| Would Rashi support todays Zionist state? Would he have supported Yeshiva students closing their Torah books to go into the Israeli Army? For anyone with an open mind the answer may be surprising. I have tried to prove my case by going through the entire Torah (all 54 parshot) and using Rashi and various other sources prove that a Torah Jew is not only required to come to Israel , but every able bodied man including Torah students must go into the army. For instance, there is the story of Rav Hutner, Rosh Yeshiva of Chaim Berlin that refused to give a draft exemption to a part time Torah student from the American army because it would be a Chillel Hashem. The American Army unlike Tzahal (The Israeli Army) provides none of the religious needs of a religious Jew. Alternatively, see the Shulchan Uroch 329:6, 7 that states we break Shabbat to defend grass in a border city like Eilat even if there is no life and death issue so we do not help the goyim to enter Israel. While there have been many books written on the parsha of the week and there have been several written on the halachic importance of Israel, none that I have seen incorporates these 2 features. See for example Eim Habanim Hasimcha written by Rav Issachar Shlomo Teichtal. A former Neturei Karti (anti Zionist) he realized his mistake and wrote a 500 page book in hiding from the Germans on the halachic importance of Israel. Then there is the “Jewish Idea Volume 2” in English or “Ohr Haryon” in Hebrew by Rav Meir Kahane. My book is not to be so much a halachic book as to prove that one who disregards references of Israel in the Torah has just disregarded the entire torah. All 54 parshot. I will not discuss all the prayers a religious Jew says concerning Israel. Nor will I even begin to discuss the Prophets where all of our leaders went to war to defend Israel. This will not be a fluffy feel good book. Should the reader feel he is a good religious Jew, because he feels bad when a bus blows up in Jerusalem while he is in safe London, you will not find rationalizations here. Nor will the reader find rationalizations should he feel he is a good defender of Israel because he will not vote for a Christian politician that dares question American aid to Israel. I am after objectivity in this book. Furthermore, since this is a commentary on the torah, and the original uses both the carrot and the stick approach so too will I. |
| Would Rashi Support Tzahal (I.D.F.)? |