31 Oct LEAVING ISRAEL DURING WAR

I. Danger in
Yeshiva?
It is now common for
many American yeshiva
students to spend a “gap
year” in Israel after
high school. This year
usually fosters religious
growth through intense study in a specialized
environment. Since war began in Israel over
Sukkos, due to a horrific terrorist attack,
every student in Israel for a gap year faces the
question of whether to remain in a country
at war or return to their home countries.
There are many aspects of this question that
raise practical and emotional issues. I want
to explore here just the halachic issues. But
before we reach that, we should note that
everyone faces unique individual and family
circumstances. There should be no judgment
about whether someone stays or returns.
I did not go to Israel for a gap year and
instead went straight to Yeshiva University.
However, most of my friends went for what
they thought would be a full school year.
Saddam Hussein had other plans. That year
was 1990-91, the year of the first Gulf War.
During that war, Iraq shot Scud missiles
into Israel which people feared may contain
lethal gas. When a siren sounded, people had
to flee to a safe room and put on gas masks.

Thankfully, the missiles caused minimal
damage. However, there was a sense of
danger which led many gap year students to
return. YU’s dormitories did not have enough
room for all the returnees so we had to
squeeze extra people into crowded rooms. On
the other hand, many US-based YU students
went to Israel during winter break, after the
war broke out, as a sign of solidarity.
An important element of our question is
whether there is any danger for gap year
students. The vast majority of the programs
are based in cities that currently face very
limited direct exposure to the war. This
contrasts with the first Gulf War, when
students would have to run to their safe room
and put on a gas mask out of fear of missiles.
While things turned out well, that was not
known in advance. However, even today,
war can change very quickly and fronts can
shift, hopefully for the better but we do not
know that in advance. Reasonable people
can disagree about the level of danger. On
October 14, 2023, the US State Department
issued an advisory of “Do not travel” to Gaza
but only a “Reconsider travel” to Israel and
the West Bank. In other words, currently
there is more risk than usual throughout Israel
but not great risk in most places.
II. Leaving During Danger

In 1991, Rav Ya’akov Ariel, the now-
retired rabbi of Ramat Gan and

a leading halachic authority in
Israel, published an article on the
subject in the journal Techumin
(no. 12), later republished in his
Be-Ohalah Shel Torah (vol. 1,
no. 6). The primary source about
leaving Israel during danger
is Bava Basra (91a) which
discusses the beginning of the
biblical book of Rus. Why did
Elimelech and his sons Machlon
and Kilyon die? “In the days
when the judges judged, there
was a famine in the land. A man
from Beis Lechem of Yehuda went to sojourn
in the fields of Moav, he, his wife and his two
sons” (Rus 1:1). They left Israel because of
famine and went to Moav, where there was
food. If there was a famine, why were they
punished for leaving?
Rambam (Mishneh Torah, Hilchos
Melachim 5:9) says that you are allowed to
leave Israel during a time of great famine.
However, it is a midas chassidus, a pious
practice, to remain in Israel even during those
difficult times. Rambam adds that Machlon
and Kilyon were communal leaders and were
punished for failing to observe this midas
chassidus. Rav Yosef Karo (Kessef Mishneh,
ad loc.) explains that Rambam recognizes
that Elimelech and his sons were leaders
of the Jewish community and would
not leave Israel when doing so against
halachah. Rather, leaving Israel must have
been technically permissible. They were
punished because, as communal leaders,
they were expected to follow the midas
chassidus and remain in Israel, praying
for the situation to improve. Rav Yisrael
of Shklov (Pe’as Ha-Shulchan, Hilchos
Eretz Yisrael, ch. 1 n. 24) follows this
explanation, as well.
If you may leave Israel during a time of
famine, certainly you may leave during a

time of war when you face potentially life-
threatening danger. Rav Ariel suggests

that yeshiva students constitute communal
leaders, gedolei ha-dor, and therefore may
not leave. This argument is difficult to
accept. Perhaps the children of uniquely
influential Jews are communal leaders.
However, now that it is commonplace for
nearly all yeshiva students to spend a gap
year in Israel, they cannot all be communal
leaders. Rather, it seems that halachically
gap year students are allowed to leave in
a time of danger but it is praiseworthy
for them to stay. When they stay, they
show leadership, that they want to make a
statement in solidarity with Israelis. When
there are soldiers of the same age risking
their lives in combat, students can do their
part by volunteering in the community or
at least staying in their program in Israel
and continuing their studies. There are
additional considerations of the impact
Israeli morale, but that requires a longer
discussion of the prohibition against fear

during war.
III. Parental Rights
What if a student wants to stay but his parents
insist he return? Rav Ariel quotes the Maharik
(Responsa, no. 167), followed by the Rema
(Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 240:25), who
says that a son may marry a woman against
his father’s objections. The Vilna Gaon (ad
loc.) quotes many sources that say that a child
is only obligated to honor his parents for the
parents’ needs. If a father does not want you
to marry a woman because he thinks she is
wrong for you, that constitutes a child’s needs
and not that of the parent. You do not have to
listen to such an objection because it is about
the child’s needs and not about the parent’s
needs.
Therefore, suggests Rav Ariel, if a parent
wants a child to leave Israel for the child’s
safety, the child is not obligated to listen to the
parent. However, if the parent is worried and
will not become calm until the child leaves,
then it is the parent’s need and the child must
obey. In practice, I find it hard to think of a
case in which a parent wants a child to leave
a war zone that does not involve the parent
worrying. If that is the case, then a student
is obligated to leave Israel if his parents
insist that he do so. Because different parents
react differently, and different students have
different emotional and family needs, we
cannot judge poorly those who leave Israel.
They might be doing what is right for them.
Those who stay merit to fulfill the midas
chassidus of staying in Israel during a time
of danger.