Well, yes, that’s part of the Torah tradition — that you are allowed to take a woman you want in wartime and have sex with her.<\/p>\n
Forward<\/a>: Israel\u2019s military has nominated a new chief rabbi who seemed to imply in a past religious commentary that its soldiers are allowed to rape non-Jewish women in wartime. Well, yes, that’s part of the Torah tradition — that you are allowed to take a woman you want in wartime and have sex with her. Forward: Israel\u2019s military has nominated a new chief rabbi who seemed to imply in … Continue reading
\nRabbi Colonel Eyal Karim\u2019s remarks 14 years ago stirred controversy at the time and remain on an Israeli religious website today, along with a link to a clarification he published on the same site in 2012 in which he said his words had been taken out of context and rape is forbidden \u201cin any situation.\u201d
\nKarim\u2019s appointment, which still has to be approved by the defense minister, drew criticism on Tuesday from women\u2019s groups and a prominent female politician. They pointed to a reply Karim gave in 2002 to a question about the Bible\u2019s attitude towards rape during war, in the \u201cAsk the Rabbi\u201d section of kipa.co.il.
\nHe responded that in the interests of maintaining warriors\u2019 morale and fighting fitness during armed conflict, it was permitted to \u201csatisfy the evil inclination by lying with attractive Gentile women against their will.\u201d
\nHis nomination on Monday as the military\u2019s head rabbi by its chief of staff revived public debate over Karim.
\nYedioth Ahronoth, Israel\u2019s best-selling newspaper, weighed in with a front-page headline that read: \u201cNew chief military rabbi: rape is permissible in a war.\u201d
\nIssuing a statement on Tuesday on Karim\u2019s behalf, the military spokesman\u2019s office said he wanted to clarify that his writings in 2002 came in answer to a theoretical question and did not relate to \u201cpractical Jewish law.\u201d
\n\u201cRabbi Karim has never written, said or even thought that an Israeli soldier is permitted to sexually assault a woman in war, and anyone who interprets his words otherwise is completely mistaken,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"