18
The historian Ismar Elbogen in his "Century of Jewish Life", which he wrote before he passed away in 1943 and was published posthumously, places the beginning of the war on Tisha B'Av of 1914.
But I think that Jewish people thought of the war as having begun on Tisha B'Av even from the start of the war itself. We can see this from their memoirs. Let me cite ...
17
In his commentary to Rambam's codification of this law (Hilchot Melachim 7:5), R. David Ibn Zimra asks: “Is it the way of women to wage war?” And he cites the verse (Psalms 45:14) "All glorious is the king's daughter within the palace" in support of this. He then suggests that the women were (not actively fighting, but) supplying food and water to their ...
15
The English term for this tool is an entrenching tool. Here it is described as standard issue gear for a paratrooper in the IDF.
As far as I know, it is pretty standard, when required, for soldiers in most any modern army.
I suppose we could speculate if the Torah requires a soldier to carry one even if it isn't technically needed (just in case ...) or if ...
12
Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, in Melamed le-Ho'il 42, was asked:
At this time, in all places where Jews reside, [at the command] of the king and state every able bodied man has to enter the military and serve for one, two, or three years, and he will be compelled there to violate Shabbatot and Yamim Tovim. Is a Jew who fears God's word and observes all the ...
12
When Yaakov was threatened with Esav and his 400 men (Genesis 32), he responded in three ways (as noted by Rashi to verse 9):
He sent gifts.
He prayed.
He prepared for war.
So yes, preparing for war certainly has a prominent place in Jewish ideology, right alongside diplomatic efforts and prayers to God. All three are important components of a proper ...
12
The relevant verse is I Chron. 22:8, where David quotes G-d as having told him: "You have spilled much blood, and waged great wars."
Radak there explains that "much blood" refers to people whose deaths David caused indirectly but who didn't deserve this - such as Uriah, the kohanim of Nov, and non-Jewish civilians caught in the crossfire during his raids ...
12
The Chidushei HaGriz (§ 161) comments that the narrative between Shmuel and Shaul is a basis for the Rambam's opinion in 6:4. In verse 18, Sh'mu'el says that Sha'ul was told to destroy אֶת-הַחַטָּאִים אֶת-עֲמָלֵק:
And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said: Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed....
11
Yachin there:
אשה לאו בת מלחמה. רק לספק מזון ולתקן הדרכים אף היא יוצאת.
A woman is not able to combat, she did only provide food and repair roads.
10
About the events described in Maccabees, R. Yitzchak Isaac Halevi offers the following explanation (Doros Harishonim 1:340ff):
These Jews hiding in the caves originally had no intention of waging war against the Greeks and their Jewish Hellenist allies, and no reason to think they'd be successful in doing so. But they figured that, while the Hellenists didn'...
10
The division of the land included, among other steps:
sending out commissioners to survey it (Josh. 18:4ff)
...and to evaluate the worth of the individual regions and plots of land, to make sure that the division would be equitable (Rashi to Num. 26:54)
designating which roads would be private vs. public, depending on their grade (Eruvin 22b)
assigning a ...
9
See Rabbi Michael Broyde's excellent essay (entitled, in various versions, either "Only the Good Die Young" or "Judaism is Not a Suicide Pact!") here.
An excerpt:
It is clear to me that the vast majority of
contemporary poseqim agree with R. Shaul
Yisraeli, and for that reason, even as there are
numerous sefarim that deal with religious life in
...
9
The impetus for the drasha in the medrash is specifically because the first nation the spies mentioned was amalek, and as the ikar sifsei chachamim explains why not mention the amori and chiti who live in the mountains first, must be they were trying to scare klal yisrael with the bad memory as the medrash continues with the mashal of the child who got hit ...
8
A complicated subject.
See this post from bein din l'din blog.
In some cases it's wisest not to mix in; Rosh is famous for saying that if you insert yourself into a fight between A & B, eventually A & B will forget whatever was going on between them, and together fight you.
8
Your suggestion is correct. "Took" refers to the animals, "captured" refers to the women and children, and "plundered" refers to the wealth and objects from their houses. See Malbim.
Technically, everything was "in the city". I would suggest that the phrase "וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר בָּעִיר וְאֶת אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׂדֶה" refers to the animals mentioned immediately before. ...
8
In Chapter 25 we see that the Moabite women seduced some Israelites into temple prostitution. Therefore when God commanded Israel to raze the people of Midian he wanted the armies to kill the woman also and not take them as spoils of war. They did not do it at first but kept all the woman as booty. God was angry with them for that and then he makes it ...
