Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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 we're going to see something continuing today that in our very non-controversial and very simple straight learning if you have the sefer if you could open up the page 78 here's more copies for whoever needs page 78. There is a there is a מכלל לאו אתה שומע הן which I'm not going to go too into that but it basically means sometimes you can learn things from those things that aren't said or that or that said no. The halakhic analysis we've been doing regarding the obligation to serve or not serve who's patur who's exempt who's not exempt has that that we've been building a whole halakhic analysis of that. And we've seen the rishonim we've seen acharonim as well.
But there's also a way to approach this subject this very delicate subject when we're speaking specifically about how in the navi how in the prophets do they speak about how do they look how do they look at those that were called to come and serve at times of war and how they simply how they look at them how they speak to them? What kind of something out of a halakhic analysis and just looking at certain a certain piece of Nach today of the navi to see how they are referred to. So you've heard of shirat Devorah Devorah hanevi'ah right? Devorah was like the most incredible Ramatkal if you want to call it like the chief of staff right? And here together with another very holy Jew his name was Barak ben Avinoam in Sefer Shoftim are the ones that wage war against Cna'an led by Sisra. That was the story. Okay now I remember I have a little bit of a high school of a elementary school triggering right now because we were forced to learn shirat Devorah by heart when in Kita Hey Kita Vav.
We had to do you still remember it?
בפרוע פרעות נאם ה' בהתיצב ראשי עם a little bit. Sorry. No it's okay. It was like we had to learn two things by heart aseret hadibrot and shirat Devorah.
Moshe did you have to learn did you have to learn this stuff? Anything by heart? mishnayot yeah. Just mishnayot again they changed they evolved they went to Toshba. So just a we're going to we're going to jump into shirat Devorah right now to understand a very very very important yesod. So the bottom of 78 it says like this: עוד מצינו בשירת דבורה שנאמרה ברוח הקודש shirat Devorah the song of Devorah this amazing song describing the war and giving thanks to what just took place was all said in ruach hakodesh.
כי דבורה מתלוננת על השבטים שלא באו לעזרת השבטים האחרים במלחמה. Devorah gives a rebuke she complains about the shvatim the tribes that didn't come out to help the other tribes during the war. She's she lets out which we're going to see inside right now. On the other hand me'idach יש בה ברכות לשבטים שבאו להלחם באויבי ישראל.
There's also blessings that she bestows upon the tribes that did come out to fight the enemies of Am Yisrael as we see over here: מני מכיר ירדו מחוקקים ומזבולן מושכים בשבט סופר. What does that mean? What's shevet sofer? The tribe of the scribes.
פירוש רד"ק שהמחוקקים והמושכים בשבט סופר הם הסופרים והחכמים כן פירש רש"י על ושרי ביששכר עם דבורה שהם סנהדריות עוסקים בתורה. That they were those that maybe by their trade by what they're known to be they are sofrim they are yoshvei beit midrash they're you know people that are learners right? And yet it seems that she gives a bracha to those that could have easily said listen my thing is more the book my thing is more the scribe and yet they come out and wage war and Devorah gives them brachas.
כן מברכת דבורה את יעל. She also blesses Yael. She should be a segula the president of America's daughter's name is Yael you know in Hebrew. So כן מברכת דבורה את יעל שעזרה לישראל.
She helped Am Yisrael יעל אשת חבר הקיני ומחשיבה אותה כמו האמהות הקדושות. She's considered to be included amongst one of the holy mothers.
תבורך מנשים יעל אשת חבר הקיני מנשים באוהל תבורך. Wow the way Devorah's...
blessing Yael who came out to help Am Yisrael in the war.
מביא רש״י בשם חז״ל, Rashi says that when it says nashim tevorach, minashim shehi she'll be blessed from women. Rashi is quoting the Sages, Rashi says that she shall be blessed from women. Rashi says: הנשים מהן תבורך יעל הן אימות הקדושות.
These we're referring to Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah. Dvorah's basically saying to her, you should feel a direct connection to Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah because if they were alive right now, in their times when they didn't have to wage wars, but if Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah were alive, you should be blessed from them because they would have joined you in this war. Now, it's interesting is that Avraham is mida of chesed. Really? What do we know about Avraham Avinu? He's a warrior.
