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17 Ellul 5761 - September 5, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Petition to High Court: IDF Must Provide Kosher Lemehadrin Food
by Betzalel Kahn

A chareidi soldier serving as a combat paramedic in a unit in the North has petitioned the High Court with a demand that the IDF provide him with kosher lemehadrin meals. The soldier, who filed the petition through the Association for Citizens' Rights, claims that since his enlistment two and a half years ago, he has been forced to subsidize the meals provided by the IDF from his own resources.

In the petition, Attorney Dan Yakir, the Federation's attorney, demanded that the IDF provide the soldier with kosher food suiting his needs, and that it reimburse him for funds he has personally laid out for his food since his enlistment.

In addition, the soldier demands that a temporary order be issued compelling the IDF to provide him with appropriate kosher food until the end of deliberation on his appeal. He is also demanding that the IDF make a policy change to provide kosher lemehadrin food to soldiers, in accordance with each soldier's halachic requirements.

In his appeal, the soldier claims that he is unable to eat the food provided by the IDF, since he cannot eat food lacking mehadrin supervision.

He claims that at the beginning of his military service he was forced to subsist on bread and vegetables only. Later, when he was placed in the air force command in the Kiryah (General Staff compound) in Tel Aviv, there were serious kashrus problems in the local kitchen. At that time, he was allowed to avail himself of any food in the kitchen meeting his halachic requirements. However, as Attorney Yakir states in the appeal, this offer could not be implemented since the food in the IDF does not meet minimal demands of stringent kashrus observers.

The soldier appealed to the IDF a number of times, but to no avail. As a result, he decided to appeal to the High Court. "The IDF is obligated to see to the basic subsistence needs of the petitioner and to enable him to keep his religious precepts. Arrangements must be made to insure the availability of food suiting all kashrus levels in the IDF," Attorney Yakir writes.

Yakir claims that many soldiers meticulous about eating products with kashrus mehuderes supervision face this problem and that a solution for all chareidim in the IDF must be found. The means of providing every single soldier with food with suitable hechsherim must be guaranteed, he noted. "Negligence in this matter constitutes an offense to basic respect of one's fellow and freedom of religion," Yakir claimed, "and the IDF must stop undermining soldiers' rights."

 

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