Simchas Torah 5784: Communal Perspectives and an Insight Into War-Time Shailos

[Music] these last couple of weeks have been such difficult weeks for the Jewish people of course is and Isel but really the Jewish Community all over the world has been feeling the pain and the terrible Calamity of what has been going on in AR Israel all around the country and the pressures and the difficulty and the experience that so many different families and so many different communities have been feeling what gives us a tremendous amount of comfort in these very difficult times is when we turn to our leaders and we know that we have the opportunity to rely upon them to get guidance from them to receive comfort from them and to understand the perspectives that they share with us about how we're supposed to frame and how we're supposed to understand and appreciate the times that we're living through uh today we have the opportunity to sit together with one of the Great poim of Our Generation a leader who doesn't only lead a great following in ER Israel but who so many in America and around the world turn to for guidance for perspectives and for Comfort especially in times like these and what we're going to do today is not only gain some perspective about this whole situation that is so tragic and so difficult but we're also going to go through some of the very very complicated shilas that have come up wartime shilas that are unprecedented wartime shilas that are extremely difficult but wartime shilas that require a sensitive personality who has the ability to understand what the question is all about who has the knowledge to respond based on the guidance of the torosa and that's a lot of what we're going to talk about today and we're so grateful that the rashash Shiva has given us his time to share his perspectives and to share the experiences that he has had and to help continue to guide all of us in how we should be feeling and we should be reacting so the past few weeks since have indeed been some of the most challenging times we have lived through what happened in Sim is unprecedented and it's unbelievable that this could happen in our time in the sites the experiences the horror is something we have not known or experienced since the Holocaust in one day more than a thousand Jews anim noima which is brutally murdered not in combat not Warriors but just people killed for one reason because they're Jews and the pain and the suffering is just something we cannot even describe difficult to imagine what's our call I happen to be in America for a very short visit I can't say I'm happy but I'm cherished to have the opportunity to give some and share some thoughts with the Jewish community in America while I am here even though I've been addressing people throughout the world from y as well so today happens to be the Y site of my late mother this morning I had a special minion when I came I flew in from marage is my mother was a holocaust Survivor as my father was she was an amazing woman and just let me share with you one thought she said many times the amazing sequence of events leading to started when YF sadic is in a dungeon in the jail together with two njws obviously the two inmates sharing the cell with yadak were people of power and prominence S mashkin and S both were ministers so what does a Jew do when he's in a jail cell together with two powerful go he just sits in his corner with his face to the wall and says to Helen hoping nobody will be aware that he's there and YF turns to those two people and he asks mad you seem to be disturbed what is it seems to be a silly question and if they will tell you what's bothering them do you think you could help you're in jail you're an inmate you have no means whatsoever so my mother used to say but yph can't seee suffering and not ask what is it maybe I could be helpful so he asked those two people my and they tell him about some troubling nightmares and dreams they had and YF in a totally miraculous way just tries some new Talent he was never aware of and with she is successful and that starts an amazing chain of events which ultimately leads to the long story of goas M and gas so we need to feel the pain we are thousands of miles away but what is so heartwarming and inspiring in this time is the entire Jewish people as if one heart beating with the same rhythm and in times like these we really feel that the entire Jewish people is one family colono from Winnipeg to Copenhagen to Johannesburg to San Diego wherever Jews are we all feel the pain we are all concerned we all D together and we all try to do what whatever we can to be helpful and this Aus this togetherness is so important it is always important especially in times of War so there's a wellknown med quoted by the was one of the great leaders 200 years ago one piece of straw a little child a baby could e easily break but when you tie 500 straws together sh can't break them when we are together no one could overcome us and no one could destroy us so this togetherness is an inspiration and we believe that if we all stand together in the country and abroad KES will be with us we will be Victorious and AES will listen to our prayers there is also a huge Awakening in Israel hundreds of thousands of troops asked for tius and that was a huge campaign in Israel because soldiers going into the war could only wear military uniforms and fatigues and I gave a special Hatter for girls and this limited period of time to tiis because it was a real what we Define in our as a sh a group of American businessmen sponsor a campaign every soldier that takes upon himself to pant every day from now on got a beautiful M pair of with a beautiful fing bag inscribed a week and a half ago I was updated there more than 2,600 100 soldiers that have not been putting onf up to now signed up another group distributed 25,000 booklets of daffi for these 3 weeks and there was demand for another 20,000 could just imagine 45,000 soldiers out in the field learning dafi every day so when we hear these stories we just lift our eyes to the heavens and say what an army what sikim do you have in your army let me share with you the most moving Shila I had since the war broke out I dealt with many difficult questions and I've been overwhelmed day and night just trying to get give and to give r one of the rabbis in the military called me that there's a soldier in one of the special units one of the say in Americans defined the special forces and they are in the greatest danger any other mil military unit and this young man got a permit to go home for shabas