Rav Asher Weiss on War (3), by Rav Dovid Gottlieb
What is the role of Torah study during the war? Does people learning "on the home front" help the soldiers?
[Needless to say, this is part of a very sensitive topic currently being debated]
KMTT - the Torah Podcast
Is Torah Study a Part of the "War Effort"?
We continue now with part two of this particular essay. I remind you just as a brief Khazara from what we did when we learned at the end of last week where we began what was the first public speech, the first presentation that our Vashar Weiss gave after the horrific events of Samkhaz Torah of October 7th last year. The write-up of this speech in this chapter in the Safer is dated, Istrukhag, Tukshen Paedalid, I didn't ask him, I don't know if you'd remember specifically, but I didn't ask him was it given the night of Istrukhag, so the English state would be technically perhaps even the seventh, or does it really mean on October 8th, but I'm kind of just been working with the assumption this was given the day after, and it's important for us to remember when we are analyzing the piece, the complete confusion and shock and trauma that everyone, including the people listening to our Vashar Weiss and himself, must have been in, as all of us were at that time, and that helps us both appreciate, understand and analyze in an accurate way, not overly strict, not overly compassionate, just trying to understand it as much as we can in its context how this particular presentation was given. So just as a brief review of what we've seen until now, and then we will continue, Vashar Weiss began by making one main point, which I think included a second subtle point. His main point was the importance, the critical importance of feeling Imo Anohi Batsara, the idea that we have to realize that if fellow Jews have been, you know, killed, tortured, kidnapped, they're in pain, then every Jew has to be in pain, and he quoted the very famous presentation of the Rambam and Hikosh Chuvah in Paragimal, that a person has to be Niknos Batsarasvan Shelyus Srel, you have to feel the pain of your fellow Jew, and if you don't, if you are Porish Medakhayatsibor, if you remove yourself from the collective fate and destiny of the Jewish people, then no matter how quote unquote "from and religious and observant" you are, you are going to lose your hailak in Olam Habah. And again, given Vashar Weiss, who he is, given unquestionably who his audience was and who he was speaking to, we could understand the need for emphasizing this. It's only natural that people might have felt, well, you know, the people down in the south on the Gaza envelope, as it's called, on the border, that was a very secular, a very hard left-wing type of population, the kids at the Nova Festival, needless to say, were very far from a very religious, let alone, Haradi or Hasidish existence and lifestyle, as R. Vashar Weiss is coming from and speaking to, and yet Dafka, because of that, says R. Vashar Weiss, we need to remind ourselves, it doesn't matter how different we are, a Jew is a Jew is a Jew, that are our brothers and our sisters, and we must feel their pain. Very important, it may be obvious, but it's still important to underscore the obvious. Secondly, and more subtly, he highlighted the fact, or at least he mentioned, and I'm highlighting the fact, that the fact that this occurred on Simclostora, a day in which we experienced and we expect to experience tremendous day of joy and happiness and celebration, the fact that this horrific event happened on that day made it just that much worse, objectively it was bad enough, but the fact that it happened on a day when we usually expect, when we began to experience happiness and then that day of happiness was turned to the day of sorrow, that turns the knife, as it were, that makes it even worse than it would have been. Continuing on now to the body of the speech and therefore of the chapter, as it's written up, Vashar Weiss points out, and I can attest to this, that L'Havdio Aniha Katan also was receiving requests of the similar vein. People wanting to know from their rabbis, from their leaders, from their mentors, what can we be mahazikin, what should we be doing, how can you give us encouragement, but also what can we be doing to contribute? Obviously the question in general is relevant to an entire civilian population, not everyone's in the army, not everyone's a politician who are actually impacting the reality on the ground, so there's always going to be people, even today, who are not involved in those capacities who still want to know what can they do, but also, again, if you remember, on the night after or the next day after this event, no one in any shul anywhere was thinking about practically what can we do, they were asking emotionally, spiritually, religiously, theologically, how should we respond, what can we do to help heal the nation and help move it forward? And the body of this essay seems to be four main suggestions that our Vashar Weiss makes. In our previous year, we did three of them, I'll quickly review that, and then we'll move on to the next one. The three that we saw previously, number one, our Vashar Weiss acknowledged that we have to strengthen actively, deliberately, our imuna in Hashem generally and specifically our trust and Hashem's righteousness and love for us. This was a dramatic, an extreme example of Sadek Varallo, good people were