Lachem? Did he have any wars with anybody? Shush. Avraham Avinu had a few kings. Avraham Avinu took out some of the top of the top. When we think Avraham Avinu, you know, it's easy to say, oh no, he's just sitting shtaiging all day long.
Yeah, he shtaiged, but he learned when he could learn and he fought when he had to fight. So you could say about Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah, I can't imagine these mamas, I can't imagine in a million years these mothers in Am Yisrael would ever have any shayachut to war, waging war and all these things. To me, it seems that when Dvorah Haneviah gives a bracha to יעל אשת חבר הקיני and she's saying tevorach minashim, you should be blessed from women, Rashi is telling us over here the women are the imot hakedoshot as as now he will be quoting the Gemara. In Nazir, מאן אינון נשים באוהל, who are these women of the tent? Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah.
The women of the tent.
שרה שנאמר בה הנה באוהל.
רבקה שנאמר בה ויביאה יצחק האוהלה, next page vayevi'eha Yitzchak haohela.
רחל ולאה שנאמר בהם ויצא מאוהל לאה ויבוא באוהל רחל.
Because in the pasuk, in the blessing that Dvorah gives Yael, she's speaking about look at the end of the pasuk again minashim baohel tevorach. She's going to be blessed from the women of the tent. Who are the women of the tent? Our mothers, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah. So Dvorah goes out of her way to make sure to give blessings to those that stood up and joined the battle, which baruch Hashem was successful, miraculously successful.
But what about those that chose to not join the war, to not join Am Yisrael during this very, very intense battle, this fierce battle with with Sisra? So there's a concept that's called nidui. Do you know what nidui means?
מה זה להיות מנודה? Does anybody know? Slicha? Excommunicated. Nidui, wow, this is a this is intense. And again we're not we're just saying we're looking at what Dvorah Haneviah says and doesn't say.
We're not saying over here, this is where we have to be careful sometimes. We're not saying you could learn, it's so easy to learn one pasuk that makes you feel good and convicted with your feelings and then to say, you see? And then you skip over the ones that make you feel a little bit uncomfortable and we're not skipping over everything and that's why we're all so uncomfortable all the time and then get comfortable, then get uncomfortable, then get because we're trying to look at the whole picture and not just one side or just the first part of the pasuk and not the last part. Easy. Betach, it's a very you know, yeah.
Okay.
נידוי בארבע מאות שופרות למי שלא בא למלחמה.
במקביל לשבח המתגייסים מתלוננת דבורה על השבטים שלא באו לעזרת השבטים האחרים במלחמה. Then Dvorah unleashes.
After she gives blessings to those that came out and were fighting for helping the other shvatim, then Dvorah says don't think that I didn't notice who didn't show up. Don't think. As the psukim tell us right now, she's talking to the shvatim that didn't show up. Listen to these words: למה ישבת בין המשפתיים לשמוע שריקות עדרים לפלגות ראובן גדולים חקרי לב.
גלעד בעבר הירדן שכן ודן למה יגור אוניות אשר ישב לחוף ימים ועל מפרציו ישכון. She's basically ripping into them and saying why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you why are you entitled to the blessings that you were blessed as a shevet if not to come out to the help of the other shvatim in the times of tzara? Like it's straight out she's ripping into them. You could give all those legitimate reasons she's saying as to thinking, listen, it's not my battle, I have to make sure that I'm taking care of slicha bish'at milchama Dvorah Haneviah is saying to them, shvatim Asher who are the shvatim you're your brothers. others, no no no, it's not my brother, it's my great great great great grandfather's brother.
So really makes me like fifth cousin twice removed from Shevet Dan, says to Reuven. Slicha. The shevatim are all brothers. Yachad Shivtei Yisrael, yes.
These very quickly, I mean, Reuven and Gad, they joined the battle even though they weren't involved in the taking over of Eretz Kanaan. Nachon. Bidiyuk. Yeah.
So when you think modern day times, it's also like that, like with the whole thing with the Chareidim? 100%. That's 100%. 100%. It is.
