Okay, we're going to discuss today the law, ethics, and morality of war. And this is something that is connected to this time, you know, when we, in Israel, Jews are at war. We're not going to discuss the political part of it or any other part besides the תורה הלכה, תורה view of war, starting from the background from the original halachot the way it was when we had our own kings, etc., etc., and going into our times, what the halachot of war is, also concerning to make prisoners or things like that. First I want to give a little introduction that definitely the Torah, which is the word of God, doesn't look favorably upon war, obviously. We find it so far that when King David, David Hamelech, was ready to build the Beit Hamikdash, he was ready to build the Beit Hamikdash, Hashem said to him, God said to him, \"You will not be the one to build the Beit Hamikdash, your son Shlomo will, your son Solomon. Why will you not build the Beit Hamikdash?\" Hashem used the expression, the pasuk says, \"דם לרב שפכת, you spilled a lot of blood, מלחמות גדולות עשית, did a lot of wars, לא תבנה בית לשמי, you will not build a house for me.\" Even though the wars that he fought were wars that he was supposed to fight, God wanted him to fight those wars, but still, because after all he did spill blood, Hashem said, \"You are not the one to build the Beit Hamikdash. Your son, Solomon, Shlomo, in his time there will be no wars. Actually the name Shlomo represents the word shalom, peace, and he will be the one to build the Beit Hamikdash.\" So from here we see that to fight a war and kill people is not a good idea no matter what, even when you have to, so the Torah does not look favorably upon upon war. We even find a reason why the mizbeach, the altar that was in the Beit Hamikdash, in the Holy Temple, it was made of rocks, you were not allowed to cut the rocks with a knife. And it says why? Because a knife is used to shorten the life of people. The mizbeach, which was a place of the sacrifices, is made to lengthen the life of people and we can't mix the two. Because anything that's used to shorten the life of people is not a good is not good. It says the right thing to do is to make peace between people, to make peace between nations, so the Torah does not look favorably upon it, even if you have to. We find even further, you know let's try to get a little bit more in the details of the Talmud, the Talmud Yerushalmi, which is another part of the Talmud, it says that we need a special verse in the Chumash, in the Bible, to tell us that the משוח מלחמה, משוח מלחמה was a special anointed kohen, priest, that his job was to lead the nation into war. He was called כהן משוח מלחמה. Mashuach comes from the word \"anointed\" for war. And there were certain things he would have to do when they would start war. So we need a special verse in the Chumash to tell you that he is allowed to be appointed as a high priest. Because if the high priest dies or for whatever reason is not able to do his duties, then you appoint a new one. You take a regular ordinary kohen and you appoint him as a kohen gadol. So we need a special pasuk to teach you that you're allowed to appoint a משוח מלחמה to a kohen gadol. And all the commentaries ask, why do we need a special pasuk, a special verse to teach you that you're allowed to? Look, משוח מלחמה is a higher position than an ordinary kohen. If an ordinary kohen, ordinary priest, could be appointed a kohen gadol, so why would we think a משוח מלחמה is not allowed to be appointed as a kohen gadol, that we need a special limud, a special pasuk? And they answer: because this משוח מלחמה went to war. And since he went to war, there would be a thought that maybe you can't appoint him a כהן גדול. Even though when he went to war he did it legally and he did it rightfully, but still, he had a connection to spilling blood, and therefore we need a special pasuk to teach you that you're allowed. This is all as introduction to show that originally the Torah would like to avoid war. Nevertheless, we do find in chumash all kinds of halachot concerning war. Actually next week's portion of the Torah, Shoftim, it's interesting, this worked out that the previous lecture was on something also with next week's parashah, Shoftim, and this is also, there it talks about war and all kinds of halachot, laws that have to do when you go to war. So obviously there There is a halachah of war, there is a concept of going to war according to the Torah. In in Gemara we find, what is this noise? Oh, anyway, any questions will be answered. We find that there is a concept of going to war. So let's discuss when is it allowed, and what are the laws surrounding war, and what is the morality of war, etc., etc., according to the Torah.

