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The Laws of War and Peace with Rav Shlomo Katz is a series based on Hilchos Milchamah VeShalom by Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, opening up the Torah of מלחמה ושלום for the times we are living in right now.
In these episodes, Rav Shlomo explores the halachic, biblical, and inner spiritual foundations of war, courage, national responsibility, emunah, and redemption. Through the lens of Tanach, Chazal, and the living reality of Am Yisrael, this series asks: How is a Jew meant to think, feel, pray, and act in a time of מלחמה? What does true gevurah look like? How do we fight evil without losing humility? And how do war, mesirus nefesh, and miracles become part of the unfolding geulah?
Okay, Chodesh Iyar is sponsored by the Kram family memory of their Abba, נחום שמואל בן יצחק אריה, who was Yahrtzeit yesterday. By the Silver family memory of בסי פייגא בת ישראל and anonymously in memory of all the chayalim, holy chayalim that gave their lives and the ones who are working tirelessly to protect us in Eretz Hakodesh. The week is sponsored by Mindy Barad for the refuah shelaima of a holy chayal who was injured badly on Shabbos in Lebanon, ישראל אליהו בן סמדר, and by Miriam and Avrom Deutsch l'ilui nishmas Avrom's grandparents, אברם אבא בן זכריה and שרה בת יוסף זאב, and other family members that perished in Auschwitz on Chaf Daled Iyar, on today. Which will be two pages for each? Two pages each.
No, I did. I got a booboo. No, you didn't. Just you took out everything.
Just give each person two pages. The first every two pages. Okay. Chaverim, something very important to learn today b'ezras Hashem.
And what's the page number on the top, Roziel, the first one? 61. Okay, open up please to page 61, Rabosai, and I want to share with you an experience I had last night that has to do with today's teaching before we look at it inside. Last night I had the zechus to do a chuppah for young blood, fire blood, these guys are, I think it's one of the first in their chevra, so when it's the first in the chevra, do you guys remember when the first one got married? Were any of you the firsts amongst your chevra? You probably were, right? Yeah, your wedding was insane. Many, many, many years ago.
And my wife, since she was eighteen. Wow. Wow. Your wedding was I remember the same exact type of energy, mitzad koach, wow this is what we're going to get to do now.
And these are all chayalim. These were all chayalim. Beautiful people, mamash, so amazing. Now I wanted to, I wanted to take them all after the chuppah and go out into the forest, mamash, but it wouldn't have been so nice for the chosson and kallah if we checked out there, but I had this cheshek of sitting with all of them with the guitar and just going all out and telling them...
I wanted to tell them something and I wanted them to tell me something. I wanted them to tell me what does it feel like to be willing to be killed so that I could be alive? That's what I wanted to ask them. But I also wanted to ask them a rhetorical question, but a question that I would answer, and that question is why are you fighting? Because I don't know if it's exactly chevra that could give me today's answer based on today's shiur. Now my question for us here is do you need to know why you're fighting in order to win? What do you think? I would think yeah.
At the moment, that's the source of the motivation. So the question again stands: do you need to in order to win? No. Not to finally win? Well, let's say this, that's a very important question. For wars in the world, for wars, take any two countries that are at battle with each other, so do the soldiers really need to know why they're fighting in order to win? Some would still say yes, some would say in order for the morale to be strong and chazak beseder.
By us, Yidden, it doesn't work like that at all. It's almost that if you're fighting but you don't really, you're not really understanding why you're fighting, you end up being a politician that becomes a Prime Minister that doesn't know why we built this country. Most people in the head of the state have been top people, generals, and sometimes Ramatkalim. Ramatkal means chief of staff in the army.
Then you get the places of decision-making tachlis, but you've been operating from a place of not really being sure why I'm fighting, and then look what happens. So I'm not saying chas v'shalom, what do I know? Maybe these guys knew exactly. It didn't look like it. But what look like it is I was standing before tson kedoshim.
Holy, holy, holy boys. Mamash holy boys. These guys were tanks. Each one of them was a tank.
Chasan himself is like 6'4'', like mamash like I said a good Torah, it's like והתקין לנו ממנו בניין עדי עד. Literally mamash this guy is a tower over there. So today we're going to be delving into the whole inyan of milchemet mitzvah. This is a very important piece of our learning.
