26 Mar ENLISTING IN THE ARMY

When Jews are drafted
into inhospitable armies
in the diaspora, they
are required to work on

Shabbos and eat non-
kosher food or face

severe punishment.
Effectively, they are
coerced to violate Torah
prohibitions. Historically, this raised many
questions as young Jewish men faced a draft
into a religiously hostile army. I do not know
the exact history of Jewish service in diaspora
armies but the discussion in the halachic
literature of voluntary enlistment seems
to have begun only in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries, although an
involuntary draft began earlier. Dr. Judith
Bleich discusses responsa about army service
in chapter six of her Defenders of the Faith
regarding attitudes to military service. Here
we are concerned with halachic arguments
regarding enlisting in an army that does not
respect kosher rules and Shabbos observance
in non-urgent situations when lives are not at
stake.
I. Long Term Thinking
In 1902, Rav Eliezer Chaim Deutsch was
asked whether a young man could volunteer
for a one year term in the army in order to
avoid being drafted for a three year term
(Responsa Pri Ha-Sadeh, vol. 1 no. 38). Is it
better to serve less time and thereby violate

fewer prohibitions or to wait until he is forced
to serve so the violations are coerced rather
than voluntary? Rav Deutsch quotes the
debate between Ramban and Rav Zerachyah
Ha-Levi (known as the Ba’al Ha-Ma’or)
regarding a bris on Shabbos. In Talmudic
times, it was accepted that you needed to
treat a circumcised baby with hot water as
a life-saving measure. For a Shabbos bris,
they would heat water before Shabbos and
keep it warm for after the bris. What if the
water accidentally spilled? If you already
circumcised the baby then you have to heat
water as a lifesaving measure for the baby. If

the water spilled before the bris, the Ba’al Ha-
Ma’or (Shabbos 53a in the Rif) says to delay

the bris until Sunday. It is better to delay the
mitzvah to avoid violating Shabbos. Ramban
(quoted in Ran, ad loc., s.v. ve-heicha)
disagrees. He says to do the bris because we
only consider the mitzvah in front of us. If,
after we do the mitzvah, we have to violate
Shabbos for the baby’s health, that is a later
consideration.
Rav Deutsch suggests that according to the
Ba’al Ha-Ma’or, we take into account future
Shabbos violations. Therefore, a man should
volunteer for the lighter service today to
avoid three years of forced Torah violations.
However, according to Ramban, we only look
at the current situation and therefore a man
would be forbidden to volunteer for service
that involves Torah violations. However, after

further consideration Rav Deutsch
argues that even the Ba’al Ha-Ma’or
would not allow enlisting for a
shorter service. The Ba’al Ha-Ma’or
allows avoiding future violations by
inaction, not doing the bris. There
is no indication that he would allow
a lesser violation today in order to
avoid a future, greater violation.
Rav Deutsch makes a surprising
argument from the rule that if bandits
attack a group and demand that they
hand over one person or they all will
suffer, they may not hand over an
individual unless the bandits specify
someone who is guilty of a capital
sin (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 157:1).
Rav David Ha-Levi Segal (Taz, ad loc., no.
7) explains that we cannot actively hand
over someone to sin even if that will save
many people from sin. Similarly, argues Rav
Deutsch, an individual cannot hand himself
over to be forced to sin even if that will save
him from many future coerced sins. Someone
who volunteers for army service is choosing
to violate Shabbos, as opposed to someone
who is drafted and forced to violate Shabbos.
II. Voluntary vs Involuntary Service
Rav Moshe Tzvi Landau, his 1931 Shulchan
Melachim commentary on Kitzur Shulchan
Aruch (pp. 279a-b n. 11), suggests that the
Ba’al Ha-Ma’or agrees that on a biblical
level we look only at the current situation.
It is only on a rabbinic level that we are
strict and take into account future Shabbos

violations. Therefore, even the Ba’al Ha-
Ma’or would not allow someone to enlist

now for a lighter service to avoid a later
service that involves more violations.
During World War I, Rav Eliezer David
Grunwald of Satmar was asked whether
someone could volunteer for a war-related
factory job that entailed Shabbos work to

avoid being drafted into the army (Keren Le-
David, Orach Chaim, no. 100). Temporarily

setting aside the issue of danger, Rav
Grunwald considers multiple lines of
argumentation but ultimate rejects the idea
of committing a lesser sin in order to avoid
a greater sin. When you volunteer for the
job, every Shabbos violation you commit
is considered voluntary. It is better to be
drafted, in which every Shabbos violation is
coerced. However, he returns to the issue of
danger and concludes that because serving
in a factory or office is much less dangerous
than potentially being sent to the front lines,
it is better to volunteer for the job than be
drafted into the army.
III. Joining a Caravan
During World War I, Rav Mordechai
Leib Winkler was similarly asked about
obtaining a government job to defer the
draft (Levushei Mordechai, Tinyana, Orach
Chaim, no. 174). Rav Winkler quotes the
Gemara (Shabbos 19a) that you are allowed
to join a caravan through the desert that
leaves before Wednesday even though

inevitably you will be placed in a situation in
which you must violate Shabbos in order to
save your life. Your life will be in danger if
you are left alone in the desert on Shabbos
while the rest of your caravan goes ahead.
You may place yourself in that situation
and violate Shabbos to travel with your
group as long as you leave more than three
days before Shabbos (i.e. Sunday through
Tuesday). Magen Avraham (248:14) quotes
some authorities who only allow this if there
is a question whether you will have to violate
Shabbos. But when you will definitely have
to violate Shabbos, you are never allowed
to join that caravan. On the other hand, for a
mitzvah, you are allowed to join the caravan
any day of the week, even Friday.
Rav Winkler compares this to someone who
has been called before the draft board but
not yet drafted. Taking a job that requires
Shabbos violation in the future is like joining
a caravan. Because Shabbos violations in
that job are almost certain but not quite —
it’s remotely possible that he will get a job
that does not entail Shabbos violations on a
biblical level — he is allowed to accept such
a job to avoid being drafted into the army.
Rav David Tzvi Hoffmann has two responsa
on this subject (Melamed Le-Ho’il, Orach
Chaim, nos. 42-43). He takes the same
approach in both but the second responsum
is more personal. He was asked whether his
nephew can enlist young rather than wait
until he is drafted. If he enlists young, he will
get his military service out of the way and
begin his adult life, marry and settle down.
Either way, he will serve the same amount
of time and be forced to violate Shabbos.
Rav Hoffmann compares army service to a
caravan. When a soldier enlists, he does not
violate Shabbos immediately — only after a
few days. Therefore, since he is enlisting for
the sake of marriage and having children, he
is doing so for a mitzvah and may enlist any
day of the week even though that very week
he will be required to violate Shabbos.
In the earlier responsum, Rav Hoffmann
adds that enlisting in the army is always a
mitzvah because it disproves the accusation
that Jews shirk their civic duty and disobey
the law. It is a mitzvah to remove the Chillul
Hashem of Jews failing to bear the burden of
defending society.