That's, and that's why you're here. And that's why I'm here. But we don't say that word in this channel. Yeah.
That's interesting that you had to spell it out. Because this is like a very, like, big example of like you're blessed. Like you have the bracha. Like look at your life.
You have a big bracha. Look at your life. Look, it's a huge bracha. You're blessed so that when things happen you can say thank you and do what you gotta do.
Yeah, I mean let's translate it into modern day language. This is going to tick off people. You're blessed, no no no, there's no way out of this, we're so knee deep in, you know? Imagine people that came from Bronson are watching this right now. Like, what? No, we should see if we could publish like a little kuntres of the comments to this series.
Bestseller, not a shayla. Bestseller. Unbelievably bestseller. If you can tell, you look at people today and say, listen, you've been blessed.
It's been a blessing that in your life you don't have to work. You get to learn all day. You get to bask in the light of the Torah all day. What a- it's a blessing.
That's a tremendous blessing. So they could, that person could say it's not a blessing, it's an obligation. And like you choose however you want to look at it, okay? The bottom line is that when others aren't able to sit and learn due to enemies coming in and infiltrating, then how do I look at the, at my blessing? Am I supposed to just hold on to my blessing and say, I guess this is what God wants of me? Or can I open my eyes and say, right now the blessing could become, I don't want to say God forbid a curse, but the blessing could be taken from me. The blessing could be taken away from me.
You know? I'm trying to be very- I have to be- you know, you gotta be careful with this. Seems like this a parallel to a situation that somebody makes a fortune, feels blessed, but doesn't give tzedaka. So you're saying the tzedaka in this situation would be- yeah, that could be. The tzedaka in this situation would be that my 20- let's say I made big bucks, right? So my 20% of what I'm supposed to give would be physically joining a battle.
I don't know if there's a greater tzedaka in the world. Pikuach Nefesh. Yeah. These are the- these are the types of teachings we're really struggling with right now.
Mamash. Let's go- let's go veiter.
לא מדובר רק בטענה על משתמטים. This is not just a complaint over the dodgers.
Right? Not- the draft dodgers. No, not the- not the LA Dodgers, right? Although now I have a whole new relationship with my home team. The Dodgers, hamishtamtim. The LA mishtamtim.
The LA- anyone else ever think about the Dodgers like that? No. Definitely not. Actually, why are they called Dodgers? What are you- like it was something from Brooklyn beforehand, so I don't- what were they dodging in Brooklyn? They dodged lose? Dodge. Dodgy.
Okay. So it's not just a kvetch over the Dodgers.
אלא יש פה קללה וארור. No no, it's not just complaining, it's actually she's placing a curse.
That's already, that's gnarly.
אורו מרוז אמר מלאך ה' אורו ארור יושביה כי לא באו לעזרת ה' לעזרת ה' בגיבורים. It says be cursed from Meroz, we'll see in a second what that means, said the angel of God, they shall be cursed those who dwelt who did not come to the help of Hashem, to the help of Hashem for the gibborim, for the heroes within the Am. And the Gemara Moed Katan learns, גמרא לומדת מכאן שמותר לבית דין לנדות כשצריך.
It's amazing. The whole concept of excommunicating someone is a world of halacha. The Gemara says the basis for excommunication, the concept of excommunication comes from. That's a heavy one.
The Gemara says this. You understand? Naftali, you following? Kachi. It's like if you choose to put yourself out of the machaneh then you get put out of the machaneh. Then we just make sure...
you made your bed. Right, we just make sure it's ke-ilu like acknowledge your choice in public. Yeah. Yeah, that's basically what he's saying.
That's what the Gemara is saying. It's like that saying, you know, you can't have your cake and eat it too. You don't want to play ball, you sit on the bench. Yeah, nachon.
It's a very strange thing. Really? Okay. It's they're just confirming, the excommunication itself is just confirming what the society has done with these individuals and separated them from the general population so to speak. It seems like that.
It seems like that.
הגמרא לומדת מכאן שמותר לבית דין לנדות כשצריך. u-minalan de-mashmetinan. How do we know מנין לנו שמותר לנדות מי שלא שומע לבית דין? How do we know that you're allowed to excommunicate someone who doesn't listen to Beis Din? Dichtiv oru meiroz.
