Milchemet Mitzvah: Chizuk for Iron Sword by Rabbi Anthony Manning

okay good morning everybody thank you for joining the zoom uh I definitely appreciate the ability to be here I want to thank Hannah and Rabbi sha and the OU for providing this opportunity for us to be together a little bit um this is my third session on these kuk zooms um two weeks ago we spoke about the initial shock um and perspective on what it means to be fighting a war at all which most of us have never done in this way and all of us I think we're called unexpect edly the war um last week we we looked a little bit of the tahim tahim K Al which we're saying um which is a very beautiful tahim which we analyzed last week and looked at the different nuances within that mmore and and saw how it affects I think and relates to the the what we're really experiencing today what I want to do today with you with your permission is to Pivot into a a refocus on some more in-depth tal Torah which is part I think of the of of what we're focusing on right now um I am about to actually go toid it was not clear until yesterday whether I would be traveling or wouldn't be traveling um one of the the pivots of my of my traveling uh has shifted somewhat from being a a pure recruiting mode uh to very much a m mode giving to the communities in who are also reeling in many different ways not in the same way as in Israel but in their own different ways uh with the uh the lack of security that they're feeling with the the enormous pramas protest going on um and I'm going to be talking a little bit to communities all over in England and In America which means that I won't be with you for the next two or three weeks um I really really hope that by the time I get back in the middle of November I'll be able to walk up to the estender in the OU Israel Center and give a Shear in the normal way butat hasem and hopefully I'll be able to see you then um but we'll see we'll see how things move on for now what I want to look at is the meaning one of the things that people are encouraging us to do the Torah encourages to do when in times of Crisis is to deepen our connection to Torah and Mitzvah and we all have the Mitzvah that we do on a regular basis which we need to think about more and have more kavana and make our bras with more understanding Etc um and as I explained last week the idea of hash uh in most of the rishonim really works on that basis that the deeper and the broader our connection is in our own understanding of God then the wider the channel is for hash PR to come down to us it's something which is we have to earn if you like our hash proess and therefore we do that by having the maximal connection to God in the way that we possibly can um through mitzvot and and critically here and this is a for the Paras coming up in the next few weeks through our connection with clown Israel and with the people of the world generally um it's difficult to connect with God in a direct way um one of the most uh poignant questions at the beginning of parous V the most pressing questions coming up in a in a couple of weeks is why does Abraham break off his um his uh n his God Has Come uh to uh meet him in Alon mam um and he is uh uh having this one-on-one interface with God what could be a more um meaningful connection with God than that and yet he breaks off and he breaks of explain that he says to God like I'm going to put you on hold and I'm going to deal with these Travelers I'm going to do and we learn from that we learned that is even greater looking after those who need do is even greater than facing the and the question is how did he know that how did Abraham worked that out for himself he had to work everything out for himself being an Abraham Jew means you have to work it all out for yourself no one's there to teach you um and one of the answers that I heard from my own R BS is that connecting with other people is a much more intense way of connecting with God because every single person is aim especially when we're connecting with clown Israel who are part of one n sh Al together um that connection with God is not broken off by deal with somebody and giving them but it's actually deepened and made much more meaningful by that so um when we talk about the MIT we have to think about not just how that connects us with God but how that connects us with other Jews other people in improving the world and thereby connecting with God in a much more meaningful way the Mitzvah I specifically want to focus on today which is I think the mitz that we don't often get the chance to do and we can now take advantage of in this we didn't ask for this opportunity but now it is an opportunity is the MIT what is aah we are in the middle of fighting a war right now that war is unquestionably a we need to I want to just try and understand with you over the next 25 minutes or so what is a what that means for us and and how we are to relate it to the to things that we're experiencing right now so let me share my screen with you um let me see can you share my screen can you see my screen there is that good Han give me a thumbs up good excellent thank you so again I I will actually put this on the chat let me do it before I share the screen I did email it also to Hannah so that she will be able to email it to anybody who wishes but I will actually pop it on the chat right now uh it doesn't always work for everybody but whoever it works for that's great so that just went on the chat right now okay so let