Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed is the Rabbi of Beit El and Dean of Yeshivat Beit El.
"Who loved the IDF more than Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda, of saintly blessed memory?" asks Rabbi Melamed. "Who loved the State more than he? But it was precisely out of his love for the IDF and the State that he published his famous 'Don't be Afraid' call, in which he wrote, 'There is no facet of leniency at all regarding the Torah prohibition of giving our lands to non-Jews, Heaven forbid... Therefore it is an obligation upon every Torah leader in Israel, and on every military man in Israel, to prevent and impede this with supreme effort and strength, and from the Heavens we will be aided.'"
Responding to the notion that Rabbi Kook would not have taken this position, Rabbi Melamed wrote, "As his student who merited studying with him and being with him for 25 years, I know with total confidence that if Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda would have been with us now, he would have called on every soldier, policeman and officer to refuse these orders. And this stems from his love for the State and the IDF, and from the knowledge that the more people there are who will refuse these orders, the more it will strengthen the IDF and the State... The obligation to adhere to army orders stems from the commandments of the Torah, and the laws of the State receive their validity from the Torah, and when they negate the Torah, they are void and have no value."
Rabbi Melamed writes that the army's strength is based on the "deep motivation of soldiers who have a deep recognition of the value of the People of Israel and that of the Land of Israel... The army will not be harmed by this refusal, and even if most of the army refuses, but will rather become stronger. Whoever says that the army will be hurt is using a demagogic claim with no substance. Just like this claim cannot be used to obligate a soldier to desecrate the Sabbath and to eat unkosher food, so too it can't be used to force a soldier to violate the commandment of settling the Land of Israel."
There is no more democratic call than the call to refuse these orders, Rabbi Melamed writes. "On the contrary; forcing blind discipline on such a matter of principle is that which endangers the army, and any logical person can see this."
"Who loved the IDF more than Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda, of saintly blessed memory?" asks Rabbi Melamed. "Who loved the State more than he? But it was precisely out of his love for the IDF and the State that he published his famous 'Don't be Afraid' call, in which he wrote, 'There is no facet of leniency at all regarding the Torah prohibition of giving our lands to non-Jews, Heaven forbid... Therefore it is an obligation upon every Torah leader in Israel, and on every military man in Israel, to prevent and impede this with supreme effort and strength, and from the Heavens we will be aided.'"
Responding to the notion that Rabbi Kook would not have taken this position, Rabbi Melamed wrote, "As his student who merited studying with him and being with him for 25 years, I know with total confidence that if Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda would have been with us now, he would have called on every soldier, policeman and officer to refuse these orders. And this stems from his love for the State and the IDF, and from the knowledge that the more people there are who will refuse these orders, the more it will strengthen the IDF and the State... The obligation to adhere to army orders stems from the commandments of the Torah, and the laws of the State receive their validity from the Torah, and when they negate the Torah, they are void and have no value."
Rabbi Melamed writes that the army's strength is based on the "deep motivation of soldiers who have a deep recognition of the value of the People of Israel and that of the Land of Israel... The army will not be harmed by this refusal, and even if most of the army refuses, but will rather become stronger. Whoever says that the army will be hurt is using a demagogic claim with no substance. Just like this claim cannot be used to obligate a soldier to desecrate the Sabbath and to eat unkosher food, so too it can't be used to force a soldier to violate the commandment of settling the Land of Israel."
There is no more democratic call than the call to refuse these orders, Rabbi Melamed writes. "On the contrary; forcing blind discipline on such a matter of principle is that which endangers the army, and any logical person can see this."