B, a secular young resident of Ashkelon, Israel, a few weeks ago reported to the recruiting station in Beer Sheva with the draft notice he had received in the mail. Following the medical exams, he was asked where he’d like to serve and chose the military prison corps, Haredi website Kol Hazman reported Thursday. A few days later, the young man received an IDF notice regarding his assignment as Kashrut supervisor.
Needless to say, B, who doesn’t eat kosher, never mind know much about the intricate laws of Kashrut, was surprised at the HR decision. His family started asking around (everybody in Israel knows somebody who is somehow connected to the military), but they hit a brick wall. They did discover that the IDF prison system rejected B, even though he had acquired a police affidavit about his clean record. It should be noted that B works as an MDA medic, giving him an added skill in almost every military field except Kashrut supervision.
Kol Hazman spoke to several IDF rabbis who said that non-religious soldiers do serve in the military rabbinate, but this is the first case of which they’re aware where an unobservant soldier is deposited with the role of supervising Kashrut compliance in the army. The IDF Spokesperson’s office is yet to offer an explanation for this bizarre assignment.