Q&A: Asking for a Friend…
Asking for a Friend…
Question
An IDF soldier who is currently in Gaza, who had been a shepherd in Ethiopia and merited to fulfill the generations-old dream of ascending to Jerusalem, and who cleaves to Judaism as he learned it there—
their Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), of course, included the Book of Enoch and Jubilees, although similar to the tradition we have, they did in fact follow the moon for "This month shall be for you the first of the months," and not what appears in those books, because they had a tradition that one goes by the moon and not by what is written—similar to "an eye for an eye," where we have a tradition that it is not meant literally…
But they count the Festival of Weeks from the seventh day of Passover and celebrate on the 12th of Sivan ("the day after the Sabbath"—there, "Sabbath" means week, as throughout that whole discussion in the verses). When should he celebrate Shavuot? And should his commander release him to celebrate the festival according to his tradition?
The main problem is that in several places there is a clash regarding the Sabbath.
One may not desecrate the Sabbath at any cost, even in the face of death, and therefore they do not fight on the Sabbath and do not set out on a journey if they do not know where they will camp on the Sabbath (similar to the "tradition" we have about the Sambatyon River, that even if there is danger one does not desecrate the Sabbath).
Should the commander release him from Gaza on a permanent basis before the Sabbath so that he will not be forced to desecrate the Sabbath—or be forced to die, or even be captured in Gaza—according to the tradition he has?
And likewise, even though they learned the Books of the Maccabees, they did not observe Hanukkah 🕎, because Mattathias acted unlawfully when he desecrated the Sabbath for the sake of war. Is it correct to exempt him from being present at the Hanukkah candle-lighting 🕎 and the blessings, because that contradicts his tradition, which holds that this is forbidden?
Answer
See column 171.
As a rule, Ethiopian Jews did not accept upon themselves the Talmud and the standard halakhic decisors, and seemingly they are not bound by them. But they are part of the Jewish people and are obligated to follow the majority view, at least if they want to be fully part of it (see the above column). True, even within the rest of the public there are differences in customs and Jewish law, but the framework of the discussion is agreed upon (these are different interpretations of the Talmud).
But of course none of this has anything to do with their right to practice differently. The fact that I think that as a Jew he is obligated to act like me does not mean one should not take his own view into account. In my opinion, a secular Jew also ought to act like me. The IDF is supposed to take into account the customs of every soldier, so long as these are not just made-up claims to evade service obligations. If they do not fight on the Sabbath, their status is like that of pacifists. Let them do national service. It reminds me of a wonderful film about an American pacifist soldier who took part in the Pacific battles in World War II.