The Roz, there's a machlokes, I was looking at this before. What does this mean, cursed be from the place of Roz? What does that mean? There's the Gemara continues there and explains that Roz, it could either be a city named Roz, it could be a leadership characteristic trait, or it could be an instillation, a constellation. But the bottom line of what we're trying to say over here is that the Gemara derives from here that there's a concept of excommunicating someone, but I like very much what you said is that you excommunicate someone who's kind of excommunicated themselves regarding a certain topic. But they still want to be part of the klal in other things, right? It seems to be, it seems to be that the explanation is you set your bed.
That's all it is, you set your bed. You can't say, listen, I'm not joining, doesn't mean I'm excommunicating myself, it just means that this is not for me. No, no chabibi. There are moments in life that ein mah la'asot.
By the non-choice, the passive, the ignoring, is a statement. It's a statement of self-excommunication. That's really what he's saying over here. Now he continues and he says, ומותר גם להחרימו שלא יאכלו אתו.
This is even more gnarly. You could also put a cherem. You could put someone... how do you say cherem? Excommunication.
What's the difference? niddui is more... I feel like it's more michutz la-machaneh. cherem is saying it's like cut off, a bondage, any bondage you have and with hilchos, someone that's in cherem, they have a lot of halachos, not communicating, not including them in a minyan and all different types of things. Ah, cheramim? We say in...
I don't know if Ashkenazim do, but we say in Kol Nidrei, nidduyei vacharamim. You say it also? Yeah, we also, we also say it. Yeah. Some of it overlaps.
Basically the punishment is that like just because they didn't help us when we needed them, like they won't be able to join us. That, yeah, because we're saying, listen, you didn't help us when we when we needed. So now you have to pay the... you have to live up to the ein mah la'asot.
Ba-metziut they're excommunicating themselves. That's what... that's what we're saying. That's exactly what we're saying.
Ba-metziut that's what it seems like. It's heavy stuff.
ומותר גם להחרימו שלא יאכלו אתו. You can even put a cherem on them to not sit down and break bread with them.
Dichtiv oru arur.
ולא יעמדו בארבע אמות שלו. Dichtiv yoshveha. It's all these drashos here on the actual pasuk that speaks about Oru Meiroz, that same pasuk from Shirat Devorah that the Gemara in Moed Katan is saying.
niddui is mutar, cherem and all types of cherem is it should be... it needs to be implemented from this.
ולא עוד אלא שמפרסמים ברבים את מעשיו כמו שעשתה שירת דבורה. It's not just that, you also let the whole world know.
You let you let whoever needs to know, know that these people... it's amazing. We're so makpid on Lashon Hara, right? We're so makpid on Lashon Hara. Here it comes to these halachos, he's saying you have to let everyone know these people did not help their brothers in times of war.
Because you have to you have to explain why you're putting someone into cherem. You can't just say I'm putting someone into cherem. You have to explain. So here we're saying basically you're telling them everyone's going to know about your choices.
Now we're living in an era that people... like the Gemara says about before Moshiach comes chutzpa yasgi. Chutzpa's going to be like on the rise on the rise. So therefore it doesn't seem like that many many of these chevre come show up to these hafganot already like this to the cops.
You've seen it? They come and say, "Come, come, arrest me." That's why the whole thing of the whole thing of how the government's gone about like dealing with this is I don't understand how anyone sees a to'elet, right? Like what has anything positive come out of arresting these guys? Afouch, it's just from every side you look at this, it seems completely off. What should they do? What should the government? Let's let's go with process of elimination first, right? Let's just look at like the drachim that don't work. So first, does this work? This doesn't work. Someone came to the office yesterday to discuss this with me and he said you have to cut all all budgets.
That's all it is. He says just cut social services, cut all that. If I don't if I don't give you, why should I continue to feed you? And that that's a that's a that'll be that'll be I don't know, will that work? Ein mussag, I have no idea. Economically they contribute a lot of tax because they have large families so they buy a lot of products so if you take away they'd have to make sure they still out some means of income.