let's have a look at This Together there are there are not many sources this is not an in-depth Shear we could give a whole series of three or four Shear onah what that means we only have 20 25 minutes together today but it should give us an opportunity to have an overview of what's really going on number one the rambam says the Torah talks all the time about war different aspects of War how we handle War how we react within a war at the mitzvot of are learned from the actions of a Battlefield uh you know Soldier which is not the subject for today but there's there's a lot of aspects of war in the Kash but where does it say in the Kash that there is a Mitzvah that we have to go to war so let's have a look at this the rambam says in meaning the the Torah says you're not really allowed to go to war unless there is the permission of the Basin the Sanhedrin we're not a war making Nation we always seek peace we're not allowed to just start wars for the purpose of Conquest it needs uh if the king feels that there is a need for a war he has to ask permission from the bason from the UR the perhaps also from from the Sanhedrin if if the are not there um but there are occasions when the king can actually go to war without permission so a king is only allowed to go out to war if there's a then you don't have to ask permission from anyone you just do it so what is a what is so he gives three options this is the war against the Seven Nations that Yu for when we went into the land of Israel so that's obviously a war that is no longer relevant because those S Seven Nations no longer exist or alternatively a war against amalik which we'll talk about more in a few minutes and and saving the Jewish people against enemies that come upon them that attack them now I think it's pretty clear to anybody um that what we're involved in right now is exactly that it's we were attacked in a way which was Unthinkable and we must Now respond to that attack to save Jewish lives both immediately and in the future and therefore it's clear that this is a the problem is though do we have a me is there a me that can take us into this mitvah and here ruk um says something which is quite well known in number to ruk when he was discussing the uh the parameters of a Jewish yesu and the setting up of a state and what that would mean rauk of course died 13 years before the state was established where aook says here in one of his CH he says as follows I think it's important for you to see the following when there is no we don't have a titular King the the roles the the responsibilities of the king vest in the the people need leadership the Jewish people need a leader that leader de facto he's going to say will become the king that the laws and the obligations and the responsibilities and the rights of the king revest in the entire nation they don't just disappear if we don't have one person we don't have a David orl or or whoever we have the nation as a whole takes those responsibilities of a king into itself and when that Nation appoints a government appoints a group of people to lead it in all the aspects that a king would normally need to lead a nation which has the approval of the people it's interesting D bin what which which bin is he talking about I'm not sure I didn't go into it in depth is he talking about the general approval of the religious um community in in the land in which case there's no question that that certainly vests in the government we have right now this government this appointed government that the people have chosen to represent its powers of mood is the that applies to all the rights of the king all the laws of the king the way that it conducts the people and therefore um certainly R cook would say that the the war that we are fighting is not just a that we have an actual as well and I think this is a position which is taken by many um that the governments of Israel whether you like this one or don't like this one and we're not talking about any individual within the government but the actual the organ of the government of Israel is itself and in fact the ran says this fairly clearly elsewhere the ran says the Mitzvah of of going to war devolves on the king or or alternatively on the leader maybe there is before we had we had andon and Etc there could be a excuse me or anyone who the country chooses to conduct its Army to lead its Army either an optional war or this this it doesn't have to be a m it could be a m or a cha or anyone who the people have um vested with responsibility uh in order to do that and therefore um many many of the commentators I go so far as to say the vast majority have understood that all wars that Israel has fought over the last 70 years 75 years have been there been Wars in order to protect the very existence of the yeshu init as well in 48 56 6773 there was a big discussion about the war in Lebanon whether the war in Lebanon uh in in the 80s was included in that and I'm not getting into that in detail now um but I think we uh we reached a point when we we started thinking to ourselves well short we don't anymore need to fight Wars which protect the very existence of the Jewish Yeshua Isel surely we've moved past that and I think the events of the last few weeks have shown us that we have not moved past that uh and therefore the the requirement of a to just prevent to preserve the very existence of the Jewish State uh is something that we're involved in now um we'll get on to amalik in a minute ra salic had another