By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

It was a complex Hilchos Shabbos question.  Or so it seemed.  A supply truck had arrived on a Shabbos with replacement uniforms for the soldiers.  Rav Ra’am HaCohen presented the halachic query to Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l.

Rav Ra’am explained that there was no doubt that the unifroms had arrived from beyond Tchum Shabbos.  There was the other issue of the uniforms having been transferred from one reshus to another reshus on Shabbos – where there was no Eiruv.  It was also possible that the driver may have purposefully violated Shabbos (B’meizid). And yet, it could also have been that it was a shogeg violation.

Rav Shlomo Zalman reacted in a manner that Rav Ra’am had never seen before. “He truly became angry at me. He spoke with unprecedented firmness and said emotionally, ‘A soldier in war whose clothing is dirty, YOU GO AND TRAVEL ON SHABBOS AND BRING HIM CLEAN CLOTHING!  OTHERWISE, HE WILL NOT FIGHT WELL!”

The incident is cited in “HaTorah HaMesameches p. 161.”

There is, of course, widespread unity among Klal Yisroel now.  Shuls across the country offered special tefilow and prayers to those soldiers defending against the attacks coming from Gaza.  May Klal Yisroel experience yeshuos and nechamos.

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