By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com
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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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If the clean uniform would save a Jewish life then obviously the right thing to do is to give him that uniform.
What is this book called “HaTorah HaMesameches” and what is its reliability?
We only believe and retell stories of the Gedolim when they coincide with our current agenda. Otherwise we decide the Gadol never said it, or it was taken out of context, or times were different then or any other excuse not to believe it.
“There is, of course, widespread unity among Klal Yisroel now. Shuls across the country offered special tefilos and prayers to those soldiers defending against the attacks coming from Gaza.”
The Jewish (i.e. Torah) response would be to pray for the safety of all our brethren who are CH”V in danger, including the ones in danger under the Zionists and the savage (Arab) terrorists there.
How Hashem chooses to protect them is not our business.
Also, think about who needs our prayers more: a soldier sitting in a fortified room pushing some buttons, or a family in Lod that is terrified by Arab pogromists in their town?
There is nothing about soldiers anywhere, regardless of their employer, that is particularly special/worthy of prayers unless those soldiers, themselves, are CH”V in danger, like any other Jew for whom we would pray.
If there were anything special about the innate job description of a soldier, then, also world-wide, we’d be saying special prayers for Jewish soldiers in the American army, the British army and everywhere else. They, too, are protecting Jews. Yet we say prayers for only our respective host country, not for other armies.