Now some will hold that this is what's going on today is not a milchemet mitzvah, it's a milchemet reshut, or it's some kind of a lo yodea mah, I don't know exactly what it is. But we're going to see today based on Rav Elyahu's approach how it shtems perfectly with everything our whole mindset and this means to keep your eye on the prize to mamash stay focused, to be in line with why we're even fighting, why are we going out to fight, why are we working so hard.
כיבוש הארץ מלחמת מצווה אברהם משה ויהושע נלחמים. Sixty-one, page sixty-one.
Are there more copies? Everyone has? More or less everyone has? Okay, let's look inside boys.
התורה מספרת לנו כי אברהם נדף ונלחם עם ארבעה מלכים שכבשו ושעבדו עמים אחרים אברהם לא יכול לראות את בן אחיו נשבה ואף על פי שלא נצטווה קיים מעצמו לא תעמוד על דם רעך. This is a very fascinating observation. Avraham Avinu we know he kept the kol HaTorah kulah.
Gemara says about Avraham Avinu, he had what's called smart kidneys, klayot yoatzot. That meant that his kishkes told him what to do. That's how he kept the kol HaTorah kulah. Now the Torah didn't tell him, Hashem didn't tell him, by the way your nephew, who wasn't exactly the most haimish hartzige tzadik, was taken into captivity, you must go and fight these crazy wars to redeem him from captivity, but he does it.
Bizchut hamilchamah, now in the merit of him listening to his kishkes and winning the war, so funny how Avraham Avinu, what do we know? What's Avraham Avinu's middah? Chesed. It doesn't really look like that in the beginning of his illustrious career. Avraham Avinu's middah was Chesed to leave his parents? That was Chesed? It was Chesed to go down to Paroh in Mitzrayim? It was all these things were Chesed? It's interesting. So you say oh no no no, he was, he had an open tent, Abraham's tent, and people would come in and out.
How do you know that? That he had that? Midrash. Right. The pesukim? No, the pesukim say one thing, that he sat outside his tent when it was hot. Was he looking for orchim, for guests? You'll say yes.
How do you know that? Midrash. But again if we're going back to the pshat, is it the middah of Chesed that embodies Avraham Avinu? Doesn't seem like that. It's very interesting. And Yitzchak doesn't really seem like gevurah either.
And Yaakov does not seem like the middah of emes, right? So it's very interesting how this works. But remember Reb Shlomo used to quote the Sanz Rebbe, the greatest Torah... this one was crazy. He said Avraham Avinu we say we know that Avraham is Chesed, Yitzchak is gevurah, Yaakov tiferet slash emes.
So Reb Shlomo quoted the Sanz Rebbe and he said like this, Reb Chaim Sanz, Avraham Avinu was born bless you in his teva as the stingiest person that ever existed. And the whole inyan was that he was koneh middat chesed and that's how he became the middah of Chesed. But if you're just born and you have these natural traits and you you're not going to be known by that which is totally natural to you. You're going to be known by the things that is אם בחקתי תלכו שתהיו עמלים בתורה.
That's how you're going to be known. So really Yitzchak was born as the as the weakest in his nature, but his inyan was to be koneh the middah of gevurah through what he did. So again meeting Avraham Avinu he was an illustrious warrior if honestly the gibbor shebagibborim. Gibbor shebagibborim.
What did his gevurah bring forth to the world? Second paragraph.
בזכות המלחמה והניצחון נאספו כל העמים בעמק והמליכו אותו עליהם ואמרו נשיא אלהים אתה בתוכנו. Remember they all crowned him. They all brought him.
In the in the valley, they all crowned him as you're the nasi elokim, huh?
איזה באיזה איזה עמק? ani lo shomea. eizeh emek?
איפה איפה העמק הזה היה? No, no, emek, what's it called?
בעמק הסידים נראה לי. Is there any ba'al kriah here? That that's usually the best way to know the then sefer names. I forget which I forget which name.
Okay. So they said, נשיא אלוהים אתה בתוכנו.
כן נלחמו ישראל במדין. This is the way we waged war against Midyan.
גם נלחם משה בסיחון ועוג ומנצח אותם. Moshe Rabbeinu goes out and wages war and wins. achar hanitzachon, after the victory, דבריו נשמעים יותר כשהוא מוכיח את ישראל. And after Moshe Rabbeinu becomes victorious and then he has to give his tochacha, they're heard even more bizchut that they knew they were standing in front of a gibbor yisroel.