angle on amalik which we'll talk about soon what does that involve what does it mean when we're fighting aah so I want to bring you a piece from R Rin I've selected this in the time that we've got I can only bring you very small selections but rev gorin has a an important piece where he teaches as follows and number it is a fighting a is a it is a holy obligation which is a Torah Mitzvah we'll see in a minute where is it explicit in the Torah that what is this Mitzvah based on we'll see in a is going to give us some guidance on that it is a sacred obligation and the mitvah is on the people without any exception at all this is never is never somebody else's War it's not a war being fought by the army or by the commanders or by the Jews here or ER it's every Jew's War every single Jew in the world is involved in the in their own way without any exception say and every Jew in his or her own way is required to to give over of themselves for some people that means risking their lives and for some people that means other Investments of themselves in order to achieve the goals of the war and we cannot allow ourselves to be weakened by the potential cost God forbid in life um and in mental health and in physical health that can be involved in fighting and achieving our goals in this war now we DAV every single day we'll DAV ourselves in a few minutes that uh please God all of our Fighters and all of our soldiers should come back in good health Bri an and they should be back with their families very very soon but we all realize that that is not something that we can guarantee and we have to not be deflected by the fact that there is a cost and there is a cost to everybody in their own way that is part of the so he goes on there is no other Mitzvah you can think of that that puts off entirely all other Mitzvah including clearly a soldier cannot argue well you know I have a Mitzvah to fight but I have a Mitzvah ofes surely I have to protect my own life no this Mitzvah pushes aside there is no other Mitzvah that does that this is a unique challenge that we're facing right now and in that sense it's a unique opportunity this what I'm trying to tease out of this that we don't get the chance to do this Mitzvah very often and we don't ask for it but when some Mitzvah we don't we don't particularly want to have to do now there's a Mitzvah in in in the Torah of of gtin G there's a Mitzvah when when it has to happen husband and wife have to be divorced we don't ask for that we don't want that but when it comes we must do it properly and we have to accept that this is part of what the Torah requires so is a Mitzvah we don't pray for but it's a Mitzvah that we take the opportunity to do in every way we can and then he finish finishes I call it is an obligation on every individual not just the government and there is no way anybody should be thinking that they can any way evade it or avoid it from an any active role he says you can't just say you know I I'll sit back I won't do anything I won't help the enemy but but I'm I don't need to help the war effort for the DU no it says there is no there's no option of Chev Val there's an obligation on every single person of everybody has to step up and do what they can and everybody has to play to their strengths so some people it's supporting the soldiers to some people it's supporting the families to some people it's supporting their own family there's so many ways in which the Jewish people are found to express their support Myriad ways and and that is part of this mitzah the soldiers need morale in order to give them morale they need they need us to give them things now we tend to think what they needs food because we're Jewish so we think that what everybody needs all the time is food um they do need food as well but they need other things as well um not just physically but also morally um in mentally um and therefore we have to find every way that we ourselves can fight that mitvah each one in their own home and as I said before in the last sh there is no longer a concept of War being somewhere along way away on a front the war is in our own homes the war comes to us we have to take ourselves to the and embrace this every way we can um number five I just want to keep one stage further um has a in which he explains as follows he says the following fighting a is one of the 613 where which everybody this is this Mitzvah everybody's obligated in that's the wording of the the mishna says that even though the and should be free to have their first time together to have the together when it comes to that's not the case people are pulled away to do what they have to do even the from the and even the from the we'll come back to that in a second even the women of the Jewish people are also obligated as points out and that's he says so says I don't know exactly when this was given I assume it was around the 67 War our mat right now and it speaks to our mat in 2023 is whether it comes to the r even if it comes to the issue of are we able to keep the land and conquer the land and be in charge of the land of Israel through this war or according to the approach like we saw just before that it's saving the Jewish people from an enemy which is attacking us directly and this mitvah he says now this is based upon the fundamental tzah of and here really is the key this is a Mitzvah we don't often think of we may not stand by while Jewish blood is being spilled we must act we have an obligation to act and he says