
Our Holy Soldiers
By Rabbi Mark Wildes A number of years back when Israel received a number of additional F-35 fighter planes from the United States, the following question was posed to Rabbi Yehuda Aviner, the head rabbi of Yeshivat Ateret Kohanim, and a brilliant halachic authority: “With God’s kindnesses, the State of Israel received F-35 Stealth Fighter Jets. Should the blessing of Shehechiyanu - the blessing of renewal be recited, or is it not recited because the fighter plane is a weapon