Now, I'd like to read first from the Rambam, Maimonides. Maimonides says that there are two types of war that the Jews were able to fight. And the two types of war fall into these two categories: one is called מלחמת מצוה, and one is called מלחמת רשות. מלחמת מצוה means that it was a mitzvah, a commandment, to fight this war. And מלחמת רשות, רשות comes from the word 'allowed', it was a a war that was allowed, but you weren't obligated to fight. And the Rambam says, what's the מלחמת מצוה? So he says, this is the beginning of the fifth chapter of Hilchot Melachim, the Laws of Kings, uMilchamoteihem. The actual name of this halachah is 'The Laws of the Kings and Their Wars'. He says that the fighting of the שבעה עממים, when the Jews entered the land of Israel with Joshua, and they fought against the seven nations, that was a מלחמת מצוה. They were commanded by God to fight that war. מלחמת עמלק, the famous Amalek that started up with the Jews when they went out of Mitzrayim, and Hashem said, God said that you have to fight with them, that was a מלחמת מצוה. ועזרת ישראל מיד צר שבא עליהם, and when you want to help Jews from the enemy that is attacking them, that's מלחמת מצוה. So the Rambam says all, and the Rambam doesn't write his own, it's all taken from the sources of the Talmud, that these three fall into the category of a mitzvah to fight. It's an obligation, a mitzvah to fight this: the war when the Jews conquered Israel, the war against Amalek, and anytime that גוים attack the Jews, it's a mitzvah to fight. Then he says, מלחמת הרשות, the war which is called a רשות, only a allowed, is a מלחמה שנלחם עם שאר העמים כדי להרחיב גבול ישראל ולהרבות בגדולתו ושמעו. If the king would decide that he wants to fight with a certain nation, not because they started up, because it is for the benefit of his country, etc., etc., then that is called, not a mitzvah, but that's called מלחמת הרשות. That's not an obligation, but it's only a רשות to fight. Now, the law is like this: when the king wants to fight a מלחמת הרשות, the second category, which is not obligatory, there are three conditions when he's able to do it. Number one: you have to have a king. The nation, the Jews have to have a king. Number two: you have to have the permission of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the high court of Eretz Yisrael, the Jews. You had to have the 71 members of the Sanhedrin, you have to have their permission. And number three: you have to ask the Urim veTumim. Now, I'll explain what that means. One of the the garments that the Kohen Gadol, the high priest, wore, was the Choshen, called the Choshen Mishpat, the breastplate, which had the different gems on it. Inside the fold of the Choshen, there was a a piece of parchment with a certain name of God in it, and that was put in. Certain times they were able to ask questions and get answers by the Urim veTumim. For instance, in this case, if they would want to know whether they are allowed or should go to war, they would have the Kohen Gadol wear this Choshen, wear the garments including the Choshen, and the king or whoever it was would come and stand there and ask the question: 'Should we go to war or not?' And then, different letters, because on these gems, on these stones, you had the names of all the twelve tribes, so you had all the letters of אלף בית, the alphabet. So if the answer would be no, the letter למד and אלף would start shining. It was a miracle! Would start shining. If the answer was yes, then the letters כף נון would start shining, which is כן, and they would know. So in order to go to a מלחמת הרשות, which is not the mitzvah, not an obligatory war, but a war that he decided to go, you would have to have the the permission of the Sanhedrin and the Urim veTumim. And the reason for this is very simple, because as I said before, God really doesn't want you to fight wars. So you really have to have the permission of God to say that in this case, it is right. In a מלחמת מצוה, the other wars, the king did not need any permission from anybody. He was able to go because he was obligated to go. Now, when you fight a war that's a mitzvah, obviously, that's the right thing to do. Why? Because if that's what God wants you to do, obviously, this is the right thing to do. People do question it: how could you say that God wants you to fight a war? How could you say that God wants you to destroy Amalek and God wants you to destroy the seven nations? We're not going to get into that at this moment. But there are explanations basically in Kabbalah, there are explanations that these nations all represented bad traits and they represented the real evil in the world, and the only way to do it is by destroying them and then you would get rid of evil. And it's not for us to judge whether it's evil or not. If it's an individual there are certain laws who judge, but in the case of a whole group, God was the one that judged and said that this is evil, just like when it comes to an individual there is such a thing as capital punishment even in secular law. Why? Because they feel that it's evil to let this person live. This person represents evil and we have to destroy him. So too, in a larger scale, if God says that this is evil, you are allowed to do it and not only are you allowed to do it, you have to do it. That's when it's a mitzvah, but that only possible to be done when we had a king. Without a king we were not able to fight this war. But then there is one of the three cases that the Rambam says which is a mitzvah to fight which is possible nowadays too. And that's the third example that the Rambam says, that's עזרת ישראל מיד צר שבא עליהם. That's to help the Jews against goyim, non-Jews, or enemies who attack us. So, then there is a mitzvah to go fight. Hashem says it is a mitzvah to go fight. So, here we have a halachah which would apply to our situation now, that if there are people, enemies, who come to attack us and try to destroy us, it is a mitzvah and an obligation to go and fight them. Now, since this is a learning class, so I'm not just going to tell you facts, but let's learn a little bit, it pays to be a little bit deeper based on the Talmud.

