Highlighting: Milhemet Mitzvah: Volume 1: Halakhic Foundations, Religious Authority, and Military Service in Israel’s War of Independence. Institute for Jewish Research & Publications. 2025. 438 pages. ISBN-10: 1962609154.

In the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray’s character becomes trapped in a time loop and is forced to relive the same day repeatedly. The notion of the conscription of yeshiva students into the Israeli army is similarly a looping idea that has existed even before the state was born. This issue has come up continually since 1948, and like “Groundhog Day,” has still not been resolved as of 2025.

For the longest time, the Charedi leadership in Israel has repeated the claim that the Israeli army does not need Charedim. The Gaza War has made it eminently clear that this is simply erroneous. If that were the case, soldiers would not be called up for nearly a year, leaving their families and workplaces behind.

Drafting seminary students, in general, and yeshiva students in Israel, is a complex and challenging topic. In “Milhemet Mitzvah: Volume 1: Halakhic Foundations, Religious Authority, and Military Service in Israel’s War of Independence”(Institute for Jewish Research & Publications), editors Aviad Hacohen, Rabbi Yitzchak Avi Roness and Menachem Butler have gathered an all-star cast of scholars. What emerges is a book of extraordinary insights on the most consequential topic in Israeli society today.

Published by the Institute for Jewish Research & Publications, it fosters a deeper understanding and appreciation of Jewish intellectual and religious history by unearthing hidden treasures of knowledge and making them accessible to the world. By expertly curating scholarly collections and supporting innovative research, the Institute aims to illuminate the rich tapestry of Jewish thought and culture.

Too many books on this topic turn into polemics. Many from the Charedi viewpoint take it as axiomatic that yeshiva students are completely and unequivocally exempt from military service. Yet, as the essays in this volume articulately clarify, the issue is much more nuanced and complex.

The danger of polemics is that it often makes complex ideas monolithic. But here, each of the authors in this brilliant volume takes a sophisticated and intellectually honest approach to the topic. Polemics frequently refuse to quote or even acknowledge the opposing viewpoint, but none of the authors here fall into that trap.

The book opens with fighting words from Menachem Butler, who writes: “Unlike earlier generations, who engaged with the realities of statehood and national defense through halachic analysis, contemporary Haredi leadership has increasingly prioritized political expediency over rigorous halachic deliberation.”

As to the Institute’s goal of unearthing hidden treasures of knowledge, had they just published the chapter, “Recruitment of Yeshiva Students on the Eve of the War of Independence,” by Rav Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, that would have been an amazing accomplishment. Rav Herzog was a Renaissance man, at home in the sciences and languages, the only chief rabbi with a PhD, all while completely mastering Talmud, Halacha and everything in between.

Written in January 1948, Rav Herzog’s magnificent analysis deals with the rabbinic debates concerning the partial drafting of yeshiva students. It presents a halachic analysis of the security and political circumstances preceding the establishment of Israel in May 1948. This brilliant essay remained unpublished for nearly 60 years.

One can feel Rabbi Herzog’s frustration and incredulousness when he writes, “I must express my deep sorrow that some great Torah scholars do not recognize the gravity of the situation, and they do not understand that the opportunity given to us to establish a Jewish state is indeed a divine salvation, and eventually the beginning of the redemption.” The feelings he wrote about in 1948 are exponentially felt in 2025.

The Talmud, at the end of Ketubot, deals with the three oaths. As an Aggadic passage, it must be taken seriously. But is it meant to be taken literally and halachically? Rav Herzog writes that it should not be and that the argument that it should be is null.

Walk into a Jewish bookstore today, and you will find many valuable books on topics with a limited audience. Two titles that come to mind are “Kidney Donations in Halacha” and “Gluten Free in Halacha.” Yet the topic of yeshiva students serving in the military affects everyone, which is why this volume is critically important.

A little under half of the book is written by historian Dr. Moshe Ehrenwald. He writes that in November 1948, the total number of exemptions for all yeshiva students in Israel was approximately 800. Jump to 2025, and Rav Asher Arieli of the Mir Yeshiva has many more than that number of students in his class alone.

Ehrenwald’s chapters provide myriad fascinating insights into the recruitment and participation of Haredim in the army. This, in part, was a product of necessity as the Arab attacks in the years 1920, 1929 and 1936-1938 against the Old Yishuv and Haredi communities, and the heavy losses in life and property they suffered, led many of them to realize that their opposition to Zionism did not protect them from the Arab nationalists and the masses.

This volume significantly deals with four personalities: Chief Rabbi Herzog, David Ben-Gurion, Chief of the Military Rabbinate and Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Goren, and Rabbi Meshulam Roth.

As to Rabbi Roth, who may not be well-known to Americans, Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook was asked who the Gadol HaDor was in the generation after Rav Kook, to which he replied, “Rav Meshulam Roth.”

This is the first volume of a multi-volume series, and the editors are to be commended for putting this brilliant work together. It is an incredible work of brilliance on one of the most pressing topics facing Jewish society today.

Written in a penetrating, intellectually honest and rigorous manner, this is an extraordinary work that is as timely as it is insightful.

Ben Rothke lives in New Jersey and works in the information security field. He reviews books on religion, technology, philosophy, and science. Follow him on Twitter at @benrothke.