suffering, Russia Vatovlo, bad people seemed to be succeeding, and this is the ultimate question of faith that has bothered everyone going back to Moshe Rabiner, Vashar Weiss quoted, and there's been, of course, countless examples of this. In our history, and we shouldn't poo poo it, we shouldn't pretend, we shouldn't deny the question, we have to accept the reality of this question, and as he quoted from a comment of the Ramban, this is a question that has led many otherwise faithful people to leave the faith because it's such a vexing question. He pointed out, and I think this is a fair point, that the challenge, in particular in this event, but really all such challenges to our imuna because of evil in the world, it's really more emotional than philosophical. That is to say, if a person is currently a believer, so there are countless reasons why they could have given up that belief, intellectually, they can't square the belief and adjust God with bad things happening, with evil things happening. I don't have an answer for that question, necessarily, but there's nothing new in any particular event, including the horrific activities of October 7th, there's nothing new and singular about them, as bad as they were, that philosophically make the question any different. However, as Rabiner, Vashar Weiss said, emotionally, we're not just intellectual people, we're emotional people, and as he said, it wasn't just the makshava, but the real pain and challenge that this presented to us was in the reggesh, in our emotion, in our feelings, our hearts are broken. Mahiv Halavavoti said, and it's that emotional turmoil, the fact that we're just gutted by the numbers, by the pictures, by the stories, you know, going back in time, almost to the Holocaust, basically, that was just overwhelming for people, and even, you know, it's hard, but we have to do the hard work of the Makhazik Aramuna. That was point number one. Point number two was the need for Aghtus. In general, it's, of course, a good thing, and especially at the time of war. And again, this is way before there was a Jewish or Israeli, I should say, invasion of Gaza. There certainly were no bombings in Lebanon yet. All that was to come. This is October 8th, as we keep on reminding ourselves. But since Rabiner, Vashar Weiss, and, of course, we know that the last year has had a rollercoaster yoyo of up and downs when it came to the unity of the country. But this was all on the first day, and Vashar Weiss was pointing out, and I think he was really thinking about where we had come from, if you recall, in the months and really the year before October 7th attacks, Israel was very, very divided because of judicial reform and a long-standing, you know, political divides and people who defend or love BB, those who hate BB, et cetera. And Vashar Weiss was saying, "Now that we've had this horrific attack, we know war is coming. We need to be Khazakh ourselves in Aghtus." And he quoted a number of sources which underscored this important point, one being the Khazal that contrasted David Amelah and Aghav's generations, respectively, and David himself was righteous. His generation was righteous. And yet they lost battles because they were not unified and they gossiped about each other. However, Aghav himself was a terrible Russia and Ovidavorizarra, and idolater. His generation was filled with idolaters, and yet they were more successful, relatively speaking, on the battlefield because they were at least unified. And it made it not have been unified for good things, but they were unified, and because of that, Hashem protected them in their battles. We saw the Marshall suggested by one of the early Hasidic leaders who brought Hasidist to Hungary, the Ismaq Moshe, that, you know, when you have reads or sticks, you know, all separate, they get brittle. But if you bundle them together, they become strong. Or we might say in a modern context, you know, five fingers easily can be broken. But if you make them together into a fist, that is very powerful. So setter of Usherweis in the dawn of what would then become a year-long plus war and societal upheaval. It's very, very important, despite all the emotions and the challenges and even disagreements, we have to try to remain unified because that's a superpower as it were when it comes to war. Number three, he said, we have to focus on Davening. In general, Davening is important, but especially, especially in times of war and in times of distress, especially when it comes to Tihilim, says our Usherweis, it's very, very important. And he says already on that first day, he had already instituted his own shul. Three, Tihilim being said publicly, verse by verse, post by post book in the shul. Okay. I didn't realize it was take that long, but I think it was worth reviewing because we're now about to get to Ose Dalid. And Ose Dalid is by far the biggest of the points that Usher makes in this piece. And it's also potentially the most controversial because he's now about to discuss the role of being Machasic ourselves in our learning Torah. He's discussed Amuna. He's discussed Achles and Tila. And now the fourth leg upon which his argument stands is the need for his encouragement to everyone to be focusing on learning. And of course, this immediately brings to our attention the whole issue of who should be fighting in the war. And of course, the perennial controversial issue of whether Yeshiva boys should