Q&A: Army
Army
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I’m a Haredi yeshiva student in a Lithuanian-style yeshiva, and a friend of mine and I are going to enlist soon. I’d be glad if the Rabbi could answer a few questions that came up for me while dealing with the issue.
A. How can I go to the army when I know I won’t be able to keep the laws of war written in the Torah? The question is mainly about the prohibition on someone who had a seminal emission fighting in war (I don’t know if there are other laws as well).
B. How can it be that in the army they violate the Jewish law I mentioned before, and nevertheless we see great successes? After all, the Torah says about this, “and He will turn away from behind you.”
C. What can be done so that there will be proper representation for the right-wing public in the senior ranks of the army? The current reality doesn’t seem reasonable to me: there is a public argument over policy involving life-and-death matters, and yet, at least to my feeling, there is no adequate representation for the right-wing side of the map in decision-making.
Answer
A. If you’re concerned, immerse in an Ezra immersion for a seminal emission (using a tank of water). It isn’t relevant nowadays. Nobody nowadays is careful about the impurity of a seminal emission, or impurity in general. And certainly not about impurity from a seminal emission with respect to Torah study. So why specifically regarding war?! Beyond that, what’s the alternative? Not to fight? And then we’ll succeed? We are currently in a situation of danger to life, and therefore we fight. What are all these philosophies?!
B. I have a few much harder questions for you. How can it be that people pray and aren’t answered? That they tithe and don’t become wealthy? That they study Jewish law and don’t enlist? Torah verses have millions of interpretations, and I wouldn’t build anything on them. I have a few interpretive suggestions for you, but it’s completely unnecessary. The alternative is not to fight, and for the question of what the results of that would be, we don’t need verses from the Torah.
C. Enlist. That is already happening today. Your feeling is plainly mistaken, and it is created by propaganda from frustrated right-wing religious people. There are always cases like this or that, but the situation is improving greatly, and the way to improve it further is to enlist. If there were no right-wing soldiers, there would be no right-wing chiefs of staff. It’s roughly like asking why there are no Haredi judges, generals, or university lecturers. First of all, because Haredim don’t go there.
By the way, favoritism, improper administration, and nepotism are not illnesses of the left. The Haredim could teach courses to everyone on these matters.
Much success. Take care of yourselves, and more power to you. Keep your common sense, both outwardly (toward the secular people) and inwardly (toward the Haredim). Pay attention to what I wrote here, and don’t let anyone troll you with irrelevant questions.
Discussion on Answer
I’d also be glad to hear whether, in the Rabbi’s opinion, there is no price that one should not have to pay for enlistment. For example, I know that my going to the army will really “kill” my mother, so to speak. I know she cries whole nights, and she took it really hard that my brother in high school yeshiva takes a cellphone with him to yeshiva (an outsider wouldn’t understand), and this is really emotionally difficult for me. By way of comparison, it’s like saying to a person that his enlistment will cause him to have to get divorced because his wife is unwilling for him to enlist, and that he is nevertheless obligated. Just to clarify, I plan to enlist anyway; I’m only asking about the level of obligation.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://asif.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/3939.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjiwfP676WNAxXy0QIHHXnRKa8QFnoECCAQAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw2LrAh0mlVutL51WNxIUhS1
There is a difference between parents and a wife. Regarding parents, we hold: “Every person shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep My Sabbaths.” Regarding a wife—if you got married on the basis of a Haredi understanding, and now you want to change and enlist—that is more problematic.
A. Seemingly, sunset is also required, and I don’t just mean purification in general, but that there is a concrete Torah command about this, so how can one just ignore it?
B. I also didn’t mean that I wouldn’t enlist because of this; it’s enough for me that it’s effective in order to join. Rather, I meant the essential question, and saying that it’s difficult in many other places doesn’t answer it. (Just as an aside, when did the Rabbi last see someone tithe properly?)
C. The truth is, I wrote that based on a gut feeling, and I actually checked it now and saw that there are four religious officers in the General Staff forum out of 32, which is more or less their share in the Jewish population.
Thank you very much for the response and the encouragement.