Q&A: Halakhic Questions of a Junior Officer in the Army
Halakhic Questions of a Junior Officer in the Army
Question
Hi,
My friend is currently a squad commander in the army, and he shared two halakhic questions with me:
1) At morning formation he sometimes has to send soldiers to shave. The secular soldiers shave with a razor blade. Clearly this is not a case of “two sides of the river,” and ordinarily the soldier would shave with a razor anyway. But is there a halakhic problem in ordering a Jewish soldier to shave when he will do so with a razor?
2) There are soldiers who ask to pray Shacharit, but my friend gets the impression that they do not actually pray at all. When the prayer does not come at the expense of military activity (for example, on the Sabbath) they do not come to pray.
Of course there is also the command dilemma of what to do about this, but my question is technical—halakhic only:
Right now a soldier asks him for time to put on tefillin and pray, and there is no operational activity because of which praying is impossible. In such a situation, is it permitted to prevent a Jew from praying? I would be happy if you could divide the answer into a case where
– it is not at all certain that the soldier will actually put on tefillin and pray. Meaning, even if my friend approves his request to pray, it is not certain that the guy will put on tefillin, etc.
– when my commander approves him, the guy will definitely put on tefillin and open a prayer book. (Of course it is impossible to know regarding the blessing over the tefillin or his intention in the words of the prayer, etc.)
I would appreciate it if in your answer you would add a bit of reference from the Talmudic texts for your position. (At least a very brief reference.)
Thank you very much!
Answer
- It is not even one side of the river. It is his decision to shave with a razor. He could have shaved with an electric shaver.
- I did not understand the question. If he asks to pray and the orders require allowing him to do so, then he should be allowed to do so. What is the question? The fact that he does not pray on the Sabbath is his own consideration. If he asks to pray and does not actually pray, that is a different matter. Then he is a liar, and there is no reason at all to allow it. I will not bring any Talmudic texts here, and there is no need for Talmudic texts or sources. This is simple reasoning, that’s all.
Discussion on Answer
He can borrow a shaver from a friend, and the commander has no obligation to investigate. If he asks for leniency because he has no shaver and does not want a razor, that is a different matter.
I mentioned it because there is no question if those are the orders. The orders also do not require letting him pray.
On the contrary, it is obvious that you may not prevent him.
In the future, please phrase the questions correctly and do not add facts afterward like this and then pretend that this was the question from the outset.
I did not understand the Rabbi’s words.
Regarding the prayer—what do you mean by the sentence, “On the contrary, it is obvious that you may not prevent him”? I would appreciate clarification.
If he lied and is now repenting, you may not prevent him from praying because of suspicion.
Thank you.
That is, if I think he has repented, I may not prevent him. And what happens if I am in doubt? Meaning—he says that he wants to pray, and I have doubts as to whether he is telling the truth. Is the halakhic ruling in such a case that I should decide in my own mind what my position is regarding his repentance and act accordingly?
If you are in doubt, that is your problem. Someone who wants to pray should be allowed to, unless you have become convinced that he is lying.
It seems to me we have exhausted the issue.
Following up on the answer, I would like to make sure that I understood the Rabbi’s words correctly here:
In your answer to the first question—if I understood correctly, it is clear to the Rabbi that giving an order to a person to shave when at the moment the person can only shave with a razor (because obviously he has no way of getting an electric shaver and shaving within 3 minutes) is permitted, such that there is not even any reason to look into the issue?
As for the second question: I did not mention army orders because they are completely irrelevant to the question. It is not clear to me why the Rabbi mentioned them.
I am asking about the following situation: A person is under my authority. Right now he says to me, “I know that I lied to you in the past. But now I want to pray and put on tefillin.”
To the Rabbi, is it obvious that I can prevent him from fulfilling a time-bound Torah commandment? And is it so obvious that no doubt even arises that would require looking into it?