Several dozen people gathered on Zoom on Sunday morning, December 8, to hear Rabbi Binyamin Zimmerman present “Halachic Challenges and Questions That Highlight Aspects of the Current War” from Israel. The talk was sponsored by the Jewish Community Forum of Raritan Valley (formerly known as the Orthodox Forum of Highland Park/Edison).
Following a welcome by Forum Co-Chair Mark Abraham, the speaker was introduced by Planning Chair Alan Silver, who had been impressed when he had initially heard Rabbi Zimmerman speak while on a community mission to Israel earlier this year.
Rabbi Zimmerman noted that the current war has presented new and recurring questions that are the specific responsibilities of the Halacha Department of the IDF Rabbinate. Some questions have not been asked for thousands of years and some are new questions that would never have been dreamed of in biblical times—yet all deal with Jewish law as pertaining to the fight for survival of the nation of Israel.
In 1967, it was rare to see an IDF soldier wearing a kippah. Today there is an entire department overseeing all aspects of Jewish law, from day-to-day issues such as kosher certification to questions involving mission-critical issues. “When dealing with Halacha, there is a need for specific knowledge as well as an understanding of the impact a decision will have on others. There is a responsibility to insure that the army operates according to Jewish law as well as to insure the success of the mission.”
The description of how to go to war as described in the Torah is equally relevant today. Each soldier has access to a phone number where they ask halachic questions, and senior staff have access to “red phones” for critical concerns. Even non-observant IDF members feel a connection to their heritage in this time of war. Prior to October 7, 2023, the supply of 30,000 pairs of tzitzit in IDF warehouses was deemed sufficient to cover anticipated demand. After October 7, the supply only lasted a couple of hours and many soldiers demanded them even if they normally did not wear them. “Soldiers believed tzitzit to be the ‘original’ bullet-proof vest,” said Rabbi Zimmerman, telling an apocryphal story about fringes stopping a bullet. “The tzitzit symbolize a sense of Jewish pride that many did not know they had.”
The Chanukah story of the Maccabees is similar to what we see today. The historian Josephus notes that the Assyrian Greeks specifically attacked the Jews on Shabbat because they thought that the prohibition of desecrating the Shabbat would mean the Jews would not fight back. “There is a Catch-22,” Rabbi Zimmerman said. “How can we desecrate the Shabbat and fight the war to preserve the Jewish faith?” In the book of Maccabees, a Kohen says that Sabbath observance does not mean one has to lose a war. Saving a life of one person (or a nation) supersedes Sabbath observance and battle is permitted.”
The first Chief Rabbi of the IDF Rav Shlomo Goren turned the IDF into a halachically observant army in the 1960s. Kosher food was not being served to paratroopers because there weren’t any observant Jewish paratroopers. So Rav Goren trained to be one and broke his leg on his first jump. When asked, Rav Goren said that Hashem was with him—otherwise he would have broken more than one leg!
Parshat Shoftim states that Israel must fight until the enemy is entirely rooted out, even if it means fighting on Shabbat. Even if no immediate threat to life exists, the war must continue to ensure that the enemy is destroyed. Based on the Talmud, Rav Goren noted that the “Jewish nation is required to fight a war to win. It is a battle for the continuation of the Jewish people to live in Israel and around the world.”
Interestingly, many medieval Jewish sources, such as Rav Yosef Karo, never included laws concerning Jewish armies because no Jewish armies existed. Why include something that was not a practical everyday question? A Jewish army was perceived as something only relevant in the time of the Mashiach. In 1948 the “impossible” became the “possible” with the founding of the IDF, and Halacha surrounding warfare returned to daily responsa. Can food be prepared or telecommunications used on Shabbat? Does an eruv need to be established in Gaza? Can training continue on Shabbat—or only actual military operations? “Army Halacha requires a unique understanding of situations,” said Rabbi Zimmerman.
Interesting questions involving monetary law were presented after October 7. Some soldiers who fought to eliminate the terrorist infiltrators in the destroyed Kibbutz Nir Oz called to ask if they were allowed to eat any of the food they found in the destroyed homes of the kibbutz. The local security officer assured them they should take whatever food they wanted. But the soldiers wanted to make sure it was halachically permitted to take something that did not belong to them. Even though the soldiers had not eaten in several days and were in dire straits, they wanted to be careful that they were not stealing. Other interesting questions involved whether mezuzot need to be placed in buildings where IDF troops are housed, whether a soldier with only one day of leave can travel on Shabbat to see his family if he hasn’t seen them in months, and if it is permissible or respectful to take a Torah into battle.
The Torah says that Israel should not despair or fear of being outnumbered because Hashem is with them. A true statement for these times as well. To paraphrase what Mark Twain said in the early 20th century: The enemies of the Jews have historically dissolved in the sands of time, and the present enemies of Israel will also disappear.
Rabbi Zimmerman, originally from West Orange is the head of World Mizrachi’s Musmachim semicha (rabbinic ordination) program and serves as director of H.E.S.B.E.R. (Hebrew English Source Based Educational Resources) and senior educator at the Zomet Institute. He also serves as a captain in the IDF (res.) Rabbinate, and has been actively serving in the reserves since the start of the war.