Who's they? If the government take away the government right in terms of their support, there has to be an alternative way that they're going to get some if they're not purchasing and they're a large purchase consumer yeah and it would ruin the economy for many areas and that's why there's a lot of delicate and they know that, they know that betach. I've spoken to dayanim and rabbanim about it. They know this, of course they know this. That so okay so let's eliminate that if because if that provides if that puts up that complicated issue so let's think for a second get creative so what else could there be? Well there are plans to anything government related where they wouldn't have access to, so that means no passports, that means no driver's license, that means minimal health benefits and it does mean a massive reduction in social subsidies.
But we're saying but we eliminated by saying that can't work. The amount of VAT that they pay just in general and we all pay, everyone yeah, or their or their buying power. That's true but would definitely make their life very difficult and also they've started to do this, to limit the amount of even outside donations that come in with tax exemptions into these funds, so like that that is that's very like scary that that really is like the next step. Forget about the arrest, right.
But that's a tachles to'elet. That's like that's like mamash the concept of nidui like if what we're saying before about excommunication. You do it like that, that's a that's a real excommunication. Does that make sense too to the Rav? I don't I don't I don't know if that would work.
I don't know. I have no idea. I don't think any of these things would work. I obviously believe that it's a it's all about a spiritual revolution that has to that has to really bring the change.
I don't think any of these tactics would change anything. They'll just get more I mean I know the hashkafa they'll just get more strong in their approach. There has to be some bridge making. Yeah, I don't think any of these things would work honestly.
I think that you just it's a spiritual revolution which already has begun with places like Chativat Hashmonaim and more things like that. I think it's got to be a spiritual revelation from within, not not that we necessarily we, that's a different tzibbur, that we are the ones to show them the light. I hate that. Like that's ga'ava אני לא סובל את זה.
I can't stand that when people say, "No, we have to show them the light." No, you work on yourself, like take care of shmiras habris and we'll talk tomorrow. Like don't don't start being a tzaddik chacham. I can only comment from being many like 20 years plus in that machaneh or whatever they call it and speaking to rabbanim, experiencing it, and the most successful path I've seen is what the Rav just said that it that the the young generation themselves with proactive people running these programs like the mechina we spoke about, they're the ones making the big change from from bottom up. And the rabbanim behind the scenes back it, they just won't publicly.
It's just how it is. When we not like to keep you guys to stay till the end, but when we turn off the camera I will share a practical thing that came up two nights ago. I just don't want to forget, you have to remind me at the end of shiur. All other things I really believe like what you're saying, it will come from the younger chevra there that are on some...
that they're just not buying. They're not buying what they've been fed. It's a different avira. The ruach is geuladike ruach, seeing it in metzius.
Boruch Hashem, ashreicham. Yes. But Rabbi, surely this spiritual revolution has to also come with some sort of a physical manifestation for it, like Devorah is... Who? The spiritual revolution...
What was the surely? Surely. Oh, surely. I thought you were talking about a congresswoman or something. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Yeah, yeah. Like surely the spiritual revolution has to come with some sort of a physical manifestation out of it, like Devorah is saying. Yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, like...
Listen, the army be'emes is making it extra... do you know the latest thing is that I don't know how many Hesders and Mechinas are now signing and are saying that because the army now wants to have women join Shiryon, and they're saying, you just lost the elite, we're not sending any of our guys to the... to Shiryon. Meaning the army, it's such a...
I don't know who's being more mochin de-katnus. Mamash. No, I meant, I'm trying to figure out who's being more small-mindedness? The chevra that are saying na'amod velo nitgayes, or you have the army saying, like, and now we're going to... we're going to leshaveiv women in tanks with chayalim.
It's not the army, it's the Supreme Court, for them to believe in democracy, equal opportunity. They're saying, we want equal opportunity. Why should only you be able to go into a tank? I want to be able to go into a tank also. Because at a certain point a leader, a leader must rise above the occasion and say wait a second, if what we're trying to create is the opportunity for many people to not fall into the categories of niduy and cherem, what are the things that they can't use...
like what are certain things that they just can't use against us anymore, right? So... well the whole thing with women... so, ah! So now let's bring in women into the tanks. Lo ye'uman, lo ye'uman.
