Israel's army chief under fire about God

[rug]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli military is embroiled in a public battle over whether God ought to be mentioned at memorial rites for fallen soldiers.

The ferocity of the debate, going to the heart of Israel's secular and religious Jewish divide, prompted the intervention on Monday of a parliamentary panel that urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fractious cabinet to decide the issue.

The controversy is over whether Yizkor, the Hebrew prayer of remembrance, should begin at military ceremonies with the words "May God remember" or "May the people of Israel remember."

Military policy calls for the version mentioning God to be used, but enforcement has been patchy in an apparent nod to the sentiments of the Jewish state's secular majority.

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110627/wl_nm/us_israel_army_religion

[Loudmxr]

1. Wouldn't that be the Kadish? I'm a goy so I don't know.

You learn things commemorating theHolocaust. Which I have done for 15 out of the 25 years my org has done it.

[okasha]

2. Why wouldn't it follow the preferences of the individual soldier?

n/t

[Iggo]

3. Jesus Christ.

Some people, I swear...

[LeftishBrit]

4. Surely it should be based on the soldier's wishes if known, and otherwise of their family?

A funeral is about those who died and those who grieve for them. It's not about anyone else's beliefs.