Right? The Yidden knew after Moshe Rabbeinu waged wars and won, then his words of rebuke that were hard words were able to be heard even more because they knew they were witnessed to be present and in front of a person that is mamash a gibbor yisroel. And when you're in front of a gibbor yisroel, they'll tell you anything and you'll hopefully your heart will be open and take these words in. Same thing happens in Nevi-im. ken nitztava but this already is earlier in the Torah but Yehoshua continues this.
כן נצטווה משה לשלוח את יהושע להילחם בעמלק.
אחר כך נלחם יהושע בשלושים ואחד מלכים וכובש את הארץ. Sefer Yehoshua is one of the most amazing and exciting military sefarim that we have. 31 different wars and he conquers the land.
בזכות מעשה ועתידים של יהושע and the merit of Yehoshua's future actions that didn't happen yet, משכל יעקב את ידיו. Yaakov crosses his hands ומניח את יד ימינו על ראש אפרים. The right hand goes on the head of Efrayim.
שעתיד יהושע לצאת ממנו שינחיל את הארץ וילמד תורה לישראל.
Again, going back to the story in Parshat Vayechi. Yaakov Avinu crosses his hands, he puts his right hand on Efrayim. Who comes from Efrayim? Yehoshua. Why does he put his right hand on Efrayim?
ימין ה' רוממה ימין ה' עושה חיל.
Going back to what we learned a few weeks ago that chayil was already placed by the brachos of Yaakov Avinu going to Yehoshua to become a gibbor chayil and then to go and win all the wars that they did in Sefer Yehoshua. uvizchut zeh this merit, וזרעו יהיה מלא הגוים כל העולם ימלא בצאת שמו ושמו כשעמיד חמה בגבעון וירח בעמק אילון. The loshon of Chazal. What is he referring to? That everyone will know the name of Yehoshua when what will take place? shemesh begivon dom, the sun stopped from setting.
You know what's interesting? You know what date that was in the calendar? Iyar? Close. This is just a cool thing. Can mess with your mind if you've ever struggled with a certain inyan. What was the date of shemesh begivon dom? You guys don't know? This is a crazy thing.
What do you what are the what what do you think? Think about it, that the sun stopped from setting. What day what day could it could it maybe do you think it maybe could be on the calendar? Rosh Hashanah? Maybe. Not Rosh Hashanah, not Shabbos Hagadol. Shavuos? You're getting closer than he was.
Lag BaOmer? No. Pesach? No, no, no. Go the other direction, boys. Think about it.
What date did for like the world to a certain extent for Yidden did the sun seems like it just didn't fully set, it's like still there? Tishrei? Gimmel Tammuz. Gimmel Tammuz. The day that the Lubavitcher Rebbe's histalkus. shemesh begivon dom, the sun never fully set.
It's still there. Still there. Yeah, it's very interesting. And the world and he says over here and the world the whole world will know about Yehoshua's gvura from this inyan of shemesh begivon dom.
Okay. Vayter, this shows us that when Yidden take upon themselves the inyan of gvura, generally good things happen. Very good things happen. Now we're going to the topic of the actual inyan of milchama, of milchemet mitzvah.
And when we say gvura, we're talking about not gvura in a in a spiritual sense, we're saying gvura in a physical sense. Look I'm sure there were spiritual manifestations of their gvura, but these are all examples of physical yeah, the ones that we gave here are all examples of physical gvura. 100%.
מעשה אבות סימן לבנים.
התורה מצווה במקומות רבים על המלחמה שתעשה קידוש השם. You should know that there are a lot of holy brothers, now I know some of you are going to throw a chair at me by what I'm going to say right now, so please don't. Just listen to me. There are a lot of holy brothers that are—and obviously most of us don't tayne like this here at least, but there are a lot of holy brothers that are chalsching to be mitgayes to an army that knows why it's—what it's fighting for.
Stevie, you're gonna—don't look at me even. I'm—I'm bringing the other side, I'm not—I'm not representing it, I'm explaining something. Okay? Because this line is very triggering.
התורה מצווה אותנו במקומות רבים על מלחמה שתעשה קידוש השם.
Now listen. When you wage—when you call something a war and you go in and out of Azza—I don't know how many times was it in and out? Too many. And Lebanon? Too many.
יש פה בעיה עקרונית of understanding why exactly are you going in there, risking lives of chayalim.
What is this insanity? But we're too scared to say that because we may sound ke'ilu we're like anti-Zionists chas veshalom talking like this. Afoch, we're Zionism with a cup—with consciousness. We—there are—there are plenty of—of people I know that are chalsching, they're waiting—they're waiting for a world, for an army in its pikkud that doesn't come and rip off Mashiach patches off of soldiers, for—for starters, maybe we could start with that. And ve-ha-ikar is that they're very clear as to why they're fighting.
