Whosoever denies idols is called a Jew - Talmud Megilah 13

Some days I wonder if Israeli state has spent too long dwelling beside the neighbors and has now taken on the characteristics of the neighbors. Ha’aretz is reporting that the IDF has punished a soldier for yawning during a Yitzhak Rabin memorial service. The punishment – a 21 day stint in the hoosegow.

The Israel Defense Forces has sentenced a soldier to 21 days in jail for yawning during a recent memorial service for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The soldier yawned while the commander of the Ramat David Israel Air Force base was delivering a speech on last week's memorial day for Rabin. The senior officer paused for a few minutes after the yawn, which was allegedly long and loud. The soldier was consequently by the army tried on account of his "disrespectful act" and was sentenced to 21 days in military prison.

When a tired or bored conscripted soldier can draw 21 days incarceration and have to count himself extraordinarily lucky he didn’t pass gas and receive an even lengthy term of imprisonment. While I can comprehend why Israeli society would memorialize a murdered Prime Minister, what escapes my understanding is the lengths in which secular progressive society wishes to go to proscribe the exact degree of reverence each citizen is obligated to express in the public forum. Truly, it borders on idolatry. Rabin is neither saint nor sinner, and as much as he was sinned against, so he sinned against others.