So there is a question that asked by some of the commentaries on this law, whether it is true what the Rambam says that if goyim attack you, it's a mitzvah to go fight, and it's a war that you have to, it's a mitzvah to fight this war, because what the Rambam writes, the Rambam doesn't make up any halachot. Maimonides didn't make, he's not a person to make up הלכות. We're talking about the laws of the Torah which is given by God. So the only thing that the Rambam could do is take the הלכות from the Talmud, which took the הלכות from the earlier generations, earlier generations going back all the way to what God gave to Moshe Rabbeinu, to Moses at Mount Sinai. So the Rambam cannot say anything different than the Talmud. So let's see what the Talmud says. And when we look into the Talmud, it seems the Talmud seems to be saying something else. Now I'll quote you a piece from the Talmud, this is Masechet Sotah. The Talmud says that there is an argument there between the Chachamim, the majority of rabbis, against one rabbi called Rabbi Yehuda. And all other details which is not going to go into it now, but the bottom line, the Gemara says is this: אמר רבא, the גמרא quotes this great sage רבא, מלחמת יהושע לכבוש, when יהושע, Joshua, went to conquer the land of Israel, דברי הכל חובה, according to all opinions this is an obligation, that's not, that's not part of the argument between the חכמים and רבי יהודה. דבית דוד לרווחא, דברי הכל רשות, when דוד המלך, King David, later on went to ארם צובא or Syria he called it, to fight, everyone agreed that that was not in the category of a מצוה, because he went not because he was told to go, he decided that's right, he got the permission, he got all the, but that's definitely not a מצוה. כי פליגי, where is the argument? In a case למעוטי עובדי כוכבים דלא ליתי עלייהו, if we're going to fight a war to prevent גוים, it says non-Jews, our enemy, who, non-Jews doesn't automatically mean our enemy, but if they're non-Jews who are our enemies, and we want to fight with them in order to prevent them from coming on us, that's where there is an argument. מר קרי לה מצוה ומר קרי לה רשות. The Chachamim say that's not called a מצוה. The majority of the rabbis said that that doesn't fall under the category of מלחמת מצוה, while Rabbi Yehuda says it does fall under the category of מלחמת מצוה. Now, we know the rule that when there is an argument between one rabbi against many, the majority rules. So it comes out from this Gemara here in Masechet Sotah, that according to the rabbis, the way they understood the הלכה of the Torah, that if it is to prevent גוים from coming, it is not called a מלחמת מצוה. And it's not an obligation to fight. How does the Rambam say that it is a מלחמת מצוה and we are obligated to fight? This is a question that one of the commentaries called the Knesset HaGedolah, we'll leave it for later. Oh, okay, we're getting to that. Yeah? Yeah. This is what the Knesset HaGedolah, the ספר called Knesset HaGedolah asks. One of the commentaries called the Shiyarei Korban on Yerushalmi answers and he says, there is no question here. That it depends what the situation is. If it is to protect, to avoid, to that they didn't attack us yet, and we're doing it because we suspect that they might attack us, that's where the chachamim says אין מצוה. But if they attack us already, that's not what the chachamim is talking about. That for sure is a mitzvah, and that is an obligation for us to fight. Based on what law? Based on the law called a rodef. Rodef, the literal translation of the word rodef means a chaser. The law is that if you see a person chasing another person wanting to kill him, and the only way you could save the life of the victim is by killing the chaser, you are obligated, not only allowed, you are obligated to kill the chaser to save the life of the one that's being chased. And here, when the goyim attack us, they are all a rodef, they're all in the category of a rodef. And therefore, in this case, it's an obligation to go to fight them. This is fall under the category of rodef. It's so based also on another pasuk. So rodef, this din is learned out from one place in Chumash. Then there's another pasuk in Chumash which says, לא תעמוד על דם רעך. You are not allowed to stand, the literal translation you're not allowed to stand on the blood of your friend, which means if you see your brother's life in danger, you must save him, even if it means killing the person who's trying to kill him. It's also learned out from another pasuk there is an obligation if you find someone's lost object, you are obligated to return it to him. Now, if you're obligated to return a lost object, how much more are you obligated to return his life to him if you're able to to give it to him? So you are obligated to do it. So based on this halachah, if goyim attack you, anybody, this could be even Jews. A Jew attacks you, but if he's attacking you trying to kill you, you are obligated to fight. And therefore, the Rambam says that it's a mitzvah to fight צר, the the enemy who attacks us, that it's a mitzvah to fight because it's based on these psukim. Sounds fine, and this could be the source in halachah to be able to fight, but it's not so simple. Why? The halachah that revolves that we just spoke about that you're obligated even to kill the chaser to save the life of the one that's being chased is all when you're not putting your life in danger. But if you're putting your own life in danger, then who says that you have to put your life in danger to save someone else's life? Here's the question: here, you're going to war, that means you are putting the life of these soldiers in danger because the goyim attacked. So the ones that they're at, even if you know they attack and they're trying to kill somebody, and you're going to go to fight with them and you're putting yourself in danger, is there a halachah that you have to put your life in danger to save someone else's life? And it's going to get a little bit detailed and complicated, so I want you to pay attention. There is a halachah that my life is not more precious than someone else's life. And I'll tell you what the halachah is. The halachah is, in the case of there are three sins which is יהרג ואל יעבור, which you have to let yourself get killed rather than transgress. Yet, normally, the law is in halachah that if there is a question of one's life versus doing a mitzvah or versus transgressing, a Jew's life is more important. Pikuach nefesh, which means the safety of one's life docheh, pushes away the whole Torah. I'll give you an example. We all know Yom Kippur, you're not allowed to eat. But if a person's life is in danger, then you're supposed to transgress and eat on Yom Kippur. Shabbos, you have to keep. You're not allowed to work on Shabbos. But if it's a question of one's life, you're allowed to. חמץ on Pesach, anything, except three things: one is adultery, that if they tell you to commit adultery or else I'll kill you, you have to let yourself get killed rather than commit adultery; or idol worship, if somebody would tell you, bow down to the idol or else I'll shoot you, you have to give up your life; and murder. If someone tells you, murder that person if not I'll kill you, then the law is that you're not allowed to kill that person, you have to let yourself get killed. And the reason for this is, why do you think The expression in Talmud is, why do you think your blood is more red than his blood? In other words, you want to save your life by killing him. Who says that your life is more important than him? Therefore, the law is that you're not allowed to kill him in order to save your