A recent decision by the IDF top brass to institute a "kosher telephone" that minimizes Shabbat desecration is yet another sign of the growing influence of religious soldiers on the army. In recent weeks the IDF purchased hundreds of telephones developed by the Tzomet Institute, a research group that finds technology-based loopholes in Jewish law, according to the army weekly Bamachane. "The growing number of religious mid-level officers and soldiers, many of whom are graduates of pre-military preparatory academies, has created a real demand for solutions to the problem of Shabbat desecration," said Rabbi Israel Rosen, head of the Tzomet Institute in Alon Shvut. "These solutions reach the IDF as a result of a demand from the bottom up," said Rosen. "Religious soldiers want to do everything to minimize transgression of the Shabbat."