Q&A: Closing Time
Closing Time
Question
Hello Rabbi, I recently watched (like many other Jews) the series Valley of Tears about the Yom Kippur War. We’ll save the television-review part for another time. But I wanted to ask about a point that comes up from time to time in the series—and of course not only in the series but also in real life: accepting dangerous orders and the need to carry them out even if you don’t think it is necessary, urgent, or important for the security of the state, but on the contrary, that it is dangerous for you and perhaps for others as well—and you have to obey only by virtue of the fact that the person who gave you the order somehow managed to advance further than you and is currently the commander, and you must obey him even in a life-threatening situation. There is a halakhic and moral question here.
Answer
This could be discussed at great length, and I’ll write briefly.
Usually there is an obligation to obey, because otherwise the army falls apart. Also, it is not certain that you fully understand the background and significance of the order. But this is not mathematics, and a person has to use common sense. If the costs are heavy and it is clear to you that it is wrong and unreasonable, then of course it is not proper to carry out that order. But you have to be sufficiently convinced of this, and the price has to be sufficiently heavy. This could be discussed at length, but every situation is different. In an extreme enough situation, you get to questions of a black flag and a manifestly illegal order, as in the case of Kafr Qasim.
Even if the order itself is legal, there is also the issue of conscientious refusal (if, from your perspective, the order crosses your moral red line, even though it is legal. For example, someone for whom it is a very deep principle not to evacuate settlements, even though it is clear that this is a legal order). a0
I already once wrote here that I told students who were going out to officers’ training that I would not want to go into battle with soldiers whom I know would never refuse me. That makes my orders less good (because I don’t think before giving them). Contrary to what people think, overly obedient soldiers and overly strong discipline create a bad army. The line is delicate, of course, and it is important to proceed carefully here, because discipline is critical to how an army functions, and we would not want to throw out the baby with the bathwater.