Har Bracha Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Eliezer Melamed is in the headlines once again, encouraging IDF service alongside with supporting the efforts to oppose the involvement of IDF forces in the expulsion of Jews from their homes.

In his weekly column in the B’Sheva newspaper, the rav is asked if he continues to support enlistment in the IDF. He responds that despite “the stain from the crime, the expulsion of Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and N. Shomron,” it is indeed a mitzvah to serve in the IDF, explaining that the military’s primary objective still remains the defense of the nation and the land.

On the other hand explains the rav, there is a need to correct the situation, to make a ‘tikun’ by opposing using soldiers to oust Jews from their homes, further stating that at times, disobeying an order may be the act required, and this may prove productive towards preserving the IDF for its objective, to combat the enemy.

The rav feels the IDF has a purpose, a raison d’être, and deploying soldiers for other missions outside this framework may be the reason for the lack of a definitive success against Israel’s enemies in recent conflicts.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)