While the war is still raging in Lebanon, and everyone is talking about air strikes, ground offensives and cease-fires, it is worthwhile to remember what our sages have taught us about war.
The Biblical perspective on war can be summarized in David's confident proclamation to Goliath: "And all of this assembly shall know that the L-rd saves not with sword or spear; for the battle is the L-rd's, and He will deliver you into our hands." (I Samuel, 18:47)
Rabbi Uzi Kalcheim, in his book Aderet Emunah, writes that regarding the nations of the world, victory in war results from natural and physical causes, such as the military's size and weaponry, or the nation's resolve for battle. Israel's successes, however, come from the Living G-d. The Jewish soldier must make the necessary preparations and not rely on miracles; yet, he must know that salvation comes from G-d. Thus, we find in the Torah that "The L-rd is a Man of War." (Exodus, 15:3)
In the rise and fall of nations, and in the ever-changing sweep of history, our sages recognize that it is the Almighty who brings everything to pass. The Talmud presents an argument between G-d and the nations of the world, who claim that the deeds they did and the wars they fought were all for the sake of Israel.
His understanding evolves from the viewpoint that all of world history is subordinate to the development process of the Jewish People. Our sages teach that the world was created for Israel. From this perspective, international upheavals like wars come to advance the redemption of the Jewish People. For example, in modern times, the Balfour Declaration, which recognized the right of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel, was a direct outcome of the First World War. The aftermath of World War II marked an additional step in Israel's redemption, with the foundation of the State of Israel. The Six-Day War led to the re-establishment of Jewish sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, the heartland of Biblical Israel.
These hallmarks of Jewish history, and their connection to the wars that preceded them, are obvious discernible facts. While textbooks and historians may expound a plethora of social, political and economic theories in explaining these great wars, the discerning Jewish eye can see a more exalted plan. These history-shaping wars were the instruments G-d used to return the nation of Israel to its Promised Land (War and Peace, Ch. 1, by Rabbi David Samson and Tzvi Fishman).
Thus, we say in our morning prayers, "The Master of Wars, the sower of righteousness, Who causes salvation to sprout... cause a new light to shine upon Zion." This is the step-by-step scheme of redemption. The salvation of the Jewish People and the new light on Zion come about through the Master of Wars. Rabbi Kook writes: "All of these flow forth from the Master of Wars, Who lays destruction in the land to bring forth the light of justice and holiness." (Letters of Rabbi Kook, Vol. 3:819)
Clearly, the present war in Lebanon and in Gaza is a compulsory war as commanded by the Torah. The Rambam defines a "compulsory war" as a war to save Israel from the hand of the enemy ("Laws of Kings", 5:1). The Ramban adds that the Torah's command to conquer the Land of Israel, and not abandon it to the sovereignty of other nations, is a Torah-ordained mitzvah that obligates us in every generation ("Supplement to the Sefer HaMitzvot of the Rambam", Positive Commandment 4).
While our incursion into Lebanon and Gaza are absolutely just and holy precepts of the Torah, there is yet another Torah viewpoint that calls upon us to cry out to G-d in repentance when enemy rockets shower down on our cities and homes. Throughout the Book of Judges, the Jewish People are attacked by surrounding enemies due to their neglecting to conquer all of the Land of Israel, and due to the transgressions of idol worship and sexual immorality.
The Torah warns: "But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass that those whom you allow to remain shall be as thorns in your eyes, and stings in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land where you dwell." (Numbers, 33:55) We must remember that all of the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon are part of the Biblical borders of the Land of Israel. Furthermore, it wasn't so long ago that the Rebbe of Chabad warned that any surrendering of the Land of Israel to its enemies (like Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan) would put the whole nation in danger. As rockets explode in the north and south of Israel, his words cry out with a frightening accuracy.
Regarding the dangerous consequences of immorality to the Jewish Nation, the sages of the Kabbalah emphasize that, to a very great measure, the tribulations we suffer, both individually and nationally, stem from sexual transgressions. The holy Kabbalist Rabbi Yaacov Abuchatzera wrote that all of the terrible trials and punishments that fall upon the Jewish People, as set forth in the Torah portion, Bechukotai, stem from sexual transgressions, known as transgressions against the Brit: "Both the early rabbinical authorities and later rabbinical authorities have stated that the majority of man's sufferings, whether through pestilence, war or famine, result from transgressions to the Brit." (Abir Yaacov, section Pitochei Chotam; Bechukotai)
Just last week, on a poster calling for a special wartime prayer, the Kabbalist elder Rabbi Eliahu Leon Levi of B'nei Brak, wrote that an increasing spiritual decline in Israel, highlighted by the immodest dress of women on the streets of the Holy Land, has directly contributed to the rocket attacks on our cities:
The Biblical perspective on war can be summarized in David's confident proclamation to Goliath: "And all of this assembly shall know that the L-rd saves not with sword or spear; for the battle is the L-rd's, and He will deliver you into our hands." (I Samuel, 18:47)
Rabbi Uzi Kalcheim, in his book Aderet Emunah, writes that regarding the nations of the world, victory in war results from natural and physical causes, such as the military's size and weaponry, or the nation's resolve for battle. Israel's successes, however, come from the Living G-d. The Jewish soldier must make the necessary preparations and not rely on miracles; yet, he must know that salvation comes from G-d. Thus, we find in the Torah that "The L-rd is a Man of War." (Exodus, 15:3)
In the rise and fall of nations, and in the ever-changing sweep of history, our sages recognize that it is the Almighty who brings everything to pass. The Talmud presents an argument between G-d and the nations of the world, who claim that the deeds they did and the wars they fought were all for the sake of Israel.
