Adapted from an article by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Rabbi of Har Brachah and Rosh Yeshivat Har Brachah, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.
Let us begin with a prayer and praise for our soldiers – and their forbearers:
May our words be to the merit of the soldiers and field officers who risk their lives every day for their country and their people. They perpetuate, with their valor, our holy heroes throughout our generations: our forefathers in Egypt who did not forget or forfeit their identity; Yehoshua Bin-Nun and his warriors who captured Eretz Yisrael; King David who established the Jewish kingdom; Daniel and his comrades who were willing to give their lives in order to keep alive the embers of the faith of Israel in the Babylonian exile; the Hashmonaim who helped the Jewish People survive the decrees of the Syrian-Greeks and who re-established the Kingdom of Israel; Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues; and all the holy ones throughout our centuries of exile who preserved their Jewishness and were willing to give - and actually gave - their lives for it during the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the pogroms; and the six million who were wiped out during the Holocaust.
Our soldiers today are meriting to wage war in the Israel Defense Forces in the name of all the generations of our history, on behalf of our independence and our national honor.
May it be G-d's will that in the merit of the tremendous mitzvah that they are fulfilling, we will be privileged to destroy those who wish to harm us, to settle the Land, to absorb Aliyah from all over the world, and to fulfill the great vision from the days of our Patriarch Abraham of establishing a nation of justice, charity and G-d's way that will be a blessing for all peoples.
May it be G-d's will that the sturdy spirit of our soldiers inspire all sectors of our nation – and even our military, political and societal leaders.
The soldiers who fell in these battles, thus sanctifying G-d's name, merited to rise beyond their individual levels, all the way up to the level of Jewish national sanctity. They already have their large share in the World to Come, while we here below will strive with all our might to be worthy of their sacrifice and continue to walk in the true and correct path. And in their names and for the uplifting of their souls, we will add life and blessing.
Understanding the Muslim Language
In the course of writing a work on Jewish faith vis-à-vis idolatry, and our relations with other religions, I have come to learn that not only is the Islamic religion significantly more combative than other religions, it also has a unique approach to the concept of "speech." Since we are at war with many practitioners of this religion, it behooves us to understand this.
Words have great power in Islam. One can accept the Muslim religion simply by making the appropriate declaration, and a man can both betroth and divorce a woman simply by saying some specific words. It is no surprise, then, that the idea of what comprises truth and deception in Islam is also different than in the rest of the world.
Generally, we understand speech to reflect reality; if it does not, it is a lie. In Islam, however, what one says is reality – and therefore he can say what he thinks should be the case, and does not feel that he is lying. Islam forbids what we call "lying" for egocentric purposes; it is permitted only if it serves the purposes of the correct values. But if one lies in order to portray infidels as wicked, this is considered the truth, because it serves the goals of the ultimate truth. They can even portray their defeats as victories, because in the end, their understanding of reality is that they will emerge victorious.
There is more to elaborate on this topic. But one conclusion is that if we wish to truly deter our enemies, we must defeat them so decisively that they will not even be able to begin to exaggerate, deny, lie, and explain away the defeat as a victory. By acting as if they have not lost, their countrymen and coreligionists are encouraged to fight yet another war. Our victories must be total and absolute. There can be no half-victory and then assume that our enemies are "deterred;" they are not. We must strike them with full force, take over territories, and encourage them to emigrate.
When is it Time for Prayer?
Prayer is very important – but sometimes, we must cut them short and take action instead. When the Children of Israel left Egypt, they soon found themselves at the Sea of Reeds with the Egyptians in hot pursuit – and they were scared. Moshe encouraged them and then began to pray, but Hashem stopped him: "Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to Bnei Yisrael and have them travel [through the sea]!" (Sh'mot 14,15)
Similarly, when one must rush a patient to the hospital, he should not take time out to pray. He must rather make sure to obtain medical help as quickly as possible, while whispering a prayer, if he wants, that does not cause any delay.
When a Jewish army goes out to war, a short prayer is offered up beforehand, but again, without causing any delay. For the main thing is to fulfill the tremendous mitzvot of "saving Israel from its enemies" and ensuring that the Land of Israel remains in our hands.
The more we understand the value of the mitzvah at hand, the more value there is to the prayers that accompany it. But the more one denies the importance of the mitzvah that our soldiers are fulfilling, and believes that the main thing is to cry out to G-d – the prayer is actually valueless, and even worse. As is written: "He who turns his ear away from hearing [and fulfilling] the Torah, even his prayer is an abomination" (Proverbs 28,9).
Two Talmudic Sages, R. Yirmiyah and R. Zera, expressed differing opinions (Tractate Shabbat, p. 10a) about whether one should interrupt his Torah studies in order to pray at the right time. But all agree that if one is engaged in Torah study or is about to fulfill a Torah commandment, this is not the right time to engage in prayer; Torah action and study come first.
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