This is an article that was printed in the September 22, 1968 edition of the religious newspaper HaTzofeh, reporting about a visit of the IDF Chief Rabbi Major-General Rabbi Shlomo Goren to soldiers serving on the front lines before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rabbi Goren addressed questions from soldiers serving on the Golan Heights and the Jordan Valley during the War of Attrition. One of the questions that the soldiers asked was regarding the permissibility, according to Jewish law (Halacha), of blowing the shofar in a pit, such as a bunker, which is discussed in the Talmud. The article notes that not only “religious” soldiers were asking questions about the proper way to observe Rosh Hashanah in the army. Another soldier suggested the possibility of transmitting the sound of the shofar via radio to soldiers in distant outposts. The summary in the last paragraph of the article says that after being asked many questions about how soldiers can properly fulfill the commandments (mitzvot) of Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Goren answered that although some soldiers will not be able to hear the shofar due to their army duties, “the prayer that is in the heart of our soldiers who are standing guard will break through the gates of heaven and will rise up to the One who hears the teruah (shofar blast) of His people Israel with mercy.”
The article reflects the atmosphere in the years following the victorious Six-Day War. During these years, the tension along Israel’s borders continued, and many soldiers faced bombardments from the Arab armies and attacks by guerilla units. At this time, Israel built a series of fortifications along the eastern bank of the Suez Canal as a reaction to the Egyptian bombardments. These Egyptian attacks were considered the first stages of the War of Attrition.
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HaTzofeh - HaTzofeh was the newspaper of the Mizrachi movement and the National Religious Party (NRP). Mizrachi was the religious-Zionist movement that was founded in 1902; the NRP was its political party. HaTzofeh began publishing in 1937 and ran as the NRP’s newspaper until 2003. Like other newspapers that belonged to political parties, HaTzofeh reflected the philosophy of the movement. In 2003 the newspaper was sold to private investors and, although it retained much of the political outlook of the NRP, it was no longer officially associated with the party. HaTzofeh later merged with the newspaper Makor Rishon.
IDF Rabbinate - A rabbinical unit was formed in the IDF from the beginning of its creation. Headed by the chief military rabbi, the unit tends to the religious needs of the army. The chief military rabbi is appointed by the IDF chief of staff and is the highest religious authority in the IDF, ruling on Jewish law within the military environment during regular times and at times of combat. There is a representative of the military rabbinate in each unit of the army. Since military conditions are often unpredictable and dangerous, special rulings are often made for emergency situations.
Shofar – The shofar is a ritual horn blown throughout the month of Elul, on Rosh Hashanah, and at the end of Yom Kippur. According to tradition, the shofar is blown in order to awaken the heart to repentance on the High Holidays. In biblical times, the shofar was blown at Mount Sinai when the Torah was given to Moses, at times of war, to announce holidays and the Jubilee year, and in ceremonies at the Temple. In modern times the shofar is blown on special occasions such as the inauguration of the president of the State of Israel and on Yom Ha’atzmaut. A shofar is made from a horn, typically a ram’s horn, but other animal horns may also be used. According to Jewish law, a shofar cannot be painted with colours but can be carved with artistic designs.
Rabbi Shlomo Goren – Shlomo Goren was born in Poland and immigrated to Israel with his family as a young boy. He studied in religious schools and yeshivas and also studied philosophy, mathematics, and classics at the Hebrew University. Rabbi Goren was committed to religious Zionist values and thus volunteered for the Haganah and then joined the IDF. He later became the chief rabbi of the IDF raising to the rank of brigadier general. He is considered, to this day, the leading Halacha expert for soldiers at times of peace and war. A famous photograph of Rabbi Goren shows him holding a Torah scroll and blowing a shofar during the first Jewish prayers at the Kotel since 1948, having broadcast moving words of thanksgiving upon the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. After his army service, Rabbi Goren became chief rabbi of Israel and spent much of his time finding solutions to modern problems of state and society. To this day, his halachic rulings are considered brave and non-conventional. Among his actions were attempts to introduce a unified prayer tradition, attempts to enable the marriage of people whose religious status is unclear, the burial of non-Jewish soldiers in a Jewish military cemetery, leading Jews in prayer on the Temple Mount, and opposition to the Oslo Accords and to the dismantling of settlements. This activism resulted in both many admirers and many opponents. After leaving the post of chief rabbi, he founded a yeshiva next to the Kotel, which he led until his death in 1994.
War of Attrition – The War of Attrition was fought between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the PLO, and their allies from 1967 to 1970. Following the Israeli victory in the Six-Day War, Egypt believed that only a military initiative would bring about an Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, so shortly after the end of the war, war returned to the Suez Canal. Initially the fighting involved artillery, but by 1969 the Egyptian Army was prepared for a large-scale operation in the Sinai desert. On March 8, 1969 Egyptian President Nasser announced the beginning of the War of Attrition, involving large-scale bombardments and airplane raids. In August 1970 Israel, Jordan, and Egypt signed a ceasefire agreement under the terms of the Rogers Plan, drawn up by US Secretary of State William P. Rogers. According to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 1,400 Israeli soldiers were killed during the War of Attrition with thousands more wounded.