spend time with his wife wife and little children however his wife is in nid and he's not sure that he will be able to abstain from giving her a hug or a kiss could I go home for shis even before I could think and formulate an answer to this question tears was streaming down my face I was just so overwhelmed with the emotion just think about it this young Soldier is not sure he'll ever see his wife again or his kids and he's contemplating could I go home I might violate an AA which is not the harshest of AAS I will leave it up to you to guess what my response was but sometimes the question is even more important than the answer and once again I lift my eyes to the heavens and said you need to bring these soldiers back home safely Le sadik so these are challenging times and every je in the world needs to feel I'm part of this effort it's about me and I could make a difference the ra teaches us in the beginning of when tragedy strikes our people we should never say it just happened it's coincidence we need to believe AES is calling out to us and when tragedy struck the world was shocked Israel was shocked I think Hamas was shocked the best trained army in the world with the most Advanced Technologies the fence dividing Israel south from Gaza costed billions of dollars and the Kamas just tore down that fence with a truck Just Trucks riding through the fence gliders that could be bought online for $150 how could this happen it happened for some reasones decided it needs to happen we don't understand aes's ways and yes Times Like These are a challenge to our to our not always to understand that K's ways but we do know it is a k calling out to us come back to me you need to be better you need to do chuv so Rashi teaches us in K that when there is division and strife and M in Israel even children pay the price and in this tragedy many children were killed many children are in custody of the Kamas and we could just imagine you know what it is for little kids for children to be away from Dad and Mom from their families and what it is for the families to know their children are on the hands of [Music] Barbarians 21 little children were left the assignment my orphan from both father and mother Rashi teaches us that is the punishment forus so once again it is so important that we stand together and United so if we believe that tragedy struck because that is the way a want it to be then we firmly believe then when we rise to the challenge in it is a KES that will fight for us I am a tal of the great CR was a giant of our time the and the CL used to say many times people say in such a and sometimes we say that with a tone of Despair we have no one to rely on besides a and of said is not a when we rely on hem we need no one else and when we see this we see all this and millions of Jews in the entire world are davening from the depths of their hearts yes we firmly believe that a KES will be on our side and when we rely on a realizing that we could rely on no one else that is when KES shows his might are we all D are we all hope KES will hear our read let us hope that all those young soldiers will come home to their families and and we should I'm sure there are so many different categories of shilas and questions difficult ones that have come up ones that maybe the Rev has never even thought about or imagined in the wildest of Dreams um just for most of us who don't have that insight and who don't have that opportunity to appreciate and understand those questions we're interested to hear for a few minutes what some of them may have been and what the R's sck and response was as well so the questions we are dealing with today in a way bring to mind another era that wasn't that long ago at the height of the covid pandemic we also dealt with questions that a normal circumstances would never come up and after a year of covid I published a safer which is 650 Pages just dealing with the questions that I dealt with with this pandemic and the questions Spann the entire spectrum of that and once again we are confronted with questions that in normal circumstances would never come up and some questions are tragic questions many of them dealing with number one identifying people that were killed and because of the huge number of people that were killed and the fact that it took long to retrieve all those bodies because of the war and because they were terrorists and and the first and most important goal was to save the living before we treat the dead and just getting all the survivors out of the zone of of military activities and that brought a situation which was sometimes extremely difficult to identify the people and to us identifying the dead is so so important as everybody could understand for so many reasons not only married men are we concerned that their spouses the wives should be able to remarry but for us life is forever and a Jew would always want to know where his relatives are buried DAV for them to visit their Cav so for us identifying the dead means more than for any other people in the world and we use the most advanced technology DNA uh dental records and sometimes even uh simony that others wouldn't think of there was one case and as you could understand I'm not going to mention any names because this is more confidential than anything else one could think of but there was a young Soldier whose DNA didn't fit the knowledge who he was actually the DNA retriev from his body fitted another soldier that was alive and it became obvious that when he gave a blood sample and every soldier in Israel gives a blood sample before he starts boot training that if something happens to him they should be able to identify his body and uh human beings make mistakes probably was the positive the name of an it just didn't fit and he was identified by a ring on his finger and a family member made that ring and he inscribed his initials in the inside part of the ring and that was the identification so I won't go into H discussions right now regarding the complexity of Simon and the reliability of different on them I'm just giving examples of so every Soldier wears what in America is known as a dog tag which is thisit with his name could we rely on that well there was a very famous case in Israel in which once again Soldier was killed and uh the the skit he was wearing the dog tag was what of his friends that was alive so it became obvious he was afraid he lost his tag and was afraid if his Commander will say where is your tag he will be punished because if you don't have your dog tag that is a grave violation so he asked his friend