life, because your life is no is no more important. Huh? No. That's That's by a Jew, right. Now, one might say, in that case, it answers the question. The question was, do I have to put myself in danger, my life in danger, to save other I'm going to war, which means I'm putting my life in danger to save the life of other yidden, is that true? Do I have to put my life in danger? We just finished saying that my life is not more important. If so, maybe I should. So maybe the answer is, why am I allowed to, or should we go to war when goyim attacked other yidden, attacked yidden, and their life is in danger, so we ask the question, why should we go to war, put ourselves in danger to save other yidden? The answer is very simple: who says your life is more important? You're going to save your life in order you in order and have that other person die, who says your life is more important? But that's not so simple, because like I said, it gets detailed, and we have to concentrate here. If this halachah that I said before, that a person has to give up his life not to kill somebody else, that's only if they tell him that we want someone will tell the person we want you to do an act to kill a person. Then we say hold back, don't kill him, even if it means that they will kill you. But if they tell you, stand back, don't do anything, and that way that person will die, then the law is that you don't have to give up your life. And the example that the Rosh says in Tosafot, that if there's a person that's thrown by a goy, you stand there and we're going to push you, and you're going to fall and God forbid, rachmana litzlan, will הרג baby or kill the baby. And if you don't allow us to do that, we will kill you, then they say you don't have to give up your life. In other words, you're allowed to stand there and have them push you, which it will kill somebody, but since you are not doing a ma'aseh, you're not doing an act, so then you don't have to give up your life. Now certainly in the case of war, why would we want you to go to war? Maybe stay home, don't go to war, even if the goyim attack, and therefore other yidden will die, if you go to war, you will save them, so why is your life more important than theirs? But in this case, we do say that your life is more important, because you're not, if you stay home, you're not killing anybody. When do we say your life is not more important if you're going to go kill somebody? But if you're not going to kill him, it's just that you're allowing it to happen, in this case not even allowing, you're just staying home. So why would you be able to go to war? And the truth is we go into more detail, this would be even the question would be even further according to the Rambam, but it's too complicated, too detailed. But the question is again, according to halachah, this we said, the Rambam said this is a מלחמת מצוה, far as they, if the goyim attack, it's a מלחמת מצוה, you have to go fight. What is the mitzvah based on? Based on the din of rodef. The fact if someone wants to kill a yid, you have to save that yid by killing the chaser, even though it would be a Jew himself. Certainly if it's a non-Jew. So you have, so you're allowed to kill him. But the question is, are you obligated to go? The Rambam says you are. Why are you obligated? After all, why should you have to put your life in danger? But there's another problem here. Your life is only a ספק סכנה. ספק, it's a doubt, but we're not sure your life's in danger. It's a danger, but we're not sure if you're going to die or not. But they will certainly kill yidden, they're going to come, they're coming, they're attacking, if they're in a ישוב, we don't know exactly who is in a ישוב, but they will kill yidden. So ודאי, for sure, other yidden will die. It's a ספק, it's a doubt, whether you will die or not. So the question here is, what overweighs? Is it possible that because it's a ודאי, it's sure that another yid will die, and by you it's only a ספק, you are obligated to enter into a ספק סכנה, which means you're entering into a doubtful danger of life, you have to do that in order to save somebody else who is ודאי סכנה, who is definitely in danger. And in fact, there is an argument among the, codified by the פוסקים. Actually, the Alter Rebbe in ספר Shulchan Aruch brings both opinions. And he says that because there is an argument, so there is a doubt what the halachah is, we always say ספק נפשות להקל. That means whenever there's a doubtful question and it affects one's life, you could always be lenient. So according to that, it would seem that we shouldn't have to go to war. We shouldn't have to go outright in war to attack, to to, I mean to fight, but go to war, put ourselves into a safek of danger of one's life in order to help somebody else even though they are, it's vadai. So it would seem we shouldn't. But the answer is very simple: this whole discussion would only apply when we're talking about a יחיד, an individual. There's an individual person, his life is in danger and in order to, not his danger, for sure he's going to be killed, and I am able to save him by putting myself into a ספק סכנה, into a safek, a doubtful danger of life. So here there is discussions, do you have to go, don't you have to go, and then some of the people say you don't, and therefore the halacha, since it's a safek, you don't have to go. But when we're talking about a tzibur, many of the poskim say, when we're talking about a community, it's not that one person's life is in danger, there's a whole tzibur, there's a whole klal, a whole community, then everyone is obligated to put yourself in ספק סכנה, in a safek danger, in a doubtful danger of your own life, you're obligated to go and help them. And that's the third category of the Rambam, as he said like a מלחמת מצוה. מלחמת מצוה, the other categories before don't apply. מלחמת רשות, certainly doesn't apply to go out if it's not obligatory, you need the king for that, you need Sanhedrin, and you need the Urim Vetumim, which doesn't apply nowadays at all. Even other two categories of the mitzvah, which is conquering the seven nations or Amalek doesn't apply. But this third category of the mitzvah, because the צר שבא, or the לשון of, we'll again read the Rambam: עזרת ישראל מיד צר שבא עליהם, helping Jews from the enemy that attacks them, then for sure it's a mitzvah, even if it means putting your life in danger. And I wanna just

go a little bit into detail when we say they attack. I said before that the commentaries explain peshat, the meaning of the Gemara there, that when the Gemara says that when if you're going to fight the enemy and they shouldn't attack you, according to the Chachamim it's not a mitzvah, so we answer and we said that the commentaries answered that there's a difference whether they attacked you already, or you're going to fight to protect to because you suspect they might attack, that if they attacked already, then it's a mitzvah. If they're you suspect they might attack, and therefore you're starting a war because you don't want them to attack, there according to the רבנן it's not a mitzvah. But I wanna make that clear. When we say that it's not a mitzvah in a case where they didn't attack you yet, we're not talking about an actual attack. Attacking doesn't always mean when they shoot the bullet. If you see them doing things that you know they're preparing an attack, in that case, this is considered that they attacked you according to halacha. This is considered that the life of the Yidden is in danger, and therefore you are able to go to war and attack them. This doesn't fall in the category of the Gemara where it says, and