be fighting in the war and the whole Haredi draft controversy. I want to argue, and I'll mention this. I'm sure more than once as we go through the piece, that I think that whether one agrees or disagrees with everything Revasher Weiss is saying, and as we shall see, I think he's mainly just quoting Chazal's. So I'm not sure in Gomaras, so I'm not sure how one could disagree. But I want to argue very strenuously that everything that Revasher Weiss is bringing from Chazal and the point he's making here is either true or not true. I think it is true, but it is either true or not true, completely independent, completely independent of the question of who should serve in the army. I understand it's an adjacent question to that question, but it doesn't matter who is in the army of what, whether they wear a Yamaq or not, what kind of Yamaq are they wear. There was never a scenario where there would ever be a scenario in which everyone is in the army. Not only would there not be a situation in which every young person is in the army, there's an entire population of people, what about in their 30s and their 40s and the 50s and their 60s. We have an entire nation of Israel, we have an entire state of Israel, and the question is, what should we who are not currently fighting, whatever the issue is, who fights? But for the rest of us, and we may mention the role of the soldiers themselves when it comes to Torah, but certainly for the rest of us, whoever isn't fighting, right or wrong, there's always going to be people who legitimately, and maybe even legitimately too fine, again I'm not getting to that argument and I don't think our watchwise is getting to that argument either, and we shouldn't be distracted. Whoever isn't fighting, what should we be doing? So our watchwise emphasizes the very three things, and now he says, and without further ado, let's jump right in. We have to focus on Tamatorah. And as he says, (speaking in foreign language) says the watchwise is I think is an incredibly important point, and this is relevant to whether you're in a Haredi Yeshiva, or at Cioni Yeshiva, right? It's true that even in the Cioni Yeshiva, where a lot of the boys are in the war, so they're half empty, but they're not empty, there's no Yeshiva that's completely empty, so this is relevant to the Mir, and it's relevant to Mir Qazarah, it's relevant to Ponovitch, it's relevant to Gush, those who are and can be learning says the watchwise, they have to learn with extra diligence, with extra Hasmada, if people more or less your age are fighting and risking their life and having in the most difficult situations, so it's not conceivably says, inconceivable that you should just be going along as if everything is normal, you have to, on the contrary, strengthen your learning (speaking in foreign language) we have to quote-unquote be fighting, and this is obviously a metaphoric term, but it is very accepted and common term, the (speaking in foreign language) we also have to be fighting. If we're not picking up a gun, then fight in the quote-unquote war of Torah, because that says a martial wise he believes will give strength, will give spiritual power and might and merit to the soldiers who are in fact fighting in the field. Now again, I know this is sometimes perceived as a controversial point, a martial wise would argue, and I personally would agree with him, not in his my agreement, that this shouldn't be controversial, but everyone thinks about how many people and which people should be in the army, there are clear sources as we're going to quote in a moment, which emphasize the fact that the Jewish army always needs spiritual resources and God's blessing in order to be successful, and while we already mentioned three things which could help us be successful, there is a fourth, and this is a very predominant view in Chazal, and that is the special blessing and protection that can be afforded to our soldiers by learning Torah, and for this, Revushor White quotes a well-known Gomara in the Massafta Makos, which elaborates on the posture of Om, Om does Ha'yur-Aglinou, Bisharayah Yerushalayim. What does that mean from the famous Percantilim about Yerushalayim, that our legs, our feet, were standing on the gates of Yerushalayim, Bisharayah Yerushalayim, so the Gomara in Massafta Makos, that Yerim and Alif, in a play on words and a very famous Drashar, says who gives us the ability to quote unquote "stand" in Yerushalayim, to stand, Om does Ha'yur-Aglinou, who gives us the ability to stand, which the Gomara thinks is an allusion to, our ability to be standing after battle, to be strong, to be proud, and to be victorious, who allows us to be Om does Ha'yur-Aglinou, who allows us to be strong in victorious and battle, those who are Bisharayah Yerushalayim, those who are Oskim Batora, in the language of the Gomara, Mighuram the Raghlanu, Shiyamdoo M'chama, Shirei Yerushalayim, Shire Oskim Batora, those who are in the gates, so to speak, in the protective environments of Yerushalayim, we're learning Torah, they are the ones who are giving us the chus, to those who are fighting, that they should be successful in their fighting, and therefore Raghav Asherweis turns to Yeshiva Boys, but I would say, personally, I have no problem saying this is relevant to everybody, and I would assume, even though I haven't asked them, but I would assume Raghav Asherweis would not disagree with this either, but he