Clear as to why they're fighting. You see Yosef, if we go with this piece to the Chatzma'is we can teach it, and the pikkud finds out about it, it'll be the last time I can give shiur there. No, no, no, you can give shiur. You can say these exact words as long as he's not there.
But but that's like so—that's so ichsa. So ichsa.
בתחילת ספר במדבר התורה מצווה למנות את יוצאי הצבא. Interesting, huh? How that worked out that we got to this today? I didn't—another example of when you don't plan it and just let the flow go, that what ends up happening in a sefer shows up exactly in the parsha that we're learning.
The Torah in the beginning of Bamidbar commands us למנות את יוצאי הצבא, you give accounting of those that are going out to war.
התורה אוסרת על פחד במלחמה מצווה על כהן משיח שיעודד ויחזק את העם. The Torah gives a—we need to have a Kohen Mashiach that's gonna go and give kochos to the chayalim when they wage war. We saw so much—so many pieces of footage of little Kohanei Mashiachs running around, you know, going around the yechidot before going out to wage war, to wage battle.
It's unbelievable, those moments, those pieces of footage were—have been so inspiring. They're—they're like Messianic pieces of footage, if you know—if you've seen it, if you know what I'm talking about. So he gives koach to strengthen the am ויחזיר מי שלא צריך להילחם. And if he notices someone that's kind of on shpilkas and he's not really clear or—or he's frightened, he pulls him out of there.
התורה מלמדת איך חולקים את השלל. The Torah teaches us how you divide the booty. Spoil. Spoils.
מלמדת דין אשת יפת תואר את קדושת מחנה הלוחמים ונקיונו. We spoke about this, the kedusha, the holiness of the camp where the lochamim were coming out from and how it has to be clean. And I think you guys gave—was it you that gave a dvar halacha on this this year or the previous mechon? I don't remember. It was a whole—I think it was last year, the chevreh from the mechon gave a whole two weeks of talking about kedushas ve-nikayon hamachaneh.
It wasn't—was not—? Okay. Also לא להשחית את עצי השדה במלחמה, not to desecrate and destroy the—the—the trees of the field in the war ve'od. But the Torah here and he gets to the root of it.
התורה גם מצווה אותנו להילחם באויב שבא עלינו.
The Torah commands us to fight an oyev, an enemy that comes and wages war on us.
וכי תבוא מלחמה בארצכם על הצר הצררת אתכם. Then the continuation is—it's not in front of you, but it's וחרעתם בחצצרות על עלתיכם ועל זבחי שלמיכם והיו לכם לזכרון לפני ה׳ אלהיכם. So if I could just add unless I missed it in that moment.
The inyan of milchemet mitzvah is you're going to go into... He didn't, he's going to get there in a second. He's going to get there in a second because I've had those conversations with some who refused to go in and they say, "This is not milchemet mitzvah." Many say this is not a milchemet mitzvah. I don't understand that.
Milchemet mitzvah and it's not? Well listen, so so we'll digress just lichvod irenecha. What happens over here is as follows: Can you label something a milchemet mitzvah if it's clear to the chayalim that it's a milchemet mitzvah but it's not really clear to the mifakdim that it's a milchemet mitzvah? You have a pasuk that says we have to fight. The chayalim are with the pasuk. I'm talking about the chain of command.
If the chain of command is not clear on the purpose of the war, but the chayalim are fighting it under the kop of milchemet mitzvah, can you halachically label it milchemet mitzvah if the ones that are in command are not menaheling the war as a milchemet mitzvah? You ask an excellent question. I can't pretend to have an answer, but it would seem to me that it is or it isn't regardless of what people's cheshbon is. Either it is and they don't understand it, but... Or it isn't and everybody who thinks it is...
It's usually the answer about most questions. But what I'm saying is it's a fact, a metziut, right? It should be a metziut. And if the leaders don't understand it, it doesn't change the metziut. Okay, וכי תבוא מלחמה בארצכם על הצר הצורר אתכם.
October 7th. Was the reaction a milchemet mitzvah? Ken behatchala. Maybe for the first few minutes. Maybe.
The second because it would have been a milchemet mitzvah we would have blown up the entire place from the beginning. We came out and then went back in, three times, and then came out and cease-fire, and then went back in and then came out. Like Feiglin said in the interview. What's that? He stopped and he said, remember he said, he said...