I'll read the words, that לרווחא, דאתי כי היכי דלא ליתו עליהו, that if you're going to go against the enemy in order that they should not attack you, that's where מר קרי לה רשות, the רבנן called it רשות, called it רשות, not a mitzvah. But that's not, the case I just mentioned is not that. The case I just mentioned, if they prepare an attack, or you see that they're working along those lines, that's called an attack. Who's the one to judge? See, when they attack, it's a clear thing. But when they're preparing, how do you know if this is considered an attack, that there's a mitzvah to fight them, and there's an obligation to put your life in danger to save the Yidden who will die, or is it not called, or is it called that they're not ready and what we're gonna be doing is the case of suspicion that maybe they will attack? The answer is very simple: The experts on warfare, or the experts on security, they're the ones who according to halacha, are the ones to decide. I'll give you an example. I said before that if it comes to Yom Kippur, and we have to fast, and there's a person that it's dangerous for him to fast, what does a person do? Well, a religious Jew, it comes to Yom Kippur, and you know the doctor says he shouldn't fast because it'll put your life in danger, first thing he does, and I could tell you from my own experience, you get a telephone call: Rabbi, Rabbi, am I do I have to am I allowed to not to fast on Yom Kippur? And I ask questions: Well, it's dangerous, who said it's dangerous? The doctor said it's dangerous. And he said it's life-threatening? He said yes, if I don't eat 24 hours, 26 hours, it's life-threatening. So I say to him: Yes, you have to eat on Yom Kippur. Says: Who said so? The Torah says so. There's a pasuk in the Torah: ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם, you have to watch your health, and you eat on this question if your life is in danger. Who said his life is in danger? The doctor said so! Now, the doctor is not a rav! The doctor is not a פוסק, the doctor is not gonna tell you what the halacha is! The answer is very simple: The doctor is not gonna paskan the halacha. The doctor is gonna verify whether this is dangerous or not, because the doctor is the expert in this field. And the rabbi will say that relying on the expertise of this doctor, the Torah says: Rely on experts, and now you will paskan according to the Torah that this person is should eat on Yom Kippur. The same thing in every field, it's not only in medicine. Same thing in every field. If there's a question if something is called dangerous or it's called an attack or not, who do you ask? You have to ask the experts in security. And if the experts in security will paskan, will say, and they're not paskaning halachot, they could just say he could be a goy, they don't even have to have a yid. Look at, a general, or a yid, look at, a goy! If the American, an expert of the American army will say that it's dangerous in Israel to wait for them to, because they're planning an attack and this is called an attack, according to halacha, the halacha will be the rav will paskan, we have to attack them and it's a mitzvah to attack them, because this is the expert in this field. So it's not that you have to wait for their attack in order to be able to do this. There's another proof to this, and this is the famous halacha that the Rebbe actually quoted many times, in the סימן, the chapter, the place where it is in Shulchan Aruch, סימן שכ״ט, chapter 329 in הלכות שבת, in the laws of Shabbos. And there it's taken from the Rambam, from the Talmud, again, none of these rabbis make up their own הלכות, it's all taken back from Talmud which goes back in tradition from Hashem, who told it to Moshe Rabbeinu. And it says there, and this is actually not a halacha concerning war, concerning Shabbos, it's concerning Shabbos, but from there we can take out the halacha, there it says like this: If goyim come and surround a city, and they say to the people, what we're here for is we want you to give us something of value, and it mentions an example, even if they ask for straw, \"We want you to give it to us. And if you don't give it to us, we will fight.\" So it says there that if it's Shabbos, give it to them and don't fight, because you're not allowed to be מחלל שבת in a case like this. If it is if they come and they say, \"If you don't give it to us, we will kill you,\" or not even that, if they come and they say, \"We're looking to fight\" because we know they're interested in call it סכנת נפשות, in lives, then you have to fight right away. And then it's another thing, which that's the main thing I'm trying to get to: if it's if they come and they are at the border, and they say, \"We want to enter into a border town, a border of the Jewish area, in order to take away your straw, that's all, and we promise to leave.\" So the Shulchan Aruch says, taken from the Gemara, you must fight with them. Go out on Shabbos with ammunition and fight them because anything that's by the border, and you're going to allow them in, is called an attack! And by doing this you're making the whole country, or whatever area is, easier for them to come in because you're going to open the border for them. You have to go out on Shabbos and fight with them, even if they tell you clearly, \"We're not coming for any war, we're coming just to take away ten of the cows, just take away straw, and then we're going to leave. Then we're going to make a peace treaty. We want to make peace with you.\" So the halacha is, you have to, on Shabbos, you must go out to fight with them and be מחלל שבת. Why? Because this is called an attack, if it's by a border city. Now the truth today is, nowadays there's no distinction, now everything is like a border because they could attack anywhere with the with the missiles and things like that. So, here we see that an attack does not mean when they actually come and shoot. So here we see the halacha, that the halacha says in Shulchan Aruch, that if they get closer inside your territory, even if they claim, \"We're only taking straw and we're going to make peace with you,\" that's called an attack, and you're not allowed to let them in. Certainly you're not allowed to give them the territories. If the experts, the experts of the army, if the security experts would say that giving back some territory would secure the safety of the people, then it would be the reverse. Then you have to give back territory, no matter what, because the safety of Jewish lives overrides everything. And if it would mean that by doing this you bring safety, security to Jewish lives, then you have to return the territory. But if the experts will say that returning territories will not secure, the contrary, all the experts, the majority, 99% of the experts say that returning territories will only make it worse, then according to halacha, you're not allowed to give back, and this is called an attack. If the giving them the territory means bringing them in, it's called allowing them to attack you. And this depends on the experts of security, not on anybody else. Diplomatically, politically, it might not sound good, and the diplomats, politicians say that it's better not to give back, they are not the experts on security. Just like someone would say on Yom Kippur that, \"Don't allow him to eat,\" or \"Do allow him to eat,\" based on other reasons other than the person's life that the doctor said. If not a doctor, somebody else will say, \"Well, diplomatic, politically it's not correct to make him eat on Yom Kippur,\" that plays no role whatsoever. The same thing here, nothing plays any role besides just the returning, just the safety of the security, which is to be said by the experts. So getting back here: so in a case where the experts say that what's happening on the goyishe side is that they're preparing for war, this falls under the category of the מלחמת מצוה that the Rambam talks about, which the commentaries say is not what the Gemara is talking about when it says that it's not a mitzvah. This is called an attack, and therefore it's a mitzvah to go out, as the Rambam says, עזרת ישראל מיד צר שבא עליהם, helping the Yidden from the from the enemies. And this is the basis of the right to go to war. And like I said in the beginning, the Torah does not look favorably upon war. Like I said, David Hamelech was not allowed to build the Beis Hamikdash because he fought wars that Hashem wanted him to fight, God wanted him to fight. But Hashem said, \"דם לרב שפכת, you spilled a lot of blood. לא תבנה בית לשמי, you can't build a house.