Rabbi Eliezer Sadan, who heads the Bnei David IDF preparatory yeshiva in Yishuv Eli, the first of the mechinot, spoke to Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) about involving IDF soldiers in the expulsion of Jews from their homes.
Rav Sadan is viewed as the father of the nation’s IDF prepatory yeshivot, and the Torah scholar is considered to be a voice of moderation. He stated the involvement of soldiers in such actions is “inconsiderate” and does represent a dilemma, placing soldiers in contradiction; to their loyalty to the IDF on the one hand and a Torah way of life on the other.
He explained that a soldier however is not responsible, since the decision to remove Jews from their homes is a government decision, not the individual soldier or even a commander. Therefore he stated, such actions are not prohibited for the soldier by halacha, but he called such a move “illogical”.
Giving an appropriate analogy, the rav questioned if members of the IDF’s Bedouin unit would be instructed to destroy illegal construction in the Bedouin sector. He concluded by stating that if one takes a soldier, who believes in settling Erez Yisrael and sends him to evict a close friend, such a move is indeed not rational.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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One Response
“He explained that a soldier however is not responsible, since the decision to remove Jews from their homes is a government decision, not the individual soldier…”
SORRY, with all due respect to the Rav, this is NOT acceptible reasoning!
Would the rav have said the same thing about german soldiers who were following a “government decision”???