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articles & essays
PARDES Project :

WAR !
SOME CLASSICAL
JEWISH RESPONSES
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By Rabbi Yaacov Haber.

Thoughts on Iraq- Rabbi Yaacov Haber
http://www.torahlab.org/journal_comments.php?id=94_0_10_0_C
“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven; a time to be born, a time to die… a time to kill, and a time to heal… a time to love, and a time to hate… a time of war, and a time of peace. (Koheles 3: 1-8)

Our first encounter with Iraq – Babel – is early on in the book of Breishis. The men and women of what we now call Iraq said let us build a tower so high that we will conquer the Heavens and the Earth. They had peace, they had harmony –they all spoke the same language they understood each other they agreed with each other but they were ridiculously stupid. They had total disregard for human life. The Midrash taught that if a brick would fall they would all mourn, but if a man would fall off the building they would laugh. They spoke to themselves and agreed to all the wrong conclusions. G-d’s answer; conflict. They no longer spoke the same language. They no longer could live in their agreeable ivory tower. They conflicted and found truth. From this conflict came forth Avrohom Avinu.

Though it does not initially seem so, conflict can be purposeful and constructive. By shaking up an unchallenged truth one removes a force that can destroy the entire world.

Shake up the givens. Avrohom Avinu was the first iconoclastic citizen of the world. The Iraqi’s need to be shaken. The Al –Quada needs to be rattled. Those who plan takeover of the Heavens and the Earth need to be shaken – and we too need to be shaken. I ask myself daily if our Synagogue services are done in the best way possible, or are we all just agreeing to remain with the familiar? Are our schools educating the right way, or are we too afraid to change? Do we celebrate our weddings and Bar Mitzvas correctly, or does it not make sense to spend fifteen thousand dollars an hour to party with our friends? Torah was borne out of conflict. Civilized society is a product of war.

Rav Kook in his comments on WWI wrote: When there is a great war in the world, the power of the Messiah is aroused. The time of song has arrived, the cutting down of tyrants, the wicked perish from the world and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our Land. At the cessation of the war, the world is renewed in a new spirit, a new light and the coming of the Messiah is revealed even more…. (Orot – the War 1). Shake up is good!

It IS interesting that “a time for war” in Solomons words come before “a time for peace”. Conflict brings out a new light. Major wars bring light onto Jerusalem. Conflict is very difficult but it may be Gods way of bringing a new light into the world.

Please pray with me that this should be a bloodless war. Our own soldiers should return from battle successful and unharmed. That the boundaries of Israel and our brothers and sisters who live there remain safe and secure. That the cause of true peace be advanced in the world and that we should witness the day when “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war no more.”

WAR !

http://www.torahlab.org/journal_comments.php?id=51_0_10_0_C
I grew up in the sixties. Viet Nam was all around us. I can remember when our next door neighbors, in Buffalo, NY flew a flag at half mast because their son was killed in action. War was bad. War meant death, misery and the suffering of innocent children. On campuses across the country there were anti-war rallies. Life magazine carried 11 x 17 shots of the unthinkable. I can remember a huge billboard challenging: Imagine they called a war and no one showed up.

Yet, when the sight of blood stopped staring me in the face I began to think more clearly. Would America be the wonderful country that it is if not for battle? Would the Nazi tyranny have stopped if it were not for World War II? Would the war have stopped if not for the bombing of Hiroshima? Would Israel exist if not for war? Will it continue to exist without a war?

The development of the world as we know it has evolved through war. The Torah tells us that even the wonderful, peaceful Messianic era will be ushered in through the war of Gog and Magog!

Yet, war brings with it the most tragic scenes in history. In the words of one of the great Talmudic rabbis: “We all await the period of time before the coming of the Messaiah, yet I don’t want to be there.”

Pardes discussion points:

What is the difference between a Jewish soldier and a non-Jewish soldier? When a non-Jewish soldier shoots a gun, he is hoping that the bullet will find its mark. When a Jewish soldier shoots a gun, he is hoping that between the moment he pulls the trigger, and the moment the bullet hits, G-d will perform a miracle, and there will not have to be wars any more. (Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach).

1) To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die . . . a time to kill, and a time to heal . . . a time to love, and a time to hate . . . a time of war, and a time of peace. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8)

2) The name of G-d is “Peace.” (Shabbos 10b)

But…

3) “G-d is a man of war” (Exodus 15:3).