\" Nevertheless, in a case where Hashem says that we have to go to war, this is called a case where Hashem says to go because it's called a mitzvah, Hashem says to go when they are attacking or preparing an attack. And then it falls, as I said, under the category of a rodef, a category of somebody who is trying to kill somebody where you have to have to, not allowed to, have to save the life of the one that's being chased, of the victim, by killing the one that's chasing. And in a case where it's not an individual that that someone is chasing, but a tzibbur, so you have to put yourself into danger, your own life, in order to save the other people's lives. And these few people have to die. That's the basis of the halacha of why you are allowed to go to war according to Torah, and the halacha of rodef. Now this brings up a question that people are all bothered now: What about killing Killing civilians. And these civilians are not attacking you, it seems. And if the whole reason why you're allowed to kill them is because of the din of a rodef, and they're trying to kill you, so you can only kill those people that are trying to kill you, not only you're allowed to, you have to in order to save the lives, but what about killing civilians? Well, first of all, we have to decide whether these civilians are not trying to kill you too. But besides that, the din of a rodef, first thing that we say if someone tries to kill you is not only if someone is outright there with a gun trying to kill you. The din is if there is something that's taking place that is causing for a person to die, then the din is that the person who's causing it is called a rodef. If these people are there and they know that the ones that are attacking are amongst them and they're looking for protection among the civilians, so these civilians are also considered a rodef. They are also trying to kill you, even though they don't hold a gun, which I'm not even sure about that, but that's called a rodef, they're trying to kill you. I'll just give you an example of where a halacha in the Rambam where he explains a rodef even if the rodef is not with a gun. It's an interesting halacha, and I don't want to get off the topic, it's gonna touch another topic which is not part of today's session or any session here, it's gonna touch a topic of abortion, which we're not talking about abortion, but I just want to bring the halacha. The Rambam says that you know how to do an abortion, obviously, but if you don't do an abortion, the mother's life is in danger, you are allowed to do the abortion and basically kill the child, kill the fetus. And the Rambam says what is the reason for it? Because this fetus is a rodef. This fetus is causing the death of the mother, so this fetus is a rodef. Now, the fetus is not standing with a gun and trying to shoot the mother, but because he's trying to kill, not he intentionally, but his being is trying to kill the mother, he has a din of a rodef, and the din of a rodef gives you the permission that you kill the rodef to save the life of the nirdaf. You save You kill the chaser to save the life of the one who's being chased. Certainly these people who are there, these civilians, so to speak, are there, so they are part of what they're doing, and this is helping them do what they're doing, so obviously they fall into the category of rodef. Besides that, they probably help them anyway, and they are active in an active way being a rodef. But even if they wouldn't, you're allowed to. If not for that, if there is a place for sure that you know that that has nothing to do with the enemy, just to go and kill them, that is forbidden. Even though they're goyim, but you're not allowed to kill a goy, there's no question about that, so you're not allowed to do it. And if they do it, it's wrong. But all the case what they do is only because they are a rodef. Because of that, since the whole din is why you're allowed to go to war and have and kill people is because of the din of a rodef, the moment that that's not there anymore, the situation of a rodef is not there, you're not allowed to do it. Therefore, what happens if you get prisoners, POWs? Now, to kill a prisoner, that is definitely forbidden, because if he's your prisoner, he's not a rodef anymore. Cuz the halacha of a rodef is that as long as he's trying to kill you, the moment he can't kill you, you can't say, well, because he tried to kill me before, so I should kill him now. There's no such din. That's called murder. You're not allowed to kill him. So a POW, you're not allowed to kill, unless there is a certain situation where he's trying to kill you, but otherwise you're not allowed to. And actually what happens is, according to halacha, what is the status of a prisoner? The status of a prisoner, again it's clear halacha, I'm talking just from the Shulchan Aruch, from halacha. When you go to war, there's a special halacha that whatever you conquer, whatever you capture, is yours. There's a special din. It's a din of מלחמה, a din of כיבוש מלחמה. It might be a strange כיבוש מלחמה means the conquering of war, and that is a קנין, that's an acquisition. So any territory that you conquer through war, legally, halachically, I mean halacha legally, becomes yours. Any people that you conquer, that you get, they legally become yours, so they become like your עבדים. They're like our slaves, they belong to us. And therefore, how do we behave with them? Well, the halacha is that with an עבד you have to behave with rachmanut, with pity. You can't abuse him, that's true. You have to make sure you have to secure that he will be no danger, and then you have to feed him, and you have to be polite, and you have to deal with him as if you would deal with an עבד of yours, with a slave of yours. Because of what I said, and this is going to be a touchy subject, we know that what Israel does, they try to avoid killing civilians. Kol hakavod, very good. But because of that, they put the lives of other Jews in danger. And that is very questionable. Because if we consider these civilians as a rodef, then we are obligated to kill them and save the lives of the Yidden. So how are we allowed to have the lives of Yidden in danger, who are the victims, the נרדף, by not killing the רודף? And these are the רודף. The best proof that we consider them the רודף that many times we do kill them because it's the only way to do it. So if they are a רודף, so how are we allowed to? And I'm not saying the halacha, but it's very possible that according to halacha, they're not even allowed to do it. What they have to do is they would have to kill the civilians if it would mean saving the lives of saving the lives of the other Jews.

