A few short weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, the Israeli army began their milchemet mitzvah in the most complex war environment in history, to bring back our hostages and destroy Hamas. The young soldiers began to fight this war in Gaza’s dense alleys, in booby-trapped buildings and in terror tunnels.

As my community added special tefilot for the soldiers and hostages and organized round the clock Tehillim groups, I heard a story that struck right through to my soul; something even the terrorists couldn’t have accomplished. On a visit to the U.S., Rav Asher Weiss was asked about certain roshei yeshiva who were actively recommending against praying for soldiers as that might glorify the army and influence bochurim to join.

Whoa.

While our brothers and sisters are being raped, starved and tortured, and our brave soldiers are fighting evil and vile forces that plague this world, there are people in leadership positions that are pondering whether we can daven for their safety and success? Are these people really promoting violating the Torah obligation of “Lo ta’amod al dam re’echa — Do not stand idly by the blood of your brother?” Are they really advocating on behalf of the Torah or some distorted version of it that serves their cultural purpose? Most importantly: How do we reconcile hearing such insolence from people who are supposed to be Torah scholars?

We turn to Rebbe Nachman.

Rebbe Nachman teaches us that when a person is very sick, strong medicine is needed. Hashem provides us with contemporary solutions to address our unique, generational challenges. Reb Shlomo elaborates on this concept in the realm of technology: It is not that technology evolves and we coincidentally find a use for it; rather, Hashem gives us this technology to use responsibly and address the challenges of our time. For example, phones emerged because we face intense loneliness and need the ability to connect with loved ones worldwide. Likewise, planes exist because our generation can’t wait months to travel to Eretz Yisrael by boat. These technologies are the medicines that Hashem sends us to deal with our generational challenges.

One such emerging technology is Large Language Models (LLMs) powered by artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT. LLMs are trained on billions of data sources, offering free information on every imaginable topic. You want to know the difference between the Abarbanel’s writing style and other rishonim? In seconds you can have an explanation. While it remains impressive when a friend shares a little known fact, the ease with which we can now access such information prompts a deeper, teleological question: Why has knowledge become so cheap and accessible? What is the message for us in all this? The lesson here is simple yet paramount. Our focus must shift from simply amassing Torah knowledge to better internalizing and living by it.

Returning to our question, how do we reconcile insolent comments made by some people in positions of authority?

The Baraita in Masechet Brachot states: תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום בעולם  — “Talmidei chachamim increase peace in the world.” Knowledge alone does not define a true Torah scholar. A person could know all Shas and Shulchan Aruch, but if they aren’t marbim shalom in the world, they aren’t yet talmidei chachamim. Therein lies the answer to our earlier questions. Just because someone has amassed a lot of Torah knowledge, it does not automatically mean that they represent the Torah perspective. As demonstrated in our story above, Rav Weiss answered definitively to the questioner: roshei yeshiva who are speaking out against prayers for Jewish soldiers should step down and go home.

As Jews, we are supposed to care deeply for each other, כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה, all Jews are responsible for one another. However, the purpose of this essay isn’t to try and force people to care — we know that isn’t possible. Rav Shlomo Zalman Aeurbach writes in Halichot Shlomo that residents of Yerushalayim who don’t visit the Kotel every 30 days are exempt from tearing kriyah (an explicit halacha in the Shulchan Aruch). His sharply states that the point of performing kriyah is because one feels the anguish of the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash and if a resident of Yerushalayim couldn’t bother himself to come to the Kotel for 30 days he obviously does not feel the pain of the destruction and is therefore exempt from kriyah.

Rather, the purpose of this piece is to help alleviate some of the dissonance I, and maybe you, have felt between our intrinsic love and concern for our fellow Jews and misaligned comments from those who purport to speak in the name of Torah. Furthermore, this piece is a plea as we enter the ninth month of the war to redouble our efforts in breaking down the gates of tefillah for Hashem to help us bring our hostages and soldiers safely home.

So many people have mobilized during these times to fulfill the notion of כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה, to support our brothers and sisters of Am Yisrael. Those who have been organizing supplies know how much gratitude the soldiers have. Those who have flown to Israel to assist agriculturally, know that the farmers and every consumer in the land appreciates your great effort. Those who partake in Tehillim groups, you can’t imagine how much merit you are providing our soldiers with; every mission is a miracle. Those who have taken a name of a hostage or soldier and keep it by their sefarim, to learn in the merit of their safety and success, they feel it.

Let us continue to mobilize our efforts and with even more kavana and intentionality. Let’s take that extra minute to concentrate when we say Tehillim. Let’s dedicate the first bracha of the day to the chayalim on the battlefield and for the safe return of the hostages. Put a note with the name of a hostage and soldier in your sefarim and siddurim to look at before seder and tefillah. Have them in mind when you light the Shabbat candles, that they should have a Shabbat shalom as well. Your contributions matter. Your Tehillim matter. Your thoughts matter. Let’s inspire others to likewise take something on, until houses and batei midrashim all over the world daven for Am Yisrael’s success. As the Alter Rebbe said, “A bit of light dispels a lot of darkness.” Let us be zoche to bring profound merit both in the physical and spiritual worlds.

Let us merit to be a part of the yeshua of Am Yisrael and to see Moshiach soon.

Brandon Bier lives in Efrat with his wife, Aliza, and their daughter, Meira, as members of the Shirat David community. When not getting riled up about Jewish communal issues, he works as a researcher in an experimental nuclear physics lab at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Between managing unstable isotopes in the lab and a spirited toddler at home, he’s becoming an expert in controlled chaos.