8
Milchemet Reshut, an optional and/or permitted war, is the term describing offensive wars. It stands in contrast to Milchemet Mitzvah, war by commandment, which describes defense war. The two terms are used to discuss past wars, since they are relevant only when the state have both a king and Sanhedrin in place. A king can go to a Milchemet Mitzvah based on ...
8
אם בא להרגך - השכם להרגו - literally: If someone is coming to kill you, rise early and kill him (במדבר רבה פרשה כא פסקה ד; מדרש תנחומא, פנחס, פרק ג. - Medrash)
Also, scripture is replete with references to commands from G-d to go to war, e.g. the source text for the above ruling (Numbers 25):
טז וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר. 16 And the L-RD ...
8
This question is far too broad to answer here but the essence of what they follow is based upon the teachings of Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum.
There are two primary sources that lay out their approach. The first is קונטרס על הגאולה ועל התמורה which is, as best I can tell, not available on the internet.
The second is ויואל משה which can be found here. It is ...
8
Besides for the fact that G-D could have helped the Jewish people conquer Israel using 'natural' methods in a quicker manner without giving them futuristic technology, the premise of the question that G-D wanted Israel to have a 'fast and effortless' conquest is also mistaken.
Devarim 7:22 explicitly writes that G-D wanted the conquest to be slow and ...
7
The Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l states (Likkutei Sichos, vol. 15, p. 269), based on his analysis of the relevant verses, that the one camp contained Yaakov's livestock and the people responsible for taking care of them, while the other contained his family.
The point of this, the Rebbe explains, was that Yaakov was preparing for his prayer, in which he would, so ...
7
This law applies only when we dwell in Eretz Yisrael (end of Chinuch 532). Since at that time they didn't live in Israel, the law of yefas toar was not in effect.
Postscript: I found this answer in Sifsei Chachamim to Rashi, Bemidbar 31:50, as well as another answer: That a yefas toar is only permissible in a milchemes reshus, but this was a milchemes ...
7
Rambam addresses this (Melachim 6:4): "And do not kill women or children".
This is talking about a case where the women and children are not part of the war - as opposed to cases where children and women are part of the war effort, for instance, by being soldiers themselves, or the nations which we are commanded to annihilate.
Sifri (page קפז) says ...
7
The people wanted a king so that they could more closely resemble the other nations (Sh'muel I, 8:5,20; Radak ad loc.). This motivation made their desire for a king contemptible (Sanhedrin 20b; Sh'muel I, 8:7-8; cf. D'varim 17:14-15), despite the fact that, according to some opinions, there is a biblical obligation to appoint a king (see the dispute in ...
7
Last night, i asked this question of someone who served in the war. He said that when they were in the field, there was no time for davening, and he didn't say that they said the extremely short version, so i assume they didn't. On the base for a break, they were able to daven, but not everyone was able to put on tefillin. He didn't say exactly why not; ...
7
God didn't give the Jews a super weapon because he was the super weapon.
The covenant with the Jews is that if the Jews keep the Torah, God will protect them. If God gives them all machine guns with unlimited ammo, they don't need God to protect them because they could just massacre all of the Canaanites, Philistines, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, and ...
6
The Gutnick Chumash brings the Lubavitcher Rebbe's explanation of the verse according to Rashi.
Read it for full detail, but in short:
Yaakov was sure that G-d would protect his family. He was not sure that G-d would keep his fortune intact. He therefore split his family and their essentials in one camp, and the rest of his fortune in the other camp. ...
6
This question is based entirely on an assumption that "anyone living in Israel is in grave danger," but it cites no source to back this statement of fact up.
On the contrary, here is a source that indicates that people living in Israel, in general, are not in grave danger. The US State Department issues Travel Warnings "when long-term, protracted conditions ...
6
Jews are obligated to attempt to make peace with any peoples they come against.
We must offer the nation the option of accepting the Seven Noahide laws and being subject to a tax and subservience to us. Violent action is only taken if this treaty is not accepted. In most cases, all adult males are killed, while women and children are spared. Exceptions to ...
6
One keeps the sabbath — abstains from certain activities and tries to engage in holy pursuits — from sundown Friday to nighttime Saturday, irrespective of his ability to perform the sabbath ceremonies. Such abstentions and pursuits may be subject to your commanding officers' restrictions on you; consult a rabbi for specific questions as they ...
6
"Shifting one's personal clock" and the like -- the example you gave was someone who finds himself in the wilderness and has no sense of what day it is -- the Talmud says he should start some sort of calendar and work with it. That's not applicable to the situation at hand, in which everyone agrees that it's now Friday January 31st 2014 and that sunset is at ...
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