I would like to finish just with reading a halacha in Rambam, which doesn't apply nowadays, but just shed some light on the the Torah approach to war, that אין עושין מלחמה עם אדם בעולם עד שקוראים לו לשלום. In truth, whenever they would go to war, the first thing they would have to do is ask them for peace, give them a chance to surrender. You have to, in order to avoid killing them. And even by the מלחמת מצוה, those wars for a mitzvah, which was conquering the land from the seven nations, Yehoshua sent three letters. He gave them three options, the Rambam says, what they should do. I didn't copy that page. Well, he said one is surrender, another one is run away, and the third one is if you want, come and fight. And the law was that whenever you fought, you had to you weren't allowed to surround the enemy from four sides. Like only surround from one side, from three sides, leave one side open. Give them an opportunity to escape. All all to avoid bloodshed, even from those people that the Torah said that he wants them to be killed, that's why the Torah looks at it. Nevertheless, in a case where they try to attack you, the halacha, the same Torah says that you have to fight and you have to kill them. And then I want to read another halacha here concerning the soldiers who go to war. Now, this is the last This is halacha The 15th halacha of the seventh chapter of Hilchos Melachim. And this is what he This is a long הלכה. He says like this: ומאחר שיכנס בקשרי המלחמה, as soon as a soldier goes to war, ישען על מקוה ישראל ומושיעו בעת צרה, he should rely on Hashem, the one that going to help us, וידע שעל יחוד השם עושה מלחמה, and you have to realize that you're fighting a war for the sake of God. You're fighting because this is what God wants you to do. וישים נפשו בכפו, that was get courage, ולא יירא, don't be afraid, ולא יפחד, don't fear, ולא יחשוב, at the time when you're at war don't think, לא באשתו ובבניו, don't think about your wife and children. Because if you think about your wife and children, you won't be able to fight with the proper courage because you're worried. So, the הלכה is, you have to fight, give it all you can, take them out of your mind. אלא ימחה זכרונם מלבו, take away their memory from your mind at that moment, ויפנה מכל דבר למלחמה, and put your whole concentration only on the war. וכל המתחיל לחשוב ולהרהר במלחמה ומבהיל עצמו, anybody who scares himself, which certainly causes other people to be afraid, עובר בלא תעשה, that transgresses a negative commandment, שנאמר, it says, אל ירך לבבכם, don't your heart should not be soft, אל תיראו ואל תחפזו ואל תערצו, that means don't be afraid, don't tremble, don't fear, don't fear from them. ולא עוד אלא שכל דמי ישראל תלויים בצוארו, if a person feels that way, he could be a cause for different casualties that might happen because of his fear, and it's considered as if he actually caused them to die, שנאמר, it says, ולא ימס את לבב אחיו כלבבו, do not have other people be afraid. And he says, כל הנלחם בכל לבו, anybody who fights with his whole heart, בלא פחד, without fear, ותהיה כוונתו לקדש השם בלבד, and his whole purpose is only to bring the sanctity of Hashem's name, מובטח לו, he is guaranteed שלא ימצא נזק, nothing bad will happen to him, ולא תגיעהו רעה, ויבנה לו בית נכון בישראל, he will be able to build a good home in among the Jews, ויזכה לו ולבניו עד עולם, ויזכה לחיי העולם הבא, he will be zoche, he will merit the world to come if he fights, because this is the greatest mitzvah a person can do. I just want to say one more thing, people might ask, so how come the yeshiva bochurim don't go to war when you have to go to war? People go to the yeshiva in Israel and there's a whole kind of a always a whole to-do about it and a whole dispute and discussion how to how could you allow them? Everyone should go to war, we're saying it's a mitzvah to go to war, and you have to! But the truth is, we know that every war has two sides to it. Everything has two sides to it: the physical fight and the spiritual fight, everything in the world. When a person is sick, God forbid, there are two sides to it. You have to do everything naturally, physically, to bring about your cure, no question about it. At the same time, we have to know that you have to learn more, you have to do teshuvah, you have to give extra tzedakah charity, do spiritual things to give you the merit that God should want to give you the cure because even if you whatever you do physically, the bottom line is, everything comes from God. So, you have to do something spiritually for the sake of God in order to be cured. The same thing when you go to war: you have to do everything, it's halacha and the Rambam says all kinds of halachot how you have to do it and how you have to go out to fight, but at the same time, you have to also add to the spiritual part of it. You have to learn more, you have to do more mitzvot. You have to have people learning Torah at the time when there is war, and even the time when you prepare for or a time when you train for war, you have to have people learning Torah. And I'll use a simple example: just like when you go to war, there are certain people that go to the front to fight, and there are certain people that sit in the office and do the paperwork, and they're also participating and they're also they're also drafted to the army. So, you could say, \"How come this guy sits and does paperwork and sitting on the computer? Why doesn't he go out to fight?