you just give me yours till this inspection will be over and then he was sent into combat and he was killed so the most reliable method of identifying a body is either DNA or dental records more than external identification those are some of the questions other questions regarding kavur AIS and anus some families were notified about one family member that was identified and buried and another family member that was identified but not with 100% certain cty and he was to be buried only a day or two later so AAS and anas coincide when there's a contradiction am I an or an because an and do different which was an interesting discussion and some questions regarding most of the questions are about so before we move on from the topic ofur to other areas of uh the does say that there is a difference in the way in which we go about burying someone who dies Al versus the normal standard procedures that we have when we would bury anyone else maybe the r can say a few words about that it is not that much person that dies in kesem but uh well there are different in America people are buried in a casket and Israel they're buried just with how the soldiers are always buried in a casket when a person is killed violently killed he's buried in his clothes in his uniform and not in and there is one of the reasons that soldiers are buried in a casket in a box so there was a case in which and I think it's in karaza five family members an entire family was wiped out father mother and three children one of the children was a soldier and they were all brought to burial together so would one be in a casket and the other is on stretchers or because on one hand there's a principle we're not mishana one MCE from the other so what do we do in a case like this and the pakas We buried them all in caskets they should all be the same uh we don't do tahara and a soldier that was killed and battled so there are differences maybe the r can explain why do we not do a tahara and why do we not bury them in so when a person dies in kesem he is pure his body does not need to be purified and he he you know he he is pure and he's a KES and he goes straight up to ganen and that's why uh tahara is not a necessity I'm sure there are many areas in Hil shabas that come up on a constant basis when you have a soldier going out to war when you have so many different things that are coming up now maybe the r can share with us some of the questions that were relevant to shabas that may have been a great challenge over the last couple of weeks probably most of the questions and the biggest challenge isas generally speaking I am deeply involved with the entire security establishment in Israel whether it's the police force or the army or the shabbach and many times I say it has been thousands of years since we actually ran a sovereign Kingdom or state goes all the way back to the day days of David and SCH me even the days of bayen we didn't run the show the Romans ran the country and the Jews had somewhat a limited economy over the Jewish quarters the Jewish community and the bdash but we didn't really run a state so this is a huge halakic challenge could we run a modern state state with total devotion and adherence to H so when the state of Israel was established ra Herzog root a safer so did ra valenberg some of the greatest gum dealt with these questions and of herk suggested that the police and shabas ride on mules and I wonder why not horses I mean a horse is far faster than a donkey obviously they couldn't afford horses an old horse cost much more to feed than a little mule but in our day and age I think that would not be a very practical and realistic proposition having the police ride on mules and shabas so shabas is always a huge challenge for a modern state but far more so now in this period of War so when soldiers are giving a permit to go home you know for a day so they go home out of chabas and they need to come back to the base on shabas that would be a relatively easy pack yes coming back to your base when there is a possibility that you will need to wage war on shabas then yes that would necessitate uh shabis could you go home to see your wife and kids you know and and see them on shabas that would be far more problematic so if we would have an unu driver to take them home I would be Mata but I did not find uh enough basis to be for a soldier to go home and see his family so we tried to find other Solutions what is a major concern is andaa 200 years ago when he dealt with a Cera epidemic voiced concern that maybe some of the kulis and had that we will give today and he was doubtful could we retract act after this epidemic will be over and to me this was a major concern in this period as well not to bring about a situation in which there is no longer any shabas a radio station asked me could we broadcast on shabas we think that our broadcasting is so important to the morale of the people well there are many radio stations but we are different you know we are more right-wing and we are more traditional and we give more religion so I could find no basis to be lenient having a radio station broadcast on shabas or some groups were soliciting Christian uh friends of Israel you know raising money could we do that on chabis and once again you know instinctively we would like everything to to run as efficiently as possible but I did not find a heter to be M shabas to solicit and raise money for various different needs so we need to be very careful on one hand yes wherever there is a suff to have the courage to be lenient but also to be very very uh cautious and not bringing about a situation in which there is no longer any shabus and we also need to have the foresight to understand that uh when this war will finally be over and will we be able to just uh make a stand again and say what was permissible two weeks ago might no longer be permissible now so chabas is a major issue uh so once again I don't think in this forum I would like into go into many details but just uh try to explain the challenge of dealing with h saddest questions in this very special period how does a posc deal in general with that balance of addressing a question as it comes up and potentially giving a header and considering the possibility that later on people are going to make an extension and misappropriate that header to the wrong situation this is always a concern and we could ever be 100% confident you know where our hm will be taken and that is why Clarity is is so important when you give up it needs to be clear and precise and present it in a way which people will