Studying Torah in Time of War
Not related to the ultra-Orthodox and the issue of conscription, etc.
My question is, both for those who did not serve, for those who have already served, and for those for whom it is not relevant (for example, residents abroad).
Is it appropriate, in times of war, when men our age (at least my age) are falling in battle, to still study Gemara and discuss the fundamentals of the law of property damage, to investigate whether it is an obligation to protect or a prohibition on damaging one’s property, to still delve into the depths of the laws of purity, to learn that an earthenware vessel with a wick attached protects what is inside it, to learn about the one who forbids his wife from using the staff, to learn about how many sacrifices someone who swears is required to make outside of a court of law, etc., etc.
I greatly value Torah study, of course, but is it still appropriate/relevant to study like that these days?
Why not? I didn’t understand. People continue to live, so stop learning? What’s the logic?
Not to stop learning. But learning such subjects to get to the root of things when the things have no connection to reality at all, seems unnecessary. I don't know, some kind of feeling like that.
If there is anything that is unrelated to reality, it is war. The real and interesting reality is the laws of Migo and the N.B. Bar N.B.
What does real reality mean? How can Migo be part of the reality of everyday life?
These are indeed very important and interesting concepts, and must be learned, but how realistic are they?
The true reality is not the physical reality, but the moral and theoretical one.
Besides, it's not related to the war in terms of anti-tank missiles 😉
Could the Rabbi perhaps expand on the perception of reality he just presented, or at least point to where he has already addressed the issue?
The things seem simple to the Rabbi but extremely new to a person who has just been exposed to them
You shouldn't take it too seriously. I meant to say that the assumption that one should study things that are related to reality is a strange assumption in my opinion. In my opinion, Torah theory, and perhaps theory in general, is more interesting and no less important than reality and things that are related to reality. I have written more than once that studying Torah is not intended to guide us in our actions but has its own value. Just this morning, in lesson 28 in the series on Platonism, I spoke about the relationship between theory and reality.
Leave a Reply
Please login or Register to submit your answer
