Paratroopers’ battalion 890 in 1955 with Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan, and (l-r standing) Lieutnant Meir Har-Zion, Major Arik Sharon, Captain Dani Matt (bearded), Lieutnant Moshe Efron, Major General Asaf Simchoni. Sitting: Captain Aharon Davidi (bearded), Lieutnant Ya’akov Ya’akov, Captain Raful Eitan. It turns out that IDF soldiers, religious and secular alike, are banned from representing the Jewish army in official ceremonies, News 0404 discovered this week, and the IDF Spokesperson’s office confirmed. The event was a Yad Vashem commemoration ceremony, and the soldiers were warriors from Battalion 202 of the storied Paratroopers Brigade.
It should be noted that General Danny Matt, the legendary commander whose name is synonymous with the IDF paratroopers’ brigade was endowed with a thick and bushy beard that any Hasidic rebbe would have been proud to wear (even though he was not a particularly religious person). Likewise Brigadier Aharon Davidi, another legendary paratrooper.
In fact, some inside the brigade were astonished to find out that bearded Jewish soldiers would not be let into an institution dedicated to documenting the tragic fate of millions of bearded Jews.
MK Bezalel Smotrich (Habayit Hayehudi) called on Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot to change the humiliating rule. “The directive shows a disconnect, even a cultural distance from the world of Jewish values,” Smotrich told News 0404, “and I call on the Chief of Staff to change it. It is inconceivable that we’ll be at the same time encouraging the service of religious and Haredi soldiers in the IDF and then barring them from state ceremonies because their appearance is a disgrace to the army.”