And you have this all over the place. And now what do you have? You have the ones that are the most, you know, tmicha and the most supportive of serving in the army, these rabbanim are saying, we're not sending our kids to... What, atem meshugaim? It's katnus. That was a Supreme Court, I mean that was brought to Supreme Court and they said you're right, they have to, it has to be equal.
That's the army, it was democracy. That's another lama hazah. Mamash. 100%.
But that's not democratic. This goes back to the whole judicial reform. It's all connected to each other. That's democracy? When we put...
when we put our vote in the kalpi, we're thinking about Yitzchak Amit, the shofet of Beis Hamishpat Haelyon? That's what... Beinisch, all these people. I don't know, I grew up here, I didn't... You never voted for Beinisch? I never voted for Aharon Barak, I never voted...
it's crazy. You're right, it's... When I'm saying the army, I mean of course we know that the chain of command, the chain of command is where it's all run, but on the bottom, right, there's gotta be chevra that are saying I can't, like your son's Mechina, I cannot continue to look at and hope and expect anything from the top, all bottom up. Like, all bottom up.
And by the way, I think that this move of the Hesder Rabbanim and the Mechina Rabbanim was the strongest move so far because ze mochiach... it proves everything. It puts everything in its place. They're saying us, the tzibbur, we've given our boys, how many of our boys have been shechted, how many of our students in this beis medrash never came back to the beis medrash.
Parents, horim shakulim, achim shakulim. To us you're going to coerce? You're going to change the metzius so that we're not going to send our children anymore? Who are you actually going to be left with, Tzva Hagana LeYisrael? Who are you going to be left with? Put all the justice guys in the front line, they'll all go and then we can start talking. Oh, yeah, yeah. Right, right.
What will be the rates of the hishtamtus if that was the situation? Higher than what it is now by the... by the ultra-Orthodox community, right? I changed then. They'll change their tune. Meshigaon.
Yeah, you wanted to say something? You didn't have your hand up. Metoraf, metoraf. Craziness. We want, we want people to fall under this? Like we're trying to avoid having- we try to avoid putting someone into cherem.
It's not a simple thing to put someone into cherem. That's after there's convictions meeting a certain halakhic criteria that is not just like a thing you do like this. It's very hard. It's very high.
But it happens to be here, the way we're learning it from the Gemara is that its source comes from not showing up to help other Yidden in times of war. That's why this sugya is so chashuva, is so important. I want to continue. Look at when it says העוזרת ישראל כעוזרת השכינה ולמה מי שלא עוזר הוא כל כך מקולל.
Why is it that someone that doesn't help Yidden when they're being attacked is so cursed?
כי מי שלא בא לעזרת ישראל לא בא לעזרת השם. Saying simple as it is, you're not coming to help Am Yisrael means you're not coming to help Hashem. What do you mean? I'm learning His words. I'm not helping Hashem? I'm not helping Hashem's light be in the world? I'm learning Torah.
What's greater than that? Application. Why isn't it like some of us are? You're preaching to the choir, Avi. You're preaching to the choir.
כך מביא רש"י שמי שהוא עוזר את ישראל, whoever comes to the aid of Am Yisrael, ke-ozer et ha-Shekhinah, the Shekhinah, God's divine presence in this world.
You're aiding the Shekhinah when you're coming to help protect Yidden, שנאמר כי לא באו בעזרת השם.
איפה ואיך עוזרים לאלוקים? How does someone actually help God? By the way, just to make it clear, God never needs any help. He enables us, the impression, the feeling that we are as if helping. He doesn't need help.
He's giving us the zekhut to feel like we're helping Hashem.
על ידי שעוזרים לגיבורי ישראל לעזרת השם בגיבורים, just like the pasuk came the end of that pasuk in Devorah. The ones that come to help Hashem, the heroes.
זאת הסיבה שמשה רבינו הקפיד על בני גד ובני ראובן.