Who? Feiglin? Yeah. Remember he said, "This is a war"? Right. We're in, we're out. We're in, we're out.
But are we saying that the fact that the execution is sloppy makes it a non-milchemet mitzvah? Ah, that's the shaila. That's the shaila over here. There's a difference between sloppy and not... Missing intent.
Yeah, mitzvot einam tzerichot kavana. So, maybe then... Let's hold on to the... He didn't answer...
He's going to address the nature of what you're bringing up, but it's good that you brought it up. But then the next page on page 62, he brings a few more pesukim that we have to look at. But it's לילחם גם במלחמות שאנחנו יוזמים. Not just react to wars that we react to, but also wars that we yozem, we initiate, also fall under the category of milchemet mitzvah.
This is an important havchanah in the halacha to understand. The galutdike kop can only imagine a milchemet mitzvah being reactionary. A geuladike kop is one that understands it's also ones that are coming from places of initiative. This is more Torat Eretz Yisrael.
כיבוש הארץ בימי יהושע was a milchemet mitzvah. You're going to see that he's going to say all these things that you're saying right now.
כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך. Look at the different pesukim he brings here.
כי תקרב אל עיר להלחם עליה וקראת אליה לשלום.
והורשתם את כל יושבי הארץ מפניכם. These are all, these are three pesukim, three different examples of not waiting, God forbid, for someone to come and attack you, but rather it's to go out and be there. Kibush ha'aretz is a milchemet mitzvah.
The Rambam oseh lanu seder. So now let's get... make an order with everything. The Rambam makes us a stikel order and he says like this.
He writes כי מלחמת מצווה נקראת א מלחמה לכבוש את הארץ מיד שבעה עממים שהיו בארץ. Conquering the seven nations of the land that were in the land before we got there, it's part of milchemet mitzvah.
ב, what else is milchemet mitzvah? Milchemet Amalek. I had soldiers calling me from on October 8th, 9th, and 10th and 11th, calling me from their home on the way to the battleground to mevarer if this is considered milchemet Amalek or not.
I'll never forget those phone calls. You mentioned that when we were doing the Rambam's hilchot nekama, that people were calling you and literally saying that, "Do I treat them as if it's Amalek or not? Because if I do and there's a woman and a child..." There's tremendous nafka minahs. There's tremendous nafka minahs. And there's rabbanim tzevai'im.
It's like, it was weird that they were calling me, there's rabbanim tzevai'im that should be much more the ones that are, you know, dealing with these because they're the ones that are with them going out to war. The problem is is that politics is so enveloped and wrapped in the whole inyan that it makes it almost impossible to go out and just do it al-pi... with the halachic kop and a... Jewish, purely Jewish intent mindset and it makes it very very difficult.
It makes it very very difficult. And at the time then that you were showing me when you were out there's Rav Shmuel Eliyahu has the Leshem Yichud and one is the Hatarat Mechila, Amalek, Kivush Ha'aretz and if it's a Mitzva there's a Leshem Yichud before and even a Kavana that he says every day as a soldier. That's and the chayalim start their day with the Leshem Yichud? Yes, Geivald. That's Geivald.
That's amazing. That's the most beautiful thing, that's the highest. Okay so what else falls under this Milchemet Mitzva? Gimel.
עזרה לעם ישראל מיד צר שבא עליהם.
Any type of Tzar that falls upon Am Yisrael, that befalls them. U'beShut Heichal Yitzchak of Rav Yitzchak Herzog. Do you know who he was? His grandfather, the president and the father of the former president Chaim Herzog.
ובשו"ת היכל יצחק של הרב יצחק הרצוג שהיה הרב הראשי לישראל כתב.
So this is what Rav Herzog writes. It would be amazing to go do a Chavrusashaft with his son, with his grandson over this, right?
לדעתי מאבק זה שלנו יש לו דין מלחמת מצווה. What's Ma'avak zeh shelanu? When was he around, Rav Herzog? The foundation of the state, yeah, he's talking about then. He's saying then.
This he says, this seems to me to have a din of Milchemet Mitzva. Ma'acher she'ha'um, the United Nations, נתנו לנו חלק מארץ ישראל. They gave us a portion of the land.
ואם לא נתגונן כראוי נפסיד חלילה הזדמנות זו.