does, I want to be fair, I want to be transparent, we're learning this together, look inside, Kol Bakhur, Shoshave Lomay, so he's clearly talking about Yeshiva Bakhram, and again, clearly Raghav Asherweis is not unsupportive of Yeshiva Bakhram learning, even at a time of war, and I would add, that's not just a question for the mere in the bonavatures of the world, even in the biggest history she was, they've been half-empty, but they have not been empty even during the war, so if you're sitting in a base matter, whether it's the mere or not, scientific argument, it is a metaphysical, mystical, if you will, or a spiritual argument, but it is what the Gamaar says, Raghav Asherweis is just translating it, we have to be focusing on our learning to give power, potency, might, and protection to our soldiers, upischos kamatura benestral oom dem bemil kamah, says Raghav Asherweis anaklum aminim bikkokha Torah, we believe, we, he means the Jewish people, he doesn't mean karedim, we as the Jewish people believe in the kokha of Torah, and therefore he says, and here he's talked before Benazmanim, says Raghav Asherweis, don't wait for Raghav Asherweis, he's telling, I don't know if he will listen to him or not, but he says immediately, right away, October 8th, October 9th, go back to the Ashivas, and sit on the benches of the base matters, and learn strong, learn stark, to give our boys, to give our men, to give our soldiers the strength, and these ras to be victorious. He then turns his attention on the bottom of the page here, to another maimar hazal, it appears in Tugamarus, the sakmigillad of Gimmul, sakherad of Madalid, which is also a very famous kamara, which on its face is obviously relevant to the point he's trying to make, but I particularly love this one, because he asks a question, and I think he gives a very beautiful, creative, and original, but very beautiful, and powerful, and potent answer, to answer his question, which is a slightly nuanced and different interpretation than most people use for this kamara, but I think it adds a nuance, which not only strengthens the point he's already made, but enhances it. What is this kamara that I'm referring to? So, hazal, tell us, and this is obviously an agaric description of the kamara, but it says to be very fascinating, when Yehoshua, the leader of the people and the general of the army, was leading the people in the battle to conquer Eretius Ra'el, the kamara says that one night, while he was so to speak resting, Hothias, Sartz, Savah, Shamlith, Nihoshua, Hihua, Apanav, an angel appeared before Yehoshua, dressed as an army general, and gave muster, gave criticism, Tohaha to Yehoshua, says the kamara, quote, Amrulo, the angel said to him, Amish, last night, Beethaltham, Tamid, Shabain Harbayim. You didn't make sure to bring, we know that in the base Magnaish, or the Mishkhan, there were two regular karbanot that were brought, one that begins the day that Tamid shall shahar, and one that ends the day the karban, Tamid, Shabain Harbayim. That's where Minhah comes from. At the end of the day, sunset right before, we brought another karban, and the angel gives Yehoshua, Tohaha, gives it muster. You didn't make sure that that second karban was brought yesterday. That was your mistake yesterday, but the angel continues and gives Yehoshua more muster. Excuse me, Aksham, Beethaltham, Tamutara, and now you have a break, you're not fighting at night, and you're not learning Torah. So you gave him two big words of muster, says the kamara in continuation, Amrulo, Al Aizum and Bata. So which one are you coming to criticize before? You mentioned two, now it's interesting as a side point, I'm not sure why Yehoshua assumes only one, he mentioned two. But nevertheless, says Yehoshua, which of these two are you coming for, or maybe we could re-interpret it. Which of these two is the main criticism? So the angel responds to him, Al Akshabati. If it was the karban, I would have come yesterday. The fact that I'm coming now shows that it's the more recent, the current sin, i.e. I'm coming, because you're not learning Torah, says the kamara, quoting the postok, beyad, vayyolan, Yehoshua, balalahu, betocha, amek, that the postok says that Yehoshua spend the night in the valley, right, vayyolan, he spent the night sleeping, resting in the valley. Amrabiokran, in a play on words, malamid, shalon, ba'om kosh al-halaqah, not in the valley, but in omek, in the depths of Torah, in the depths of halaqah. He wasn't sleeping, he didn't spend the night sleeping, but rather he was completely immersed, his whole body was focused on, he was completely shakua, as they would say in Hebrew, maybe in Yiddishu, say arangatung, he was totally consumed with. Focused on the depths of learning, Yehoshua didn't just take out a little kamara, he didn't listen to her dachyomi, she her only, he didn't just do nachyomi, or a little shnai mikra, Yehoshua was kolkulo, his head, his body, and everything in between, he was throwing himself into the sogya, with rishonim and achronim, and the kashosuribikive agar, he was in it, the omkoshul Torah. Adkhan ended the quote, dachts the kamara. Now, on its face, this is already a kamara, and it's often quoted in this context, which highlights clearly the same thesis that have otherwise brought us from the first kamara, not that there shouldn't be an army, obviously it has to be an army, but that the army is benefited from