4) When there is a great war in the world, the power of the Messiah is aroused. The time of song has arrived, the cutting down of tyrants, the wicked perish from the world, and the world is invigorated, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The individuals who are killed unjustly, in the revolution of the flood of the war, participate in the concept, “the death of the righteous atones.” They rise above in the root of life, and the essence of their lives brings a general quality of good and blessing to the overall structure of the world, in all its values and senses. Afterward, at the cessation of the war, the world is renewed in a new spirit, and the coming of the Messiah is revealed even more, for according to the extent of the war, in quantity and quality, so increases the expectation of the coming of the Messiah through it. The present world war (WWI - editor) is possessed with an awesome, great and deep expectation, attached to the changes of time, and the visible sign of the end, in the settlement of the Land of Israel. With great intellect, powerful courage, and piercing logic, with true longing and clear thought, we must receive the lofty content of the light of G-d that is revealed wondrously in the events of these wars. “Master of wars, sower of righteousness, producer of salvation, creator of cures, too awesome for praise, master of wonders who renews in his goodness daily the act of creation, let shine a new light on Zion, and let us all merit to receive its light.” (Rabbi Avraham Isaac Kook, Orot, “The War” 1).

5) War is not a last resort. The purpose of war is to coronate G-d in this world. The purpose of war is to bring the world to a higher state of holiness and awareness. War is the underlying purpose of the Jewish people creating a government. It is with war that we will be able to usher in a messianic time, a time where we will know war no more. (Rabbi Goldvicht in Asafot Maarachot Parshat Vayera)

6) When G-d decrees that there must be war, and does not wish to annul the decree, then even the prayers of the righteous will not be able to stop it. (Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein, Torah Temimah, based on verse in Ecclesiastes 8:8)

7) All conflicts and hostilities between nations are caused by G-d; human beings have no choice as to whether to wage war or not. The only choice of the individual is whether he will participate in the war or not. (Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, Miktav M’Eliyahu, vol. 3, p. 70)

8) “When you wage war against your enemy...” – Remember that they are your enemy, and don’t have compassion upon them, because they won’t have compassion upon you. (Rashi, on Deuteronomy 20:1)

9) Revolutions and upheavals in world history left so much destruction and desolation in their wake. Their goal and purpose is so that the nations of the world may attain the same understanding and love of G-d, and thus the same peace, which Israel has won for itself. Israel has already reached that goal, but the rest of mankind still has to be brought by means of the Divine struggle in history (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Psalms 46).

10) At a time when nations should be acting brotherly G-d punishes one man for killing another. However, in a time of war _ “a time to hate” _ then it is the time to kill, and no one is punished for this at all. For this is the nature of the world from the time of creation. (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Berlin, HaEmek Davar, Genesis 9:5)

11) Though it does not initially seem so, conflict – like all natural phenomena – is purposeful and constructive. Through the seemingly external necessity to confront one’s enemy in battle, and often to even physically wrestle him (as Jacob with the archangel of Esau), previously opposite attributes subconsciously merge, thereby elevating one to a higher state of existence. (Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, The Hebrew Letters, p. 113)

But…

12) Rabbi Nachman said: “Many foolish beliefs that people once held, such as forms of idol worship that demanded child sacrifice, etc., have disappeared. But, as of yet, the foolish belief in the pursuit of war has not disappeared.” He used to ridicule certain scientists, saying: What great thinkers they must be, what ingenuity they must possess to invent amazing weapons that can kill thousands of people at once! Is there any greater foolishness than this—to murder so many people for nothing?” (Chayei Moharan 546).

13) Religious intolerance is the cause of all wars. When the nations all call upon the name of one G-d, they will dwell in peace. (Abarbanel, on Isaiah 2:4)

14) It is forbidden to wage war against any person in the world unless you first offer him peace, be it a permitted war, or an obligatory one, as the verse says: (Deuteronomy 20:10) “When you approach a city to wage war against it, you shall call to them in peace.” (Maimonidies, Mishnah Torah, Laws of Kings 6:1)

15) One must avoid all forms of war. Wars turn friends into enemies, and spread theft and violence. Even when the Israelites conquered the Land, they always sent messengers to proffer peace. According to the Midrash, this was Moses’ idea, and G-d agreed. They even sent a peaceful messenger to the King of Edom, though they knew that he wouldn’t listen. This was in order to teach a lesson to future generations. (Akeidah, Numbers 21:14)

16) Wars only exist because G-d’s Kingdom is divided. However, when this oneness is restored, the forces of evil will be dispersed. (Rabbi Moshe Chaim of Sedulkov, Degel Machne Ephraim, parashat BeHaloscha)

17) And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the L-rd’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the nations shall flow up to it. And people shall say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the L-rd, to the house of the G-d of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the L-rd from Jerusalem… and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:2-4)





- posted by Izak @ 2:39 AM