And if we don't protect ourselves and set up shop properly we may miss out on this amazing opportunity, which I know invokes a lot of weird feelings by many of us in the room because the reason we have Eretz Yisrael is not because of the United Nations. It's because Hashem told Avram Avinu Lech Lecha and that's the only reason why Eretz Yisrael is really ours. Ella Mai, Hashem works through this world, through manifestations of this world and we open our eyes to moments where there seems to be a Petach and we take advantage of it. Also there's another very pragmatic element to this.
The Shalosh Shavuos that are brought down in Gemara. The United Nations resolution in San Remo and all of those things appear to negate one of the things that we're not permitted to do. Lo la'alot bachoma. Pardon? Lo la'alot bachoma.
Yeah, nachon. So it has for those who are saying we're not allowed, we have to sit back and wait. Everyone's mandatory reading for everyone? For everyone? This reading, it changed my life. This was a shift of consciousness because the Shalosh Shavuos that Steve is referring to is really what the Satmar approach is based on, which is coming from what psukim from what sefer in Tanach is the Shalosh Shavuos coming from?
השבעתי אתכם בנות ירושלים.
Where's this? Shir HaShirim. What are the Shalosh Shavuos? It's three different shvuos about lo la'alot bachoma, not to force your way in. To return, not to force your way back. That's from Shir HaShirim.
Comes 1967 and then one of the greatest brains Am Yisrael ever had and especially in the last generation Rav Soloveitchik writes Kol Dodi Dofek. He goes back to the same sefer. It's the same Megilla, Shir HaShirim and he says you want to focus on השבעתי אתכם בנות ירושלים? Kol Dodi Dofek, there's a knock at the door.
פתחי לי אחותי רעייתי יונתי תמתי.
And I thought that was, I didn't understand until much later, I mean I don't know if I'm right but at least for me the whole chap was that he davka went to Shir HaShirim, the same Megilla that was basically the basis of the Shalosh Shavuos and he's saying no no from here if you really have a Yiddishe heart you'll look at the door, there's a knock on the door, come in, come in. So what's the book? Kol Dodi Dofek. Kol Dodi Dofek. It's short, you can find it anywhere.
Kol Dodi Dofek. It's an amazing amazing work. Again, לדעתי מאבק זה שלנו יש לו דין מלחמת מצווה מאחר שהאום נתנו לנו חלק מארץ ישראל ואם לא נתגונן כראוי נפסיד חלילה הזדמנות זו וגם לא יהיה לנו עוד מקלט מוכן לאחינו שבגולה במקרה של צרה רחמנא לצלן ודי לנו.
בניסיון האחרון השואה ודי למבין.
Meaning, there also, if we don't take advantage of this now, there won't be any place that we could really say is a safe refuge for אחינו בני ישראל שבגולה, which is something that people are still in denial about, thinking that that's not really le-ma'aseh because it'll never happen again. Sheker, it can happen again in a second.
וגם אם נפסיד הזדמנות זו, says Rav Herzog, if we lose out on this opportunity, זה יביא חס ושלום המוני ישראל לידי ייאוש ויגרום חס ושלום בהמשך הזמן ביטול דת קודשנו ברוב האומה וטמיעה והתבוללות. If we miss out on this opportunity, this will be a tremen- this will bring God forbid a tremendous state of ye'ush, chas veshalom amongst our people, and over the time it'll also cause a total spiritual destruction which also will result in assimilation.
Rav Herzog is thinking about nitzchiyut am Yisrael, and he's saying if we don't take advantage of this right now, ודיי לחכים שחכים כמותו.
ובמלחמת מצווה הלא צרים לכתחילה בשבת על עיירות של גויים ומכל שכן לעשות פעולות של הגנה. So what what is Rav Herzog saying? This is the definition of a milchemes mitzvah because we're fighting over that which is which is the most most essential to our kiyum as a people. So according to Rav Herzog, the kibbush ha-aretz, which hasn't ended yet, it started back in the day, it still keeps on going, we're still in it, we're still in it, and we're still fighting for it, so it would still be under the parameters of milchemes mitzvah.
וכן הוא בציץ אליעזר על השאלה איך יכול להיות מצב של מלחמת מצווה. So when he's asked what what's a milchemes mitzvah, the Tzitz Eliezer brings the example ומביא דוגמא של ימינו שבו כיבוש הארץ הוא מצווה כמו בימי יהושע על פי דברי הרמב"ן כדלקמן. Steve, that's what you brought up before. Milchemes Yehoshua and the Lamed Aleph Melachim was a milchemes mitzvah? Of course it was.
