The above quote, from Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 44:25, tells us that Jews have no concept of infallibility; even sages make mistakes. How else can we explain the words of Rav Ovadya Yosef, this past Motzaei Shabbat (Sat. night)?
"Is this a wonder, God forbid, that in war certain soldiers die--those who are not Shabbat observant, who are not Torah observant, who do not pray every day, who do not lay tefillin every day--is it a wonder that they are killed? It is no wonder, may God have mercy on them; may He bring them back in complete repentance, that they may all live good lives in peace."
Rav Ovadya, in his weekly sermon, was discussing a certain Mishna (Sota 44a), which expounds the passage about warfare in the Torah:
"AND THE OFFICERS SHALL SPEAK FURTHER UNTO THE PEOPLE [and say: Whoever is fearful and fainthearted, should go and return to his home]" (Deut 20:8)--RABBI AKIVA SAYS: 'FEARFUL AND FAINTHEARTED' IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD LITERALLY: HE IS UNABLE TO STAND IN THE BATTLE-RANKS AND SEE A DRAWN SWORD. RABBI YOSSIE THE GALILEAN SAYS: 'FEARFUL AND FAINTHEARTED' ALLUDES TO ONE WHO IS AFRAID BECAUSE OF THE TRANSGRESSIONS HE HAD COMMITTED.
Now, what would you conclude from Rabbi Yossie's opinion? Can you draw any conclusion other than that the idea that the most pious and righteous, like yeshiva students, should be on the front lines? Well, Rav Ovadya drew a different conclusion: only sinners die in battle.
Now, Rav Ovadya is known throughout the Jewish world as one of the greatest halachic decisors of our time. Nevertheless, in this forum, his weekly post-Shabbat sermon, he has repeatedly made pronouncements of this sort, which significantly hurt the image of Torah and mitzvot in the eyes of the general public. At the same time, his halachic decisions are courageous, clear and sensitive.
I only find one way to understand this paradox: it's the difference between halacha and derasha. Halacha is a legal system, wherein the Torah finds its true objective expression; derasha is subjectively tailored to the audience. To put it simply, when he faces a rabble, he rouses them--with the desire to bring them to fulfill the mitzvot he mentions, no doubt, as he said today, but what difference does that make to the families of fallen soldiers, many of whom kept Shabbat, prayed three times daily and voted Shas. Wait, I apologize for bringing up reality; this isn't a halachic discussion. If it were, I might point out that the Mishna goes on to say that these exemptions are applicable only in a discretionary war, but not one in which Jewish lives are at stake (milchemet mitzva). But this a derasha, Ssh!
OK, it finally happened. Sh'mita is less than three weeks away, and the Jerusalem Post has been running a lot of stories about the preparations. The problem is that they invariably print a lie about the sabbatical year, which really upsets me. When Yael saw it this morning, she said, "You have to write a letter to the editor!" So I did, and here it is:
To Whom It May Concern,
I was shocked to learn that the Jerusalem Post has ruled, repeatedly, that all sh'mita produce from Jewish-owned land is forbidden for consumption. There's a book that's been out for a couple of years now, the Torah, in which God writes: "During the seventh year, you must remit and abandon it, and the needy of your nation will eat" (Ex. 23:11) and "The sabbath of the land will be for you to eat" (Lev. 25:6). While it is true that the rabbis prohibited s'fihin, species which are planted annually, and there have been various halachic solutions suggested for this, no one has ever prohibited fruit of sh'mita, which has sanctity; in fact, many authorities, such as Nachmanides, consider it an explicit mitzva to eat the produce of sh'mita in the proper way. The fact that some communities seek to avoid this mitzva--much like, say, army service--does not allow them to transform a divine command into a sin.
Anchors aweigh, here we go. We have combined our highly successful podcasts, Rabbi Joe in Jerusalem and NP3: The New Pashtani Parasha Podcast, into one site: Sea of Torah, www.seaoftorah.com
We've also added two new weekly podcasts, Year of the Jew: Secrets of the Hebrew Calendar, which launches today, be"H; and Know Your Navi: The Fun and Prophets Podcast, which launches tomorrow. Get in on the ground floor! Let us know what you think!
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