The Holy One Blessed Be He answered: "Everything you did, you did for your own sakes. You built bridges to collect tolls; you conquered regions to impose taxes; and wars, I made, as it is written, 'the L-rd is a Man of War.'" (Avodah Zorah 2A)In his book Orot, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook devotes a full chapter to war, explaining that war is an integral part of the redemption process of Israel. He writes:
When there is a great war in the world, the power of Mashiach (Messiah) awakens. The time of the songbird has come, the weeding away of tyrants. The evil ones are obliterated from the world, the world becomes more perfected, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in the land. (Orot, Ch.2:1)Certainly, the death of Hizbullah and Hamas leaders and terrorist fighters would make the world a better place. But Rabbi Kook is saying much more.
His understanding evolves from the viewpoint that all of world history is subordinate to the development process of the Jewish People. Our sages teach that the world was created for Israel. From this perspective, international upheavals like wars come to advance the redemption of the Jewish People. For example, in modern times, the Balfour Declaration, which recognized the right of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel, was a direct outcome of the First World War. The aftermath of World War II marked an additional step in Israel's redemption, with the foundation of the State of Israel. The Six-Day War led to the re-establishment of Jewish sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, the heartland of Biblical Israel.
These hallmarks of Jewish history, and their connection to the wars that preceded them, are obvious discernible facts. While textbooks and historians may expound a plethora of social, political and economic theories in explaining these great wars, the discerning Jewish eye can see a more exalted plan. These history-shaping wars were the instruments G-d used to return the nation of Israel to its Promised Land (War and Peace, Ch. 1, by Rabbi David Samson and Tzvi Fishman).
Thus, we say in our morning prayers, "The Master of Wars, the sower of righteousness, Who causes salvation to sprout... cause a new light to shine upon Zion." This is the step-by-step scheme of redemption. The salvation of the Jewish People and the new light on Zion come about through the Master of Wars. Rabbi Kook writes: "All of these flow forth from the Master of Wars, Who lays destruction in the land to bring forth the light of justice and holiness." (Letters of Rabbi Kook, Vol. 3:819)
Clearly, the present war in Lebanon and in Gaza is a compulsory war as commanded by the Torah. The Rambam defines a "compulsory war" as a war to save Israel from the hand of the enemy ("Laws of Kings", 5:1). The Ramban adds that the Torah's command to conquer the Land of Israel, and not abandon it to the sovereignty of other nations, is a Torah-ordained mitzvah that obligates us in every generation ("Supplement to the Sefer HaMitzvot of the Rambam", Positive Commandment 4).
While our incursion into Lebanon and Gaza are absolutely just and holy precepts of the Torah, there is yet another Torah viewpoint that calls upon us to cry out to G-d in repentance when enemy rockets shower down on our cities and homes. Throughout the Book of Judges, the Jewish People are attacked by surrounding enemies due to their neglecting to conquer all of the Land of Israel, and due to the transgressions of idol worship and sexual immorality.
The Torah warns: "But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass that those whom you allow to remain shall be as thorns in your eyes, and stings in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land where you dwell." (Numbers, 33:55) We must remember that all of the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon are part of the Biblical borders of the Land of Israel. Furthermore, it wasn't so long ago that the Rebbe of Chabad warned that any surrendering of the Land of Israel to its enemies (like Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan) would put the whole nation in danger. As rockets explode in the north and south of Israel, his words cry out with a frightening accuracy.
Regarding the dangerous consequences of immorality to the Jewish Nation, the sages of the Kabbalah emphasize that, to a very great measure, the tribulations we suffer, both individually and nationally, stem from sexual transgressions. The holy Kabbalist Rabbi Yaacov Abuchatzera wrote that all of the terrible trials and punishments that fall upon the Jewish People, as set forth in the Torah portion, Bechukotai, stem from sexual transgressions, known as transgressions against the Brit: "Both the early rabbinical authorities and later rabbinical authorities have stated that the majority of man's sufferings, whether through pestilence, war or famine, result from transgressions to the Brit." (Abir Yaacov, section Pitochei Chotam; Bechukotai)
Just last week, on a poster calling for a special wartime prayer, the Kabbalist elder Rabbi Eliahu Leon Levi of B'nei Brak, wrote that an increasing spiritual decline in Israel, highlighted by the immodest dress of women on the streets of the Holy Land, has directly contributed to the rocket attacks on our cities:
It is painful to see how the precious daughters and women of Israel have so terribly fallen from the moral path of the Torah, and how they so immodestly, arrogantly, and disdainfully parade through the streets of our cities.... This situation causes multitudes of Jewish youth and men to fall from their holiness, G-d forbid, and because of this, the nations of the world, the offspring of Amalek, Balak and Bilaam, take revenge on the children of the Holy One Blessed Be He.Certainly, all of these various perspectives of Torah are true. Thus, in addition to playing military strategist and arguing about the most expedient way to win the war, perhaps all of us should take the time to ponder what it is that G-d wants from us as missiles rain down from the sky. According to the analysis of our sages, the war won't be won until we conquer all of the Land of Israel, expel our enemies from within our borders and live holier lives in our Holy Land. May a new light shine on Zion soon.