HAIFA (VINnews) — Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, visited the Haifa Naval Base, to share words of Torah and chizuk with servicemen and women. In addition, the rabbi was honored during Monday’s visit with dedicating the new shul which opened on the base.
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Military personnel gathered in the new shul to hear from Rabbi Yosef. His powerful message emphasized the idea that Klal Yisrael needs both Torah study and military strength in order to be protected. He referred to the Torah learners as those “on land” and the naval soldiers as those “on the sea.”
Rabbi Yosef related the story from the book of Yehoshua: “During the conquest of Yericho, an angel appeared to him [Yehoshua] and told him that he came because they weren’t studying the Torah. We see from here that war needs both the military might of the brave soldiers and the spiritual might of those who study Torah.”
He added: “You the soldiers and commanders who stand here, don’t become despondent, and be strong in your mission. You, the ones who fight in the sea, together with the Torah students on land, protect the people of Israel. We pray for your wellbeing, those who stand on land and on sea, HaKadosh Baruch Hu should give you success.”
Shouldn’t that message instead be conveyed as War requires military AND spiritual strength. Military strength to soldiers is the given, the novelty is spiritual.
Without the IDF, without those who have education in math, science, arabic, english, etc. all those learning in Eretz Yisrael would be killed by Hamas and their allies. Remember, the muslems killing included killing lamdim in Yeshivas in Chevron in 1929.
You can not stand by a field and learn and expect the field to produce fruit to feed you. Al Sheloshes Devarim H’alom Amaid,……
The truth is, as per Rav Yisrael Elya Weintraub (and others), that it is only Torah that protects Klal Yisrael there, not the Zionists’ army. But it’s nice that he’s being mechazek them.