What's the shaylah? So why is it a shaylah today? So the shaylah today to go back to the beginning of the shiur is because if you ask a general, what are you doing? What are you trying to accomplish? Why you fighting for? They'll generally say ליצור מצב של שקט תמורת שקט, which is it is so depressing to hear those words, and those were the words we were told for so many years to create a situation of yano זה נהנה וזה נהנה. Mamesh mishva'os. Mamesh mishva'os. Yeah, Aryeh.
In the Haredi world or in the world of the gedolei ha-dor who learn Torah and they learn the halachos of, you know, to live the Torah, that this is halachicly a kiyum of a mitzvas asei de-oraisa that they haven't been able to me-kayem for thousands of years. If it is halachicly, that is a disqualifier or a barrier in the way that da'as Torah should get up and say mitzva haba'a leyadka? So we have to we have to realign, but like that's such a big mitzvah. It seems like this is the whole reason why we learn Torah is to is to apply it. If there's a halachicly...
You give an answer. What's the answer? So why isn't it like that? You tell me. I don't know. No no no, you do know.
No no no, you do know. Come on. You give me an answer. You're talking about the talmidei chachamim that live in chutz la-aretz? No no no, even here.
Aryeh, think for a second. You you give an answer. What's the answer to your tehiyah? Think about it. If it's so clear.
So apparently it's not so clear. So the shaylah is why is it not so clear that this is מלחמת מצווה לכולי עלמא? Why? Because we didn't finish the job and because the leaders... but because what's the what does the clear intent? What is the the proclamation? Like what's the what's the definition? What's the whole thing? Right? Forget about Neturei Karta and Satmar. That's bichdei to hold by Shalosh Shavuos or or even more charif.
Not talking about that that that. Talking about a whole world of Torah by many tzaddikim. Listen, most sefarim that we learn from are probably are not they're Torahs that don't come from batei midrashos that say Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut. You know what I mean? This is a little bit of a rare thing that we have that we're learning this.
What what are you going to say to most of the... most of the tzadikim that you drink their waters. You want to understand from them why? It's a basic—to me it boils down to a very basic concept. There's an inyan to stay alive.
For me, I don't know about you guys. You guys into that? Like life and stuff like that? Like it boils down to: you have to stay alive in order to be part of a sugya, to be part of a machlokes. There is a shittah that says—and it's warped—that if we wouldn't wave the Zionist flag everywhere we go, we would be much more—we would get along much more with each other, with ummos ha'olam. It's just this waving of the flag and nationalism that's so triggering that caused all these tzoiros to Am Yisrael.
Right, that's also why six million were killed because of the Zionist entity, nachon? That's one level. But the other inyan is one that I relate to very, very much, and I struggle with all the time. My son is only five, right? So I don't have this in front of my face. Many of you have children in the army.
It's a very bizarre thing to know, to feel, especially once you understand what a milchemes mitzvah is, to then have your children go to the army where the chain of command is not—is bichlal not thinking like this, or talking like this at all, because they can't. So then go back to the da'as Torah and say, "And you're telling me to send to an army that what?" Understand? And it's a—let's now go back to the other side. So why don't most of us hold like that?
אנחנו מוכנים לקחת את ה—lo heveiti—tagid b'ivrit.
לא כל יהודי יכול לחיות במקום הלא פשוט הזה של הגשר הזה של ללכת ולשנות את הבפנים וצריך הרבה כוח בפנים.
זה לא—You understand what he's saying?
מכינים את המקום בשבילם שהם יבואו תיכף עוד כמה שנים. He's saying that not everyone's willing to be that bridge to prepare lehachshir et hakarka for the next generation of leadership to come and be able to mamash, like, be holding. So it's true, we're not saying the way it is now is great and that's why we have to go to the army והכל הכל מתוקן שם מה פתאום. But there're only very few people that are willing to say, "I'm willing to be the bridge," instead of making blanket statements of saying "they" and "them" and think Am Yisrael.
And Am Yisrael has to stay alive. And we have to defend ourselves here. And therefore there is a ruach within the army from the younger generation—and we're sitting among some of them—that instead of saying this whole Zionist thing is shtuyot and throwing the whole thing out with dinim on everyone, they're actually saying, "Wait, wait a second, Am Yisrael has to stay alive, the prophecies of coming back to Eretz Yisrael are happening, we have to figure out a way betoch ha'am to change the direction." And your nephew is one of them, some of the chayalim in the room are some of them, your son's mechina is one of them. Yesh, there is that ruach.
