Jewish Law is Clear: Religious Values Come Before Military Objectives

I am not a politician and I have no wish to become one. I am a rabbi, and the role of a rabbi is not to be a military tactician or a political pundit, but to learn, share and teach halacha, or Jewish law. I am a trader in traditions, and occasionally, on a good day, in wisdom.

The last two years have tested my resolve, as it has for many of my colleagues, to stay within the “arba amot of halacha” — the imaginary one-square-meter space that describes each individual’s realm of agency and action. I have been cajoled and challenged to speak of politics and policies rather than Torah. Mostly I have resisted.