The IDF's Role Models

            In my opinion, when we commemorate the memory of our soldiers who gave their lives in defense of the Holy Land and of those who dwell within her, it is equally incumbent upon us to remember those who risked their lives and through the grace of God were able to complete their missions and return home safely.

            As one who has served in an IDF combat unit (though admittedly not a front-line unit), I can state categorically that the reason the IDF has won every war forced upon us is Divine help. However, one of the things that the IDF does, which, as it were, makes God’s work easier, is that an officer does not send his men into battle, but leads them into battle. In the IDF, the battle cry is “Follow me.”

            The IDF’s approach is the traditional Jewish approach. When God informed Moses that he must prepare to die, the Master of all Prophets responded with the greatness of a true leader. Rather than renewing his request to be allowed to cross the River Jordan and enter western Eretz Yisrael, Moses’ sole request was on behalf of the people:

Moses spoke to God, saying: “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community who will go out before them and will come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so the community of God will not be like a flock that does not have a shepherd."                                      Numbers 27:15-17

            Rashi quotes our Sages’ comment [Midrash Sifrei]:

“Who will go out before them:” Not as the kings of the nations, who stay in their palaces and send their soldiers to battle, but as I myself have done in fighting Siḥon and Og, as the verse says: “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand.” [Numbers 21:34]; and as Joshua did, as is stated [Joshua 5:3] and similarly of David it is stated [I Samuel 18:16] “For he went out and came in before them” – he went out at their head and came in at their head.

            (We may note that Rashi’s version differs slightly from the actual text of Sifrei, which reads “As Pineḥas did, as the verse states: ‘And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Pineḥas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand.’” [Numbers 31:6] We should pay attention to the fact that Pineḥas, as the Kohain Appointed for War, is the representative of the army rabbinate.)

             Rabbi Moshe Zvi Neriah commented that the traditional approach of Jewish fighters precedes Moses, and dates to the time of the first Jew.

When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he called out all his 318 fighting men who had been born in his house. He pursued them to Dan. He divided (his forces) against them that night - he and his servants. He attacked, and pursued them as far as Ḥovah, which is to the left (north) of Damascus.                           Genesis 14:14-15

            Demonstrating great daring, Abram pursued the victors in the “First World War” with his 318 fighters. We may suggest that Abram led a commando raid, but that does not diminish the accomplishment, and to the contrary, it is a harbinger of the IDF’s audacious approach. The verses make it clear that Abram was a hands-on commander in the field. We may add that, even though Abram’s nephew Lot was not a Jew, Abram’s military action presages one of the definitions of Milḥemet Mitzva, a mandatory war, which is “to save Israel from its oppressors.” [Maimonides Laws of Kings and Their Wars 5:1]

Our Sages taught that Jacob prepared himself to face Esau in three ways: with prayer, sending gifts, and readiness to fight. [P’sikta d’Rav Kahana 19:3] The order presented by the Midrash teaches a number of significant lessons:

Firstly, for the Nation of Israel, prayer must precede battle, because it must understand that salvation is in God’s hands, and the nation cannot rely solely on its own might and power. On the other hand, the nation cannot rely exclusively on prayer and refrain from fighting. We are obligated to do our part, and then, and only then, we can anticipate God’s intervention on behalf of Israel.

Fighting is the last option, never the default position, and is to be used only when all reasonable alternatives have been exhausted.

In the first battle the Nation of Israel was forced to fight, against Amalek, Moses commanded Joshua: “Choose men for us, and go out to battle against Amalek.” [Exodus 17:9] As the first general of Israel, Joshua’s mission was to lead his men into battle against Amalek, not to send them to battle. It was specifically the fact that Joshua was Moses’ prime disciple and his successor which qualified him to be Israel’s general, as Alshikh comments: “Moses chose him because Joshua never departed from the tent of Torah study.” In this battle as well, there is the combination of the power of prayer and the power of Israel’s fighting, as Moses “stood on top of the hill.” [ibid.] Naḥmanides comments that Moses stood on the hill so the fighters would “see Moses engaged in prayer, with hands raised to heaven, to strengthen their belief and to add courage and bravery.” That is, Moses’ prayers increased the fighters’ morale.

Rabbi Neriah comments further that the Bible is a virtual catalogue of military leaders of Israel who led their men into battle:

                        P Ehud ben Gera declared, “Follow me.” [Judges 3:28];

P Concerning Barak ben Avinoam, the verse states: “Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men followed him.” [Judges 4:14];

P Gideon ordered his three hundred men “Watch me and do what I do.” [Judges 7:17]

            Ḥaim bar Lev, the IDF’s eighth chief of staff, (who was not a traditionally observant Jew) expressed the ethical dimension of the IDF’s approach, when he stated: “The more senior an officer, the more frequently he is required to make the decision to send men on dangerous missions. The willingness of the commanders themselves to always march at the head of the camp is the source of the ethical strength necessary to make such decisions.” Bar Lev added: “I believe the fact that our army produces such officers and the fact that it has such officers, who through personal example, self-realization and audacity, mold the image of the army and foster its spirit, is one of the superb manifestations of the uniqueness of the Nation of Israel in its Land.”

            We will conclude with an additional comment of Rabbi Neriah. Based upon the prophecy of Micah, the IDF’s approach – the traditional approach of Jewish officers is also the approach of the future, as Micah prophesied: “They will pass on, their king before them, the Lord at their head.” [2:13] “Their king” refers to a king of flesh and blood, the Messiah (as per the exposition of Alshikh), who will personally lead the Nation of Israel. Yet the prophecy of Micah adds a powerful dimension: “the Lord at their head.” As we have said, when an Israelite officer leads his men, then “the Lord is at their head.”