems starts when Jewish "values" are filtered through corrupt, political, bureaucratic institutions. The human values in Torah get lost and lip service is paid to the external elements. Then people begin to associate "Judaism" with the most negative aspects of Israeli society. The incident above severely devalued Kashrut in the eyes of those who did not see much value in it to begin with, and while our Russian cook still accommodated the kosher ones, his efforts were accompanied by many more curses.

Yes the public sphere in Israel should be by default, kosher. Shabbat and holidays should by default be respected and observed and so on. As you argue in your articles, that is part of what defines Israel as a Jewish state. But I agree 100% with Ilan: the government (in all its branches) should not be involved in any way in enforcing this! And if someone finds that paradoxical, I would argue that the vast majorities of Israelis would be far more respectful of this public sphere if they didn't feel it was being pushed by corrupt politicians and institutions.