the obligation of is based on the fundamental B and again this is not just when it comes to saving life but it comes to all of the things that are necessary in order to promote the ultimate success of saving life they are they are included in Al then he says nevertheless he says there are differences between men and women men generally asaz say are the ones that go to battle and women are generally those that don't go to battle he quotes then the from the 15th century the can't read this here he wants to explain the words of the the rambam maybe even that the women the women have to be part of theah but they have to take a nonf Frontline um r have to be supporting the war efforts supporting the troops in every way says that's the R's opinion that when it says it doesn't mean that we put it in a combat unit and tell her to fight the terrorists it means that she supports the war effort however Rood disagrees this that means she's going to be part of the war effort you you don't find this this idea in in the Mish the and you don't find this in the ramom either who brings the the wording of the of the mishna clearly and he says in his View and it's absolutely clear to me that that when it says women have to be involved in the war it means that every single woman has to do what she is best suited to do even says if it involves a combat role and in fact there were um women who were um unbelievably heroic in the battles in the south of Israel a couple of weeks ago um in killing hundreds of terrorists and there's a lot been a lot of reporting on that as well now then he says however it's not so straightforward that's the basic halakic framework the women and men are all obligated to do what each of them can to fight the war he says he goes without saying there are individual circumstances says it's not straight forward in every respect having women women in combat roles and this is not the opportunity that I'm going to use to address that I gave two whole shirim a few years ago which I'm they're on my website you can find them on more of the ins and outs of whether women should or should not be integrated into combat units let's leave that aside he said of course there are complicated other issues um but in principle he said the women and the men are equally obligated in the war um and he says here there are other angles of the and then we have to worry about the ethical issues as well involved in men and women together in units but leaving that aside the principle that we're working with now is that this is a every man and every woman has to do what they can in order to fight that war because as I said at the very beginning of the sheet the rambam says this is a war of we are saving the Jewish people from an active enemy that is fighting us however just want to take now to the to the final idea which I think is very important there was a second element of which is that there is Al a mitzvah for every Jew in the Jewish people to be drafted in whatever way they can inik are we fighting a war against the Malik and here I want to bring in um RAF solich because RAF solic picks up and we'll see a note from Ric in a minute in C doik he picks up on the wording of the rambam where the rambam says in terms of the war against the Seven Nations that's not applicable anymore because uh we no longer have the the understanding of which nations are in in in which places there's no longer a purity of the Nations there was in the time of there's a principle that brings that when came and took the 10 tribes away he he mixed up all the nations we don't have cananim and and we don't know who any of those people are so he says and therefore the the Mitzvah to fight against the Seven Nations is no longer relevant but then he says and so too there's a Mitzvah to fight against the Malik but the rambam never goes on to say but of course we don't know who amalik is now because you know principle that all the nations have been mixed up why why not why does the rambam not say the same thing when it comes to the war against amalik that he said when he comes to the war against the Seven Nations there are there are other answers to this question but I want to pick up on RAF salvic RAF salvic wrote these words in 1956 during the sez campaign and he says as follows I'm sorry it's a F but you should be able to see it Divine Providence is testing us once again via the crisis that has overtaken the land of Israel let it be clearly stated the matter does not just affect the political future of the land of Israel the designs of the Arabs are directed not just against the political sovereignty of the state of Israel but against the very existence of the ISU in the land of Israel they wish to destroy heaven forbid the entire Community both men and women infants and Ox ox and sheep from shm at the mrai convention I cited the view expressed by my father and master of Moses of blessed memory that the proclamation the Lord will have war with amalik from generation to generation does not only translate into the communal exercise of waging obligatory war against a specific race but includes as well the obligation to rise up as a community against any people or group that filled with many iCal hatred directs its enity against knesset Israel when a people emblazons on its Banner come let and let us cut them off from being a nation that the name of Israel will be no more in remembrance it becomes thereby amalik in the 1930s and 40s the Nazis with Hitler at their head filled this