Torah, and therefore you see this chus of Torah from the, that is emphasized by the, in this kamara, same point we already saw. However, Russia-wise goes beyond this, and he asks a very simple question, he says, it's good that this is what the kamara says, but why is it fair, after all, this is in the middle of milkhamma, and Yoshua is, even if right now in night he's not fighting, but he's exhausted, shushimahyu, milkhamma, they're exhausted from other fighting, more than, so is that really a fair criticism, he's distracted, he's exhausted, number two, he's doing a mitzvah, it's a mokhamma's mitzvah, and if that's the case, oh sikwe mitzvah, patriminah mitzvah, we have a principle when you're doing one mitzvah, you're exempt from others, so here he's involved in the mitzvah of fighting, conquering the land of Israel, if that's the case, he's really exempt from these other mitzvahs, what is the criticism of Yoshua not learning, really it's not fair, it's not right holocically or fair even morally, to criticize him under these circumstances, as are Russia-wise asked on the bottom of the page, imkain mahat aromat al-Yoshua, benun shikwele yisraelu al-Skupatarabalayla, what's the criticism of Yoshua or the army that they're not learning enough, turn the page, says are Russia-wise a beautiful hiddish, again I haven't seen anyone else interpret the tomorrow this way, if you have please let me know, as far as I know this is a novel idea of him, top of the page, el-a-sheb em-es-la-ba-hamma-la-let-va-a-s-albono-sheltora, en-a-genami says are Russia-wise, you're right, from the perspective of Torah, he calls it from the coveau, the honor of Torah, as if Yoshua was disrespecting Torah, or I would add, from the technical halachic perspective, was Yoshua doing something wrong, because he was not learning Torah, says are Russia-wise, obviously he wasn't, as we just said, he's busy with war, he's exhausted, he's also in another mitzvah called nohemas mitzvah, and Yishua arachisrael, and a proof for that he says, which is this is a kind of a cutesy proof, but I think it's very clever in the world of agarta, it says if the mahat was coming to criticize Yoshua from the perspective of Torah itself, ha-ya nish-la-cha-minash-cha-min-bitz-la-da-ra-banon-ke-da-karshishivas-ra-biz-a-tora, then the angel, when he showed up to Yoshua that night, he would have been dressed like a rasishiva, and a big hat and a long coat, he would have looked like a Lithuanian rasishiva, and he'd be coming from a religious Torah perspective saying, you know, the war is good, but you're you're disregarding your ignoring Torah, and that's not right, but says are Russia-wise, that's not what happened. Instead, the angel confronts and criticizes Yoshua, whomofia kisar-t-sava, he's dressed like a soldier, he's just like a general, and what is that, teach us as a rasish-wise, I think this is so insightful and so moving to me. Al-qain sh-at al-bona-sh-al-mil-cha-ma, nish-la-cha-li-dro-sh, the angel was coming after the perspective of Torah, but from the perspective of success in war, the locus-shah-mo-s-am-yus-ra-v-lochus-shar-t-sava-ot, o-lam-s-vah-yus-ra-l. We're not like any other nation, and our army is not like any other army. We need spiritual power, as he says in the next paragraph. 'Ain-onu-man-nats-chim-be-mil-cha-mo-t-be-kocha-sar-wa-le-vad. We don't only succeed in our battles, we're not only victorious because we have might. Ela-b-kocha-sh-al-t-ra, bu-ke-de-ri-hazab-as-a-taz-machos. No! What this Gomara is underscoring is the same message we saw in the previous Gomara, about the shara-yush-al-ayim, that we need zhuyos, we need God to be on our side, and the best assurance of God being on our side is having this chus-of-t-t-ra. La fie-chah-nush-va-ham-al-t-man-a-sham-ayim-la-wush-ba-maday-t-sava-vay-nir-le-yus-shua-ke-sar-t-sava. And that's why the angel came to give this muster. Yes, the muster was about learning Torah, about being a masmid, about being stark. But how did the angel appear before Yoshua, not dressed as a rabbi, not dressed as a rahsheva, or dressed as a soldier in uniform, dressed as a general, to convey this point that his tina that is criticism of Yoshua was not from the perspective of Torah. If it was just a question of Torah, Yoshua had many excuses. But from the perspective of war, Yoshua, you are the leader of Yoshua, you are the general. And therefore you want to be successful, you want to be victorious. You can't just worry about platoons and brigades and strategy and weapons and logistics. You also have to make sure that we have the spiritual might on our side as well. We have the spiritual protection, the blessing of God. And for that, we need all the zhuyos. Yes, davening and akhartos and all these things, but it can't be without our main superpower. And that is a superpower of Torah, and therefore Yoshua, you yourself, and especially as a model, you'll inspire your soldiers when you have a free moment. Again, not while they're shooting at you, not while you're shooting back, obviously. But if you anyway have a free moment, despite the fact that you're exhausted, despite the fact that technically maybe potter, but if you really want to win, you have to make sure that you connect to the power of Torah. I have a lot to say on this, but let's just read one more paragraph. Hey, in MSU, Poshua, it says a much advice. Shagabam, mohamakamamaburfua, mohamakoshar, tromi hakayim, just like