Thing is we gotta keep on pushing it and pushing it. They don't need to be convinced that what they're doing is milchemes mitzvah. They know. They know more than anyone.
They absolute—Rav Avi Goldberg, he didn't know he was fighting a milchemes mitzvah? Of course he knew. Of course he knew. The problem is that it still has—we haven't figured out a way for it to penetrate fully into the top. And that's what we mamash need to do, because if we give up on that, we give up on everything.
We give up on—we go back to ghettos. And we're not willing. The kaf zechus of that sector who say, "No, no, no, this is not the right way," is the exact same words that are being quoted here from the former Rav of Ashdod. It's the hisbolelut.
He's viewing the result of not fighting will lead to hisbolelut and they see the result of mixing and fighting in a semi-kosher, unkosher, whatever army that doesn't have the right kavanos as leading to hisbolelut. And guess what? Guess what? They're both right. They're both right, of course. Of course.
You know, growing up in Bnei Akiva you couldn't talk like that. That was assur to say that they're both right. Chas v'shalom they're both right. Really? Look at it.
They're both right, me'ah achuz. I grew up in Bnei Akiva but I was in a yeshiva that nobody else went to Bnei Akiva, so I got... As crazy as it is, I think we have a lot more in common with the Haredim than we... the Haredim and you and most of us in this room.
The Haredim and you. We're saying the same thing. You're saying the same thing, which is that ha-eseck lo menuhal, things are not cracking the way they should be. The only difference is how to deal with it.
Right. Right. You're saying fix it from within, and they're saying that until this is a Torah-dike Eretz Yisrael and not a Zionist Israel, they're saying we can't be involved with this because it's dangerous. And more I'm saying, and if you hold by your shita, yesh sikuy that you'll all be killed.
Nachon. Meaning v'chai bahem. Nachon. I'm going back to the concept of staying alive, you know.
But they say l'neged that v'chai bahem also involves... is for your Yiddishkeit. Ah, and why should there be a stira? Because l'tzari harav there is. L'tzari...
No, there is, meaning there exists a stira, but with the type of Yidn that you're speaking about are showing that there doesn't have to be a stira. Well v'chai bahem also is for them individual and they're a part of it. I had a long discussion with my rebbe in Florida who's a talmid of Chacham Ovadia. And he said at the end of the day, when you have a Supreme Court that tells the military and the soldiers when you can shoot and when you can't shoot and people on the Supreme Court are Muslim, or Yidn that don't believe in Hashem, I don't want to sacrifice my child for...
And that's why again, no one is denying what you're saying. No one, no one that I could talk to could say זה לא נכון מה שאתה אומר or democratia. No one I know or I'm close to told me like that but I still look back and say okay, and you don't believe that Hashem believes in us to change the whole thing? It's just very different than like it's usually top-down always and here's kind of where the leadership comes and changes, v'hanasi v'navi v'k'do'mei. Nachon.
Bizman hazeh it's going to be bottom-up to... We were told about this already in Gemara Sanhedrin that the Mashiach, the dor before Mashiach, פני הדור כפני הכלב. We were told these things already. It's the bottom-up dor where it has to come bottom-up.
Leo Dee lost his wife and two girls and he spoke here on Friday night about maybe a year ago, masheu k'zeh. It's exactly what he said. He said it's a bottom-up generation. It's we're not used to these kind of things but it's mamash a bottom-up generation.
Gevaltig. The rebbe zt"l the Avnei Nezer mi-Sochatchov and I had a strong connection with him before he left the world and he was a talmid of Rav Shmuel Sochatchov very much from the Hungarian... What did he say? What did Tabor? The kitzur what he said was that he had a Giluy Eliyahu Hanavi b'zchus the Ba'alei Teshuva in all his teaching that everything is now about the yachid. Everything is about Avraham Avinu's avoda, which is what we started off with that Avraham Avinu was the Ivri and we have to come back to that derech of you...
He said you can have all the rebbes, all the tzaddikim, blah blah blah, but the main ikkar avoda, he said this to me personally also, is you have to become a shtikl rebbe yourself and that's what the soldiers are demonstrating. They're all... They are. They're Gedolim.
100%. We'll stop here, continue Wednesday b'ezrat Hashem. Chizku v'imtzu, baruch tihiyeh, yasher koach.