Q&A: Obligatory War
Originally published:
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Obligatory War
Question
Hello Rabbi Abraham,
I had a dream, and in my dream you, Dawkins, Kant, and Rabbi Yagel were sitting before the Throne of Glory and debating words of Torah.
Suddenly Gedaliah Nadel arrived and asked all of you to enlist, because this was an obligatory war.
You explained to him that the wars of Israel in our time are not obligatory wars from a halakhic standpoint, but that one must participate in them for moral reasons.
At that point I woke up drenched in sweat from the dream, returned the shtreimel and the bekishe to the head of the yeshiva, and enlisted in Golani.
Do you indeed hold that Israel's wars are not obligatory wars?
Answer
Indeed. Not in the accepted sense. See column 649.