\" Because in order for the people to fight, you have to have them working on the computer. You have to have both. In the Tanach it's called, when it talks about the fight, the wars of David Hamelech it says you have the people that go to מלחמה, to war, and then you have those that יושב על הכלים, those that sit with the vessels, that prepare, they prepared the ammunition, they prepared the strategy. So, just like physically you have to have people who prepare the strategy and do things besides the actual fighting, which helps the war, spiritually they got to do the same. In order for the soldiers who give their life and we can't praise them more! People think the Chassidim, no, look at how We can't praise them more to say that these people do the greatest mitzvah, they're sacrificing their lives for their brothers and sisters, which is a mitzvah of the Torah, they're doing the greatest things for Hashem. I remember the Six-Day War, the Rebbe told somebody that when you have a soldier standing, then he used the example of Al Arish, with a rifle protecting other Yidden, this he said, in Hebrew he said, a גילוי אלקות למטה מעשרה טפחים. This is a revelation of Godliness. There's no words that we could find to praise these soldiers. But at the same time, we have to remember we need a spiritual part also, and that is learning Torah, and therefore, we need yeshiva bochurim and kollel and other people learning Torah and involved in that, and between the two, we are able to win the wars. So, we hope that in our situation, this peace treaty, which whatever will happen, it doesn't exist, but there will be no casualties, and there will be no more war, and that will happen through the Mashiach will come, but even before that, even there should be no war, no casualties, everything should be only peace, and we should be zoche there the coming of Mashiach. When Mashiach will come, the Rambam says very clearly at the בעת ההיא at that time, לא יהיה רעב ולא מלחמה, there will be no hunger and no war, no קנאה ותחרות, jealousy or competition, but he mentions no war, there will be no war, there will be peace in the world, and we will live peacefully. We will have the Beit Hamikdash, we'll bring the korbanot, and we'll do everything we have to do, and we hope and pray and we're sure it's going to happen very, very soon, as we all say, we want Mashiach now. Okay? Are there any questions? Yeah, we might as well. At least that is wonderful, yeah. And they decide. Right. Right. Exactly, this is the best example, right. The experts said The experts said that right in the beginning you should go straight into to Beirut, and that later they said they should go all the way, and the Rebbe was talking about it so much that בזמן שלום הגליל we got to finish, and they did not listen. They gave into the pressure, but not by experts of security, and the American wanted it, and even when they said that they're going for a peace for for a ceasefire, they really didn't mean it, they just something they have to say, and they would hope that we will do actually would do the job for them, and unfortunately, our government doesn't listen. And it's connected, oh, I don't want to get into that subject. They don't listen to the Torah. They would listen to the Torah, they would see in the Torah it says that you have to listen to the experts, and the experts said, in this case, this is not the way to do it. And had it been that way, things would have been different. Yes? See, what that needs to be weighed in each individual case, what is better, because there are so many things to to take in consideration. But, but, I would have thought you were getting to another point: this shows another reason why these civilians who did not leave are part of being a רודף, because if they wouldn't be they would have left, and they knew it, that shows that they're But what you're saying is it's possible that if they would ask a she'eilah by a Rav they would say don't throw the weapons, I can't say, but it's very possible because, okay. But experts have to say. Would he tell us? Expert. If the expert would say yes, then if they got into a shaila, I'd say fine. If the expert would say no, I'd say no. Because the Rav doesn't know, he's just he's gotta ask an expert. Okay. Is it recording? It's already recorded. It's already recorded, you're on. How do you turn it off? All right, it's a good question actually. Not everything is clear cut, no, it's not always so. They should leave. They should leave. Even for us, it says, I'll give an example, if you're forced to, if you're forced to worship idols, then you have to let yourself get killed and not, and it's, but other averot, if someone forces you to eat non-kosher food, you have to eat non-kosher food, not be killed. Then it says an halacha in Rambam, which is all gained from the Talmud, that if you live in an area where you know the government is pushing you to do things like this, and you're able to get away, and you don't, then you are guilty. If it just happened that someone comes to you and says eat chazir, pork, or else I'll shoot you, then it's not your fault and then you eat the pork. But if you knew it's gonna happen and you still stay there, and I don't know what the law is whether you should let yourself get killed or not, but it's your fault. Rambam says that you are guilty. The same thing here. These people have to find a way either going or getting away and not being part of it. Yes, okay? Yes, okay. Yeah, yeah. It's another table. That's a table, just another table.