in any other area of life. Yashla also says kolash, dal dus vadar katab. Of course, of course, we don't think that things happen. Just miraculously supernatural, this is really why we sit on the couch and do nothing. Therefore, just like when it comes to medicine, we have to go to the best doctors and listen to what the doctors say and do the surgery. If they say surgery and do the diet, if they say diet and take the medicine, then they take the medicine. So too, therefore, he says, sarat sabah, hazak, muma, numa, yuma. We need a powerful army. We need a well-trained army. We need a professional army. Imklei zain. Imklei zain. Imkadnim hakalim biote, with the best weapons and the best rockets and the best planes and the best tanks. Of course, apahol ayla in die. But none of that is sufficient. It's not enough. As much as we have all the power of the powerful army, when we go out to war. And yes, we go out with a magane and a romach. We got with the spear and the sword, with the shield and the spear. We also have to have people miyachadim and shimlut Torah. Wulitzvila. People have to be learning. People have to be davening to give us those sukiyos to help and empower the people on the front lines. Raqbedar al-Zu. If we have this combination, Torah and army. Yes, we have to be able to be able to attack the army. If we want God to crown us with the crown of glory, we need to have this ros. So I want to unpack this a little bit. And I want to get acknowledged that I am quite aware that this topic in over the last year, in the last months, is incredibly sensitive. And the issue of who should or shouldn't fight, who should or shouldn't be drafted, is incredibly sensitive. It's emotional. It's controversial. People have opinions. People have strong opinions. I'll let you run on a secret. I also have an opinion. But we have to acknowledge, and I think this is the main point I want to bring out of this, is that this particular essay, this speech that I want to scave, these points that he's making, as I understand it from his perspective, and this is certainly would be my personal perspective. It's totally irrelevant to those very important, very sensitive, emotional and controversial questions. Because as I said, no matter who is drafted, it's never going to be everybody. Not everybody from any Yeshiva, not anybody from any part of the population. And it's not going to be everybody, the cloud. Not only because we've never had a situation in which every 20 year old and every 30 year old in the country was drafted, it's never ever happened. But there's a lot of people who are younger than that, and much older than that. Can I honor people live long, large nowadays? What, this is really a question for how should the rest of us be doing what we can? We know that there is a battlefront, and there is a homefront, right? Obviously, I'm not old enough to have remembered things like World War II, I was way before I was born, but I studied history, and I saw the posters, whether they were in England or in America, I was always focused on the role of the homefront. And in Israel, that's true, in Israel, it's called, there is the Khazit, that's the battlefront, and there is the Oref, those are the people back in the homefront. And we're always talking about, as they did in other wars in other countries, the role in contributing an important support factor, a support role, and the critical support role that the people on the homefront can play. Obviously, from a purely secular perspective, whether it was campaigns in England and in America and World War II, we're even secular Israelis nowadays. So there are tons of things that they're speaking about that the homefront can do to support the soldiers, which are all obviously important and part of the Stados, which have nothing to do with our topic. Whether that was making sandwiches and making meals for soldiers and barbecues and visiting, and in World War II, all the payments posters of people volunteering or working in munitions factories to produce bullets, et cetera, whether it's the food or the emotional support or all sorts of things, that's a role for a homefront to play, and the homefront needs to support the people on front lines, obviously. However, all that is true for Israel and the Jewish people, but it's also true. It's also true that the role that we have in the homefront, professional-wise, emphasizing is also for the spiritual protection that we need. We don't just need to volunteer in aroma to make sandwiches for soldiers. We don't need to just visit and do barbecues for soldiers. We don't need to just raise money and send backpacks and duffel bags and drones all important. Plenty of role, incredible role that civilian population has had, but we also also need to give our soldiers spiritual support, and that is what he is emphasizing. And in my opinion, again, hypothetically, a person who wants to disagree with this, okay, but it's still completely irrelevant to the question of who should be drafted. Unfortunately, sometimes people only have a hammer, so everything looks like a nail, as the saying goes, and therefore any issue that relates to army and Torah, they automatically convert into the question of who should be serving, drafting, and harading. Good or bad? I think both are missing the point if they analyze this essay that way. He's not talking about that issue, or Vacherweis certainly has opinions on that issue. Some