Yaakov, going back to you. This is the reason and Moshe Rabbenu had a very hard time with Benei Gad and Benei Reuven שבתחילה היה נראה להם, it seemed to him that their reason of asking to dwell on the other side of the Jordan was so that they would be exempt from having to serve if it came to that. Of course it was going to come to that because they're about to go in and conquer the rest of the country, so of course they knew there were going to be wars.
שבתחילה היה נראה שהם לא רוצים להשתתף עם אחכם בכיבוש הארץ.
Next page. It seemed that they weren't interested in helping, being involved in the mitzvah of conquering of the land.
ויאמר משה לבני גד ולבני ראובן האחיכם יבואו למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה? The famous pasuk. Your brothers will go out to war and you're going to sit over here?
ומשווה אותם למרגלים, he compares them to the spies, the scouts, שבגללם התעכבו במדבר ארבעים שנה because the scouts caused us to spend forty years in the desert.
ויחר אף השם בישראל ויניעם במדבר ארבעים שנה עד תום כל הדור העושה הרע בעיני השם והנה קמתם תחת אבותיכם תרבות אנשים חטאים לספות עוד על חרון אף השם אל ישראל כי תשובון מאחריו ויסף עוד להניחו במדבר ושחתם לכל העם הזה. Moshe Rabbenu is saying to them, "You're the result of your action will be just as bad as what the meraglim did. The same aftermath." omer lahem Moshe כי מי שלא עוזר הוא גם מחליש את האחרים שעוזרים. Whoever isn't helping also weakens the others that are trying to help.
How so? How are you also weakening those that are trying to help? Many ways. Let's just think of it out loud. Yeah, isolation, demoralizing, numerically, meta. At a certain point you're like you the helper are going to start to feel like למה שאני אהיה פראייר? Why should I be a sucker?
למה שאני אהיה פראייר? They still sit at home and their money, their financial aid is still flowing through, you know? It's still happening.
Very scary to think about the meraglim and the result was not just forty years delay, but the whole dor had to die. Nobody who was alive. could experience the next shlav. Yeah, this is heavy stuff.
לכן כל כך מקפידים על מי שבורח מקשרי המלחמה שמקפחין את שוקיו. This is intense. Based on the Rambam in Hilchos Melachim, we are so makpid on those that run away from the responsibility to have to be in war she'mekapchin es shokav. What are shokayim? Shins.
What is likapei'ach es hashokayim? Slash the shins. I can't hear you. Slash the shins. Slash the shins.
You sent me a sick video yesterday, like K'reigel Chabad Kodesh of the Amalekite in Aza doing that to who they suspected of shituf pe'ula. You guys have seen this footage, some of these pieces coming out the last few days? My God, anyone that's being suspected of anything, they're going after them, they're shooting them in the shins. Hashem yerachem. So we see over here that the Rambam is saying when you run away, we have to look, I don't want to even say this because this is a thing, it's weird that he just brought it as, okay derech agav the Rambam says that if you run away from responsibility during war, you get slashed in the shins.
Let's understand what that is. I want to take time to look at it properly. So we see, boys, no matter what way we're looking at it right now is that yesh po be'aya. There's a big, big problem going on over here.
And that problem is that there's no way to explain the following thing. Whether you like the State of Israel or don't like the State of Israel, whether you're a Tzioni or not a Tzioni, whether you believe in the government or you don't believe in the government, to me those are all secondary things. I know I said it, Zionism is a secondary thing, because I don't want to look at it from that approach. I want to look at this whole thing from the approach of guf echad.
If Yidden are being attacked, that's it. Zehu. And stop with your reasons, oh, they're being attacked because look what happens when you have a gay parade in Yerushalayim or something like some kind of a stupid reason that the other side can say, you want me to support a government that supports... I don't care why you think the reasons are that Yidden are being attacked.
All I know is that Yidden are being attacked. Shouldn't that be the bottom line? Shouldn't that be the bottom line? Shouldn't that be the like, shouldn't that override any of our political and ideological differences and hardships? That should be the bottom line. Like go back to the Shevatim. There were Shevatim in the time of Devorah that did not come and help.
Do you think that they were resha'im? They did a ma'aseh rishus. They did, so first of all let's clarify that, they did a ma'aseh rishus. A ma'aseh rishus that may even brought upon them excommunication and cherem. Ma'aseh rishus.
