Israeli Army Tightens Dress Code

The Israeli army has apparently been cracking down and implementing new dress code rules for soldiers. According to one report, kippot with writing on them will no longer be allowed. This poses a problem for some Chabad Lubavitch followers who wear kippot with words on them. I haven't seen any reports about it, but this may also pose a problem for Breslov followers who wear kippot like this:

 

At least one Lubavitch rabbi has said that this is a very serious issue and soldiers should refuse the new order even if it means going to jail. I must say, I don't understand the logic here. First of all, I think the perception in the larger Jewish community is that only children wear kippot with writing on them; adults do not. Perhaps that is part of the reason why many orthodox Jews view such Lubavitcher chasidim as strange (besides their belief that the Rebbe is the messiah.) I think having writing on kippot is a relatively new phenomenon- maybe 40 years old- when women would crochet the names of their loved ones into the kippot.

There is no obligation to express your religious views (or favorite sports team) on your kippa, so if the army says its forbidden that should be the end of it. Perhaps, the justification for disobeying orders comes from the concept of public martyrdom. According to Wikipedia:

During a time of crisis for the Jewish faith—for example, if a government or any other power wants to force Jews not to be religious—every prohibition in Jewish law becomes yehareg ve'al ya'avor, and one is to have mesirat nefesh on every negative or positive commandment even when not in public. This is called "Sandal straps", and refers to the traditional Jewish manner of putting on footwear (Put on right, put on left, tie left, tie right). In this situation, one must die even for "Sandal straps".

I wonder if this one is OK.

It seems a stretch, however, to equate the Israeli army's regulations to a government's attempt to impede the practice of the Jewish faith.

Also, it was recently reported by Israel Hayom that the army is trying to put an end to the practice of one battalion's wearing of amulets containing certain fluids of their girlfriends. Apparently the soldiers did not like this and may be going on strike.

Jews and army dress codes have been coming into conflict recently in America as well. One Chabad Lubavitch rabbi sued because the army would not accept him as a chaplain unless he trimmed his beard. The army subsequently relented. But even American soldiers in Afghanistan have been questioning the army's no facial hair policy because in Afghan culture facial hair is a sign of manliness. An M-16 is apparently not enough.

Catch and Release- Israel Style

In a few hours the government of Israel is going to release the first batch of hundreds of convicted terrorists in exchange for captured soldier Gilad Shalit, with the release of hundreds more in a few days. Gilad Shalit's parents single-handedly waged a battle to get their son back. They did what any parent would do but it has been questioned whether the government was inordinately swayed by a vocal minority. But in fact, Israelis are generally supportive of the exchange. The most vocal opposition to the trade are the families of victims of terror attacks who don't want to see their loved ones' killers be released before serving their time. Needless to say, this is a complicated issue. I am most interested to hear from Gilad Shalit (when he is ready to talk about this whole episode) about whether he thinks the government did the right thing in agreeing to this exchange.
This reminds me of a review of the movie Saving Private Ryan by Mark Steyn: