לוחמים בני ישיבות
לוחמים בני ישיבותצילום: ארכיון ישיבת ההסדר קרני שומרון

CONTENT WARNING: If you are guessing that this Op-Ed is about the serious Army/ Hareidi draft issue; it is not. It covers, however, a subject that I consider to be extremely important, so please read on!

There is a religious elephant (besides the draft issue) in the room and I wonder why everyone seems to be ignoring it. For those who are not familiar with the expression “the elephant in the room”, it refers to some glaring fact that is obviously relevant to a subject being discussed, but is being avoided by the people involved in the discussion. Imagine, for example, a couple complaining about how little space there is in their new bedroom, while ignoring the fact that an elephant is sitting next to them, taking up two thirds of the room.

The room that I am talking about is the war that Israel is fighting. The elephant is our religion’s commandments on how we are supposed to fight wars. Four of the parties of the governing coalition, United Torah Judaism, Noam, Shas, and the National Religious Party, are religion based parties. In addition, religious Jews are found in the ranks of Likud and Otzma Yehudit. It is safe to say that more than a majority of the members of the governing coalition are observant and aware that our Torah has strong laws on how to wage war. Still, I do not hear public spokesmen-or journalists-talking about these laws.

Here are two reasons why I think we should be discussing them; one for all Israelis and one for the believers among us.

Reason #1: Many of our leaders of today are the same leaders who have nurtured the development of modern weaponized Gaza and Lebanon. Sitting in positions of power, they failed to notice and did little of lasting effect to stop our enemies’ growth. The solutions they offer now seem just re-branding of their old ideas; ideas that most Israelis understand to be failures.

Israel needs new ideas about how to WIN the wars we’re facing. We need to look with open minds in every direction, including in our holy books. Israel is an intelligent nation. We need to find ideas that have not already proven themselves to be inadequate; ideas that offer hope of a lasting quiet on our borders. Sometimes the old, but untried, ideas are the best advice. Evaluate these ideas on their merits; disregard from where they come.

We should consider the Torah’s views on war.

Reason #2: For those who believe that the Torah is the word of God, it should be axiomatic that the Torah’s commandments are the best advice we can find. In contrast to a time when there was unifying brotherly love between us, ignoring the Almighty’s instructions has almost never brought good results.

I think that we believers can agree that God’s opinion is more important for our national survival than “world” opinion. I think we can agree that even the President of the United States is not as smart as God! It will be wise for us to give serious consideration to the Torah’s views on war.

Don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting here that the ordinary procedure of our democracy be set aside or that we should incite mob violence in order to stimulate consideration of the these ideas. The stability of our government is essential in times like these. At least before the next election, however, I hope to see some (or all) political parties put forward their ideas on this topic.

Give us, the voters, a meaningful discussion of this issue, so that we can make informed declarations of our preferences at the polls. Let’s stop ignoring the religious elephant in the room!