Emuna: Refusing Anti-Torah Military Orders

by Rav Eliezer Melamed, Rabbi of Har Brachah, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Back in 2005, when the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to carry out the Disengagement – a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from all of Gaza, including the destruction of 19 Jewish communities whose 9,000 residents were scattered around the country (some of them in new communities) – it embroiled Israel in one of its most scathing controversies. One of the questions that arose was how a soldier must act if ordered to participate in the destruction of Jewish communities.

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Dean of the Yeshivat Hesder in Har Brachah, explained in an article at the time why such refusals were a Torah imperative.

The Fundamental Mitzvah of Settling the Holy Land

Our Sages have taught (Medrash Sifri, Re'eh 53): "Living in Eretz Yisrael is equal to all the other Torah commandments." This is because this mitzvah is not only fulfilled by individuals living in the Land, but is also the very basis for the complete and absolute existence of the Jewish People, and facilitates the fulfillment of their destiny to disseminate faith and Torah for the rectification of the entire world. 

It is therefore clear why it is such a cardinal mitzvah, and why the Prophets spoke so frequently about the future flowering and building of the Land, and why our greats throughout the ages pined so strongly to grace its very dust. 

This mitzvah of building and settling the Land also embodies the principle of Jewish Unity and Love of all Israel, for it is fulfilled by the nation, for the nation. It is so important that the Torah even commands us to endanger our lives by warring for the Land and for its protection, and sometimes even husband and wife must be separated in order to fulfill it (Shulchan Arukh Even HaEzer 75,4).  

Religious Zionism

The mitzvah of ensuring that the Land of Israel is built-up and remains in our hands is the foundation and basis of the Religious-Zionist Movement's approach to Aliyah, settlement, defense of the Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel.

It is, furthermore, the root and source of the Religious-Zionist view of the entire process that the Jewish People has been undergoing for well over a century, namely, that it is the "beginning of the sprouting of our Redemption," as foreseen in the visions of the Prophets. All of the educational institutions of the Religious-Zionist movement teach and inculcate the values of love of nation, land, and state, as well as service in the IDF, participation in the social and economic yoke of the country, and involvement in all networks of our national life, not only in Israel but even abroad. 

Cooperation With All?

A sharp rabbinic dispute arose towards the beginning of the modern Zionist movement, as to whether religious Jews could/should cooperate with the secular Zionists. Many of the rabbis who became the beacons of today's flowering and extensive Religious Zionist movement, such as HaRav Kook, Rav Herzog, Rav Amiel, Rav Uziel, Rav Goren and many more, ruled that because of the tremendous importance of the mitzvah of settling the Land, it is important to work with the secular movement in order to build Eretz Yisrael and its institutions and hasten Israel's Redemption. 

As such, it is clear that one may not take part in any activity that uproots the great mitzvah of settling and building the Land – that which is the basis of all we stand for and all we do. As such, even if one is ordered to do this in a military framework, he must find the way to avoid doing so, even at the expense of outright refusal. 

That is to say, if there is a collision between the values of supporting the government of Israel in all its activities and the basic principle of building Eretz Yisrael, our Rabbis ruled that there is a clear and absolute preference to the timeless values of the Torah over the rules of a given government or regime, which by its very nature is not permanent. 

This principle applies to all the mitzvot of the Torah, and not only to the great commandment of settling the Holy Land; the government has no standing to negate a Torah commandment. So ruled IDF Chief Rabbi Goren, without fear of the Chief of Staff's rebuke. (See Bavli Sanhedrin 49a and Rambam Kings 3,9.)

Ideally, of course, we must do all we can on the political and legal planes in order to avoid or head off anti-Torah commands from being issued in the first place. We must do all we can to void and retract the Disengagement. And if we don't succeed at first, we must stand with self-sacrifice in passive resistance against anti-Torah laws and regulations, which, as Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook said, are "null and void in comparison with the eternal statutes of the Torah."

What About How it Looks?

Many fear that the image of the entire Judea and Samaria settlement enterprise will be tainted if its members refuse military orders. This is of course an important point, and rabbis and experts must be consulted any time this danger exists in order to recommend the best approaches. 

But at the same time, we must remember that short-term damage is not always that which determines how we act. Often, the educational value of a given act is more important, even if it causes some temporary harm to the cause. This is true in this case, because it defines very clearly the importance of the mitzvah and of our connection with Eretz Yisrael. It also establishes in our hearts the overriding value of the Divine command over transient political values. By standing strongly and stubbornly for the Torah's values, we are marking the right and true path, along which we will all walk one day. This has been borne out many time in our history. 

But what happens if left-wingers see that we are refusing orders in the name of our Jewish values, and decide that they can also refuse orders that contradict their liberal values? They might refuse to serve in the army if their job is to protect "settlers" and take part in the "conquest" of the land from its Arab residents!

The answer is: We must distinguish between truth and deception. Our stance is one of truth, founded in Torah and even in logic, while theirs is one of falsehood, based on mistaken human misconceptions. While we are loyal to eternal truths, human morality sometimes finds itself on the side of a Stalin, the "sun of the nations," and sometimes embracing and kissing Arafat, the father of modern-day terrorism. The values that guide us are not only moral, but are those that build the nation, while the values that call for the expulsion of Jewish residents and for a refusal to fight our enemy are those that destroy us from within. The dispute regarding refusal of orders must focus on this point, and not only the formal and external symmetry between the different types of "refusal."

Outposts Too? 

Under the Rabin government [10-12 years before the Disengagement], Rabbis Goren, Yisraeli, Kapach, Neriah and Shapira ruled that soldiers must refuse order to evict residents of Jewish communities. But later a different issue came up: What about hilltop outposts, which are not yet full-fledged communities, but rather the beginning steps towards building them? Is it permitted to take part in IDF actions to take them down? 

Some rabbis ruled that if the intent of the evacuation is not to give the hilltop over to Arabs, but just to maintain the rule of law and even to "show the world" that we are not violating international norms and the like, then military orders to do so need not be refused. However, others, including myself, feel that such an evacuation causes great harm to the Jewish settlement enterprise in the Land, and that bringing desolation upon any part thereof is forbidden. 

In any event, the question has not been totally resolved, and therefore the body called the Rabbis of Judea and Samaria issued this ruling: "Every settled hilltop is part of the mitzvah of settling the Land, and it is forbidden to evacuate it… We ask every soldier to ask his commander to release him from all activities having to do with evacuating Jewish outposts, for reasons of conscience and faith." 

And what happens if one's commander does not agree to release him? In such a case, as of now and until there is an agreed-upon ruling, which we hope to reach soon, each soldier must consult with his own rabbi and follow his instructions.

Emuna: Let Us Be Strong, Worthy, and Aware in This War

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.