How IDF Rabbis Solved Critical War Burial Challenges

Amid the ongoing Operation Swords of Iron , now in its nineteenth month, the IDF’s Military Rabbinate has faced an unusually sensitive challenge: determining the Jewish identity of dozens of victims - both soldiers and civilians -to ensure their burial in accordance with Jewish law.

The issue came to the forefront following Hamas’s brutal October 7th massacre, particularly the atrocities at the Nova music festival and communities surrounding Gaza. Many victims’ identities had to be confirmed within hours, rather than over the weeks or months such investigations usually take.

In many cases, standard identification methods were unavailable - personal documents, testimony, or family records were destroyed or missing. Instead, the IDF rabbinate was forced to innovate.

Authorities turned to alternative tools: cross-referencing state databases, searching national and international archives, working with the Interior Ministry and the Nativ liaison office (which specializes in immigration and Jewish identity issues), and leveraging halachic criteria under extreme constraints.

The effort was led by the Chief Rabbinical Court President, Rabbi David Yosef, in close cooperation with the Chief Rabbinate Council, the IDF Rabbinate, and the Jewish Identity Verification Division of the Rabbinical Courts.

Thanks to these efforts, approximately 25 individuals - soldiers and civilians -were buried in accordance with halacha and Jewish tradition, receiving the final honor they deserved, despite the horrific and chaotic circumstances of their deaths.

Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, director of the Rabbinical Courts, reflected:

"In these painful times of national mourning, we had a sacred mission: to ensure that every Jew who fell or was murdered would be brought to eternal rest as a Jew."