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IDF rabbinate

A soldier photographed wearing velcro patches saying "Stop the hatred, it is time for violence," and "Hamas hunters," unknown date. (X/used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
April 20, 2026, 4:34 pm
IDF probes soldier over inciting patches on uniform, amid growing backlash
Photo from West Bank shows soldier sporting badges with slogans calling for violence; army reiterates ban on non-military symbols after rise in troops wearing religious and political tags
By Stav Levaton
A still image from the now-removed music video for the song 'Notnim Yadayim' ('Lending Hands'), which was included in the IDF Rabbinate's 2026 Passover Haggadah, portrays a reservist's wife buying groceries wither her child as tanks stand in the background. (IDF Rabbinate)
April 11, 2026, 1:58 pm
IDF removes clip of Passover song slammed as ‘medley of contempt’ for women in military
Tune featured in army rabbinate’s Haggadah celebrates reservist’s wife who loads groceries as her husband loads artillery; IDF says its publication did not follow guidelines
By ToI Staff and Stav Levaton
Cpt. (res.) Rabbi Avraham Yosef Goldberg (Courtesy)
August 19, 2025, 1:17 pm
Cpt. Avi Goldberg, 43: Rabbi, educator, bridge builder and father of 8
Killed while battling Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on October 26, 2024
By ToI Staff
Body bags of victims from the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, are stacked in a container at the Shura military base, near Ramle, October 24, 2023. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
April 26, 2025, 2:28 pm
IDF still holding 350 bags of unidentified human remains from Oct. 7 massacre – report
Military rabbinate reportedly wants to repeat forensic examination, which religious services ministry opposes; issue said set for decision in a committee over coming days
By ToI Staff
Illustrative: An Israeli reserve soldier and his wife pose for a picture after their wedding in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, October 25, 2023. (Erez Ben Simon/Flash90)
November 22, 2024, 4:44 pm
IDF rabbinate opposes asking troops to sign form ‘unchaining’ wives in case of disaster
While conditional divorces can free women in case of a husband’s disappearance or loss of mental faculties in battle, rabbis say pushing such a document on soldiers may hurt morale
By Mati Wagner
A soldier arrives at Sheba Medical Center for treatment after being evacuated from the battlefield by an IDF helicopter during the Israel-Hamas war, October 2023. (Courtesy of Sheba Medical Center)
February 22, 2024, 1:33 pm
Inside RAM 2, the IDF Medical Corps unit that cares for hospitalized soldiers
Greatly expanded since the war began, RAM 2 units respond to the practical and emotional needs of wounded soldiers and their families while liaising with the army on their behalf
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Rabbi and IDF Col. (res.) Yaakov Ruzah, 79, was called for reserve duty one day after Hamas's October 7 onslaught. (Courtesy)
December 27, 2023, 8:46 am
The world’s foremost rabbinic authority on declaring death grapples with Oct. 7 horrors
Drafted back into the army following the Hamas massacre, Rabbi Yaakov Ruzah says the terrorists’ atrocities have left even Judaism’s voluminous written tradition at a loss for words
By Mati Wagner
Alina Plahti (Courtesy)
November 14, 2023, 11:00 am
MKs blast separate burial for Hamas massacre victim who was converting to Judaism
Rabbinate kept 23-year-old Alina Plahti, murdered at Nova festival, out of Jewish part of cemetery; her mother says move is hurtful: ‘She was killed for her Judaism’
By Canaan Lidor
Alina Plahti, who was killed at the Supernova music festival on October 7, 2023, was buried separately from other Jews at a cemetery in her home city of Beit She’an. (Courtesy)
November 14, 2023, 2:25 am
The Jewishness of some Hamas victims sparks bitter disputes over their burial
At the rabbinate’s insistence, two non-Jewish Israelis have been buried ‘outside the fence’ despite their families’ wishes, while others fight to cremate their loved ones
By Canaan Lidor
Volunteers in Jerusalem prepare tzitzit for IDF soldiers on the front lines, October 19, 2023. (Shira Silkoff)
October 23, 2023, 10:19 am
With tzitzit in high demand for IDF soldiers, volunteers take on the challenge
Jerusalem community prepares 60,000 pairs of the four-cornered, fringed ritual garments requested by religious and secular soldiers alike
By Shira Silkoff
The bodies of Israelis killed in a Hamas-led slaughter are gathered for identification at a military base in Ramle, Oct. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zweigenberg)
October 16, 2023, 1:10 am
Rabbis work 24/7 — even on Shabbat — to identify and tally those killed by Hamas
At IDF Rabbinate facility in Ramle, volunteers, reservists and experts say it could take months to provide certainty for families of all those killed in Oct. 7 terror onslaught
By AP and ToI Staff
Illustrative: Eyal Karim, chief military rabbi, speaks during the funeral of Zachary Baumel, a soldier who went missing at the Battle of Sultan Yacub in 1982, at the Mount Herzl Military cemetery in Jerusalem, on April 4, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
December 25, 2022, 1:22 pm
Incoming coalition reportedly to give Chief Rabbinate control over IDF’s chief rabbi
Agreement between Religious Zionism and Likud includes planned bill that would change process of appointing military rabbi, make him subordinate to chief rabbi, and raise his rank
By Emanuel Fabian
(L-R) Lt. Col. Yedidya Atlas, chief of special projects for the IDF Rabbinate; Col. Avner Cohen, Chief of Staff of the IDF Rabbinate; Rabbi Elie Estrin, Aleph Military Liaison; Chaplain (Captain) Elisar Admon, US Army Reserve; Rabbi Yonatan Rubin, Director of Casualty Affairs for the IDF; and Cmdr. Ofir Tubul, Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Navy, outside the IDF Chief Rabbinate offices in Tel Aviv, September 2022. (Courtesy)
November 3, 2022, 7:56 pm
Orthodox nonprofit teams up with IDF to aid religious troops stationed in US
Aleph Institute establishes formal ties with Israeli military after Navy crews caught without kosher food during joint activities with American forces earlier this year
By Emanuel Fabian
Illustrative: An IDF non-commissioned officer dips a pot in boiling water to prepare it for the Passover holiday in a video produced by the Military Rabbinate in 2014. (Screen capture: Youtube)
April 7, 2020, 8:11 pm
With newly trained troops and a detailed manual, the IDF ‘koshers’ for Passover
Ordinarily an army of experienced reservists converts the military’s kitchens for the leaven-less holiday, but the coronavirus requires the IDF Rabbinate to change tack
By Judah Ari Gross
Police officers enforce coronavirus restrictions in Mea Shearim, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, on March 30, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/ Flash90)
March 30, 2020, 11:21 pm
700 IDF troops, mostly unarmed, to join police in enforcing partial lockdown
Military says only commanders and soldiers serving in West Bank settlements will carry weapons, as IDF takes on complicated new mission among Israeli civilians
By Judah Ari Gross
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