But I'm sure there were a lot of very decent and good people that had some very convincing sevaros as to why not go and join the battle against Sisra. For it had to be. It's the same thing today. And I humbly think, just my humble opinion, is that who cares? Why is that part of the equation? Lo mevin it, like be'emes lo mevin.
While Yishmaelites here are running around with either knives or suicide bombings or car rammings, what's the whole chapp? Like why does it matter why you think these things are happening if this is happening right now? Ma ze meshaneh? You're being attacked from all fronts and you happen to choose to live here. So I'm saying even more than that, even if you didn't choose to live here, even if you live in Chutz La'aretz, honestly I don't understand how benei Chutz La'aretz exempt themselves from this sugya either. Who says they do? I don't, I didn't see a mass aliyah happening. No no, I agree, but why are we taking them out of the conversation? No, I'm just trying to play devil's advocate because we're so quick to just put all this judgment on the Chareidi community when really it's a much bigger sugya that's Klal Yisrael.
And that's where some of the chevra here last few days have been having a difficult time understanding what I'm trying to give over. I'm trying to of course point out the obvious. I don't need to preach to the choir about how it's important to serve in... In the army.
That's not the inyan. The inyan is if you're going to go with like having your opinions, make sure it's not just about a certain group of Jews. Make sure that it's actual your hashkafa about everyone and everything. That's all, that's all I'm saying.
And I think it's an important thing to pay attention to and notice while we're in a very delicate, fragile emotional state of being over these things. You did for a few years. Didn't work that way. But you should know three minutes he's been planning to ask that question.
I know this guy. I'm still in therapy from that. I spoke to a Haredi Rosh Yeshiva on Friday and he was telling me he was saying like he was just at an atzeres in Lakewood with Rav Asher Weiss and Rav Yaakov Hillel. And that happens to be two Gedolim and Rav Yaakov Hillel's grandson was killed in the war.
Just to put it into perspective. And these are Gedolim that we've met, that we love, that we respect. And I was thinking to myself, like that dichotomy of being here in Shiur, like most of the time I already say and I say Rebbi I just want to ask you one question. I said if they would let you be the Ramatkal, run the army exactly the way you want it according to the Torah.
'Cause they look at we sit here and we think there's Chashmonaim and we think oh gevald, there's Chashmonaim. For in the Haredi world, just using it in this context, they don't look at that as like that enables people to live a frum lifestyle. They look at that still as that's modern Zionist. I said Rebbi if they would let you run the army the way you think it should be run according to the Torah, would you tell every bochur that's not mamash sitting and learning to go to the army? And he said yes.
He said yes. Which is kind of I mean so although we're pointing our finger just at that thing, it's equally on to look at the army side and saying why aren't you trying to put women in tanks when men why won't you actually sit with the Gedolim of that world and tell them they could set up their own divisions not the way we think they need to be frum but the way they want to live be frum. It's an equal responsibility. But I'm saying most of like we're looking at them and saying why aren't they serving? But we're not so much looking at them as saying why aren't they letting them serve in a way that they feel like they're not committing averos.
But it goes back to what Yossi said because it's not who decides the moral ethics of the army? People in Tel Aviv. No no don't say that. I don't like that statement. But you've been saying all along if it's from the top down the problem's at the top.
It's not the bottom. It's not the people at the bottom. So again, azov zeh. No no.
Who according to who are the ethics of the army composed? Supreme Court. Supreme Court. So you go back you're going back to this problem. Don't say Tel Aviv.
It's not a regional area. But it is there's not a lot of frum people at the top. There's never been a frum Ramatkal in the history. Again, it's not that I don't like some of the people, there's just never been.
There's never been, nachon. There's also never been a frum Prime Minister. Okay, zeh baya. Helek mehabaya.
Yeah Moshe. I feel like the government doesn't understand like other people compromise to go to the army and the government if how you're saying they're not frum they don't understand how it is to be religious and people don't want to compromise their religion. Nachon. Hopefully never.
They should never have to. They should never have to, b'ezrat Hashem. We'll continue next next week.