people agree with his opinions, some people will strongly or softly disagree, but I don't think any that is relevant to this, whatever your position is on that, what should Vacherweis is addressing the rest of us do. So, says Vacherweis is important for us as a society and as a country to make sure that our soldiers are the most trained and the best prepared and have the best weapons. Yes, but we also have to do our part, and I like the fact that he brought an analogy from the world over Fuwa, because I've been emphasizing, even when I have a little bit, I try avoiding it as much as I can, but even when I do sometimes wait into the whole question of army and who should serve, so I was once asked on a popular podcast, so this was asked in a very public setting in a certain sense, you know, maybe it's criticism of the army that so many people you know, don't give credit to Hashem, they think it's just the army. And I told the interviewer, I thought that was, if people really use it as an excuse, I think either be critical of the army or Doc cannot to serve in the army, that itself, I thought was a very weak argument. And I, Doc, went from the army to Rifuwa to medicine. So, we shouldn't look at, you know, Milchama and War, and the army is a unique situation. It's really part of a broader point, and I said this last December in a podcast. So, now, Barshak Yivanti, I had not heard Rifuwa says essay, and I had not heard his speech and never read the write up of it back in October, but in December of last year, on my own, I made this similar point that we can analogize this to the broader topic, it's not even an analogy, we just should compare it, I guess, maybe as a better way of saying it, to the broader topic of his stop-less in the world. If you're a believing Jew, you believe in the end, God is the big boss in the sky, and on some level, there's Mahloksem, how much God is involved, but everyone believes, certainly on the big issues, certainly for the Jewish people, that God is the author of history. And therefore, we believe that our ultimate success is going to come from Hashem, but Judaism has a very nuanced and very sophisticated approach, that even when we believe that, we also have to do our practical, natural, scientific, financial, economic, and military, hisht-outless. So, we don't just dive in, we go to work, we don't just dive in, we go to the doctor, we don't just dive in, we go to war, but using that analogy of Rifuwa, we don't just go to the doctor, we don't just try to get a second opinion, we don't just try to get the best doctor and the best surgeon, we should do all of that. And then, when we're in the rating room, the loved ones are dovening and saying to Hillam, 100%, it's not a contradiction. And that, for the purpose of this essay, that's all Revushor Weis is trying to say, that yes, we need an army, who's going to be in it? Not our topic right now, but we need an army, and then the rest of us need to be focusing on being partners, not just thinking, oh, it's the soldiers, it's the army, it's the generals, Nebuch, or the politicians, oh, Nebuch, the politicians, it's their responsibility, no, it's all of our responsibilities, we're all in this together, because the RF, not just the Khazik, has responsibility, and as religious believing people, our responsibility includes not only giving material support to the soldiers, but spiritual support and sukhliyot. And that can be done in numerous ways, most notably and prominently according to my choice, by learning Torah. I want to just add one final point, and with that, we will conclude today's year, and then we'll set us up for tonight or tomorrow, we'll do our final installment of this essay. I mentioned at the outset that we would, that a long piece will divide into three, shurim, so I want to just add one last point, and this I admit, is not in our Vasharweises prepared or written words, knowing him and working with him closely over the last year, I think I'm about to say he would agree with, but I want to be clear that what I'm about to say now is not just my interpretation of him, this is just Gottlieb talking, but I want to just point out, it struck me, despite the fact that I knew all these sources before I was learning this piece with you and studying it together with you, it struck me as I was learning these pieces, specifically the Gomara, about Yoshua, and being confronted by the angel, that what is really being underscored is the importance, not only of the Chazit, excuse me, of the Oref, of the people in the home front to learn, which is our Vashar's point, I want to make that clear, I know that's his point, but you can make the argument at least as powerfully from these very same sources that's really highlighting the importance of the soldiers themselves learning, not the people who are at home, not people who are exempt from fighting necessarily because they're learning, Adarava, whoever's fighting needs to mature their learning, I just want to point out, and maybe if I have a chance to speak to our Vashar wife, I'll even ask him myself, I can't believe he'll disagree with him about this, but I would like to ask him about this, what he thinks, and why he didn't say it himself, but this most simple reading of the Gomara in Sanhedrin and Magilla about Yoshua and the angel is actually not necessarily that therefore everyone on the home front has to learn, I don't think that's wrong