Did you see Newsnight’s report on the disturbing conduct of some rabbonim in the IDF?
There is a line, I think, between appropriate and inappropriate conduct for a clergyman in a war. Praying with those who have faith, a friendly smile and a kind word for those who don’t. Reassuring those in fear. Blessing the dead. Writing to the bereaved parents.
It is pretty clear that that line is being crossed, at least in some units.
Take ten minutes to watch this.
Update
I shouldn’t have to make this explicit, but I will. There are a whole bunch of reasons for keeping the clergy at arms length from the armed forces.
The basic problem is this. Such practices politicise religion, in a manner which can only be bad for both religion and politics. Religion is tainted by the failure of the politics to which it is linked. Simultaneously, politics – the art of compromise between humans – suffers from being tied to the need to achieve fixed and unchanging divinely ordained goals that religion tends to proscribe.
It damages religion, it destroys politics, it fosters warfare that is both bloody and futile, it is a force which it difficult to control. There really isn’t an excuse for this sort of conduct.