role they were the amalekites the standard bearers of insane hatred and enity during the era just passed he was right in 56 today their place has been taken over by the mobs of NASA and the Muti if we are silent now as well I know not the verdict that will be issued against us by the God of Justice do not rely on the liberal World sense of equity those same righteous liberals were around 15 years ago in the 40s and they looked with indifference upon the extermination of millions of people they did not even lift a finger if heaven forbid yet a second spectacle of blood were to take place before their very eyes it is likely that they would not even lose a night's sleep over it very very powerful words that R solic wrote in 56 that are absolutely applicable in exactly the same way today he' never heard of Kamas but just put the word Kamas and also not just Kamas but all those other groups people tend to be focused on Kamas but let's not kid ourselves there are many other groups peripheral to them that have the same agenda as them um and wiping out one group will not wipe out all of them and therefore Ric is saying and you can look in your own time uh at the uh the next source which basically says we're talking about the group we're not talking about individual Arabs he makes clear as as part of the amalaki nation the individual amalaki is no longer known to us just like the individuals of the Seven Nations are no longer known to us but when a group as a group takes on the role of a Malik they are hierarchically aik it's important he's not just giving rhetoric here he's saying this is a de he's getting this from theot the wording of the rambam like I said at the beginning that the rambam says that halachically the war against the Seven Nations is no longer relevant but halachically the war against amalik is relevant and he's saying this is how it's relevant H and therefore I want to suggest to you that certainly would say and again not but that what we're fighting right now is a against Amal um and therefore that also has to be mazaris as to to fight inah in a way that we have no illusions that every single person is needed and every single person is vital um and the opportunity to fight theah is one that we we didn't ask for but which we take now and will will fully uh fully dedicate ourselves to so I these were just some some thoughts just for 30 minutes or so on the the which is and uh and and I think this is something that we can take back with us and you know when we leave this zoom and move on to whichever activities we're involved in in supporting this effort to succeed in this war which we will do and very soon um this is something which should Propel us and which something which should drive us to do this and we should have aav that I Mitzvah it requires us to be calm and focused and do whatever we can but no there's no less uh spirit and uh and energy and emotion that goes into it so um hopefully those were some thoughts that maybe you hadn't um thought of before um and uh I as I said before the the sore sheets have been emailed to KH and she is able to send them on to anyone else who wants them um I'm would I also shared them on the group just now as well I'd like to just um say a few to hearing with you uh as I say I won't have an opportunity to do this with you for a few weeks so I'd like to take that opportunity now the toim I will actually res share the sheet because they're on the sheet in case that's helpful to you um right now the tahim are the ones that we've been saying and hopefully if you remember what we said last week about tahim you could have kavana when we say the different words of these and again maybe I'll just mention one one one that I mentioned last week when it says in God will save you how through your right hand say the I brought them last week is the of the Jewish people they are are y they are our right hand and they are what we are referring to in that in that PK when we're daving for success in the war sh for we'll say for the I haven't got all the names in front of me the rabbi sh is but sure hand when he read them all out but I know that many of us certainly um in my own family we have a son and a son-in-law and a nephew in the IDF right now and all of you I'm sure have family and friends and uh and a broader connection with K swell let's DAV that they should all be successful and come back safely to their families now make for the captives that we should have they should be released fully not just some of them but all of them in good health and return to their families and now a for those who have been injured in the war wherever they are in the North or the South or in other places in is for ladies and gentlemen thank you for allowing me to be with you for a uh 40 minutes or so I wish you all and all your families good health hat um and BR in all things and please God uh we should all do what we have to do and do it well um I am very very much uh looking forward to the opportunity to spending some time with the Jews ofit I think that we sometimes assume that their job is to to give to us in Israel and of course it is but our job K Isel AR is to give to them as well they're also facing insecurities of different types and I I hope to be able to report back in a few weeks uh having been to uh I'm going to around 30 different high schools and different communities uh so hopefully we'll be able to connect Amis that way as well have a wonderful week and please God will speak soon hopefully