understand the limitations of the heter and the basis of of the het and we could only hope that um that uh the people will not take it much farther than we meant meant it to be so one of the most um dramatic international issues that's being discussed now is the concern and the balance of Civilian casualties and of course as a Jewish Army we worry about not only Jewish life but we worry about everyone's lives and the question is the ethics of a m how are we supposed to really make the proper balance for these kinds of very very difficult uh decisions that need to be made this is a very painful question because there is a total imbalance between the two parties that are Waging War Hamas has total disregard to human life not only to the life of Jews they don't care about the lives of Their Own and they deliberately use civilians women and children and even the ill to hide to put them in danger and hide behind their backs many of the Hamas control and command centers are located under hospitals and statistically you know I'm I'm very careful when I quote things but I did speak with a with a very intelligent source and he said that proportionately there are far more hospitals and hospital beds in Gaza than the population really needs because the one that needs those hospitals is primarily the Hamas hiding under the beds you know I'm not mean I'm not mean literally of the ill so on one side where the entire world witnessed and simp was so shocking so cruel so barbaric it's too painful even to describe on the other hand I really believe that Israel's probably maybe the most ethical army in the world world and never would we target civilians intentionally so in Minasha there is a discussion about hurting civilians during war and this essay is unique by the fact that almost all the sources I quoted are from the tanak because as I mentioned before we have very few sources in the Gora or the mishna and definitely in the ocean of a respons of shalis chubis dealing with questions of warfare because for thousands of years Jews didn't wage Wars so most of the sources are quoted are from the tanak it is clear in sa the clearly says even when fighting the enemy you need to have mercy and there are limits to what you could do so on one hand the safre says when you lay Siege to an enemy City you need to give humanitarian Aid you cannot deny food water or cause epidemics to break out but that is before hostilities start but when the enemy attacks attacks you then you destroy the enemy and it is inevitable that innocent people suffer innocent people suffer for the Foles of their leaders and the responsibility rests upon the leaders who dragged them into this tragedy so Israel is entitled to destroy the enemy try to minimize civilian casualties yes that is clear in our sources and the primarily the which I quoted in we are to try to minimize civilian casualties we will never deliberately intentionally hurt civilians but it is inevitable especially when the enemy takes advantage and puts civilians in in the line of a fire and we have no other option because the enemy needs to be destroyed and it is Our obligation to safeguard our people we are pained and hurt to see civilian suffer but in war many times it is inevitable so some strategists say the only way to overcome Kamas is to be as cruel and more cruel than they are and have them pay prices that no Society could sustain but I don't think Israel can ever do that because we're Jews and Jews are never happy to see human suffering as Jews we need to care not only for our own but for others as well many times I quote two most important sources that we are to love every human being not only to respect but to love not only our own but others as well and the two sources I quote nobody would think they were very Progressive modern reform mind reform minded thinkers one is sh the greatest disciple ofes and he writes in sh and the other is and these weren't they they weren't associated with a reform movement over with the I think it's in this week we para writes a similar line dealing with AB ainu he loved every person we cherish life to us life is precious not only our own every life is precious and every human being was created elim but war is war and sometimes civilians pay the price and the responsibility rests upon those they take advantage of civilians to destroy life and that is our brutal enemies theas there's a lot of discussion in AR Israel a sentiment that we feel so hurt by what has been done we have to go and take revenge we have to take n I've been wondering is that a Jewish concept that do we just try to eradicate evil from the world or is there a Jewish concept does the recognize this concept of N I think that has more to do with Jewish philosophy than with I do not recall any context any context all we know is I think revenge should be left to AEM you know the Israeli Army is officially defined as I think most other armies in the world are not necessarily defined as a defensive force and I think it really reflects Jewish values we are here to care for our people to safeguard our entity Jewish lives and to safeguard our state which a KES gave us as a gift to our forefathers I don't think revenge is for us to do we leave that up to AES and is there anything else that has come across the R's table over the last few weeks so much has come across my table I wouldn't even remember but once again I think every je in the world needs to feel responsibility this is a joint effort it's the soldiers in the field and the boys sitting in Yeshiva and when I spoke to Yeshiva Boys in Israel I told them young people your age are out there killing and getting killed they don't have a 2hour afternoon nap every day out there and Gaza neither should you I think every Yeshiva boy sitting in Yeshiva needs to feel more responsibility learn better learn more daving better D more that is your call and wherever we are whever each je needs to feel if we believe in and we believe in the and you should be doing more so either you don't believe or you don't care if you're just going on with your Affairs of thing as if nothing is going on if you care and you believe that you're a tired and your and the way you conduct your Affairs could make a difference then you should feel this responsibility so I call upon all of us ter this is an effort for every Jew in the world we are one family we have one heart meating with the same Rhythm same heartbeat same pulse and B we feel this so should hear all our and we should really be we should only hear the Davis and we should amen amen thank [Music] you [Music]