as a point to deduce from the Gomara to expand the Gomara, I'm okay with that, that's where Vashar always did it, but the actual closer shot message and lesson of the Gomara is not that the people on the home front should learn, but that the soldiers should learn, that the generals should learn, and this of course for those who know me, of course brings, you know, this is not a infomercial for Salash, but the work that I do and that I'm blessed to be involved with, with my organization, Salash, which helps provide religious and emotional, but definitely a lot of religious support to the soldiers, and primarily, not only but primarily through our strong encouragement of and assisting them in learning Torah, and to me, these sources in this story with Yoshua is the ultimate proof for the necessity and the importance of Salash, again, this is not a fundraising appeal, I'll make sure to fundraise for you another time, but I'm just saying, you could disagree with me, tell me, what do you think? I think that is the straightest, most simple message and messer of the Gomara, that are standing up for the soldiers that are fighting to be well trained, they need to have Kohokatura, so yes, it's nice if we can, as a nation who's unified, give them the Kohokatura from the home front, but you know what's even better, even better, just as good, but I would personally argue even better, because when the soldiers themselves are learning, as the Gomara itself describes with Yoshua, what mysterious Nefesh it has to be, how much mysterious Nefesh in the colloquial sense, how much dedication, how much effort has to be for a soldier despite his exhaustion and his fears and his very high risk responsibilities, and then even then, even then, can find some time to learn, that's unbelievable, you can believe, as the Gomara is making it clear, that there's importance for Toer to go along with mukhamah, to borrow a phrase which Travasra has not yet quoted in this piece, the safra and the saifah, the book and the sword, but it doesn't have to be the sword on the on the battle front and the book on the home front. Halavai, the soldier himself, has the sword and the book, and in fact, I don't want to take all the credit, but in large part, yes, because of Salash and beyond Salash, just because we have such amazing soldiers and such an amazing people, there's nobody like the Jewish people, there's no one like the Israeli public, and there's no one like our soldiers, so many of them, yes, with the help of Salash, I'm happy to take some credit because we think we deserve it, but in general, I'm saying the credit goes really to the soldiers, so many of them want to learn, so organizations like Salash primarily help them, but where does it come from? It didn't come from me, it came from them, they want to learn, and therefore, there's so many stories and I have so many pictures and videos and testimonials and letters from soldiers in Kanyunus and in Rafa and in Lebanon and on the border of both, and in Yuhudhava Shumron and everywhere else in between, soldiers on Shmiroth, or at night when they have a free moment or break, people learning Torah, this is incredible, so yes, it's wonderful that the home front should take it themselves seriously, and the Yeshivas, whether it's Mercazarov or the Mir or anywhere in between, should be learning seriously and seeking themselves as partners with the soldiers, all true, all true, but none of that contradicts my point, and not only does it not contradict, I think it's the simplest and truest reading of the Gomara there, it's a step, it's an expansion to apply to the home front, but that Gomara in Magellan Sanajid is really talking about, not the home front, but the battle front, that the soldiers themselves need to be learning, again, the theological point, that it's not that we don't just win and succeed in our wars, because of our guns and our soldiers and our military might, but we also, and primarily win, because we have Hashem on our side, and the greatest list of getting Hashem on our side is Torah, so that I'm obviously not disagreeing with, and that's clear in both sources, I'm just putting out a nuance which did not come out in the peace, but I think it's a fair and consistent reading of the sources, which doesn't contradict, but compliments, everything or partial wise was saying, that it's not, if you believe theologically, which he's making the point from two different Gomaras, that you need Torah to go along with all the other stuff, you know, Torah has to go along with, you know, the guns and the sword and the book go together, so that you can expand it to include the non-soldiers, I'm okay with that personally, but it shouldn't overlook the fact that we want, encourage as much as possible the army itself, the soldiers themselves to be learning, and the theological point that Torah goes together with war, and we need Hashem on our side, and we need to do all these good things like Achtos, like Davening, like Amuna, and especially like Torah, so that I'm not anyway contradicting, I'm just adding a nuance or an extra layer to it, but it doesn't in any way take away from our Vacherwise's main point, which is these are the four things we need to work on as a nation, everyone, both in the Chazit and the Oref, the battle front and the home front, Achtos, Amuna, Trela, as we saw today, the unparalleled and singular importance in this class of Torah study.