Serving in the IDF {Israeli Defense Force} to me seems to be a great thing and also an obligation. Not just from the Gemara which makes it clear but also from the Old Testament. One place you can see this is in the Five Books Of Moses when Moses gathered troops together to fight Og and Sihon
But also many places in the Old Testament. One striking example is in Judges 12 when the tribe of Ephraim were upset with Jephthah that he did not draft them. He went to war without drafting them into his army. So they threatened to burn down Jephtah's home and Jephtah went to war with them. --all because of the sin that he did not demand that they join his army.
From a simply legal point of view, there is no question that for מלחמת מצווה [a war of defense] one drafts even a bridegroom and bride out the the marital bed.
אחיכם יעלו למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה? Moses asked the tribes that wanted to stay on the other side of he Jordan river, "Your brothers will go to war and you will sit here?"
And Moses went on to say further that if the would not go to war and by that weaken the resolve of their brothers, then God would leave them all in the wilderness and they would destroy the entire people.[Numbers 32:6 is the start of the whole idea.]
In the Gemara a difference is made concerning community projects like digging outside the walls of the city and local taxes for which people that are involved in learning Torah are not obligated and between defense for which they are obligated. [See the relevant Gemaras in Bava Metzia and Bava Batra. The Gemara makes does say people that are sitting and learning Torah do not have to go out to dig ditches nor pay taxes but it makes no exceptions concerning a defensive war.]
The Book of Nehemiah also has an account of people that lived in Israel and did whatever they could to stop the return of the People of Israel back to the Land of Israel and to prevent the building of the walls and the Temple. So it is no surprise that the reincarnation of those same wicked men exist today. The builders of the walls in fact had to build with their tools in one hand and their weapons in the other because of the wicked men that were trying to prevent the return of the people of Israel back to the promised Land.
Thus the fact that many people in the Land Israel give comfort and support to the enemies of Israel really ought to be considered as treason and they ought to be expelled from the land.
But also many places in the Old Testament. One striking example is in Judges 12 when the tribe of Ephraim were upset with Jephthah that he did not draft them. He went to war without drafting them into his army. So they threatened to burn down Jephtah's home and Jephtah went to war with them. --all because of the sin that he did not demand that they join his army.
From a simply legal point of view, there is no question that for מלחמת מצווה [a war of defense] one drafts even a bridegroom and bride out the the marital bed.
אחיכם יעלו למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה? Moses asked the tribes that wanted to stay on the other side of he Jordan river, "Your brothers will go to war and you will sit here?"
And Moses went on to say further that if the would not go to war and by that weaken the resolve of their brothers, then God would leave them all in the wilderness and they would destroy the entire people.[Numbers 32:6 is the start of the whole idea.]
In the Gemara a difference is made concerning community projects like digging outside the walls of the city and local taxes for which people that are involved in learning Torah are not obligated and between defense for which they are obligated. [See the relevant Gemaras in Bava Metzia and Bava Batra. The Gemara makes does say people that are sitting and learning Torah do not have to go out to dig ditches nor pay taxes but it makes no exceptions concerning a defensive war.]
The Book of Nehemiah also has an account of people that lived in Israel and did whatever they could to stop the return of the People of Israel back to the Land of Israel and to prevent the building of the walls and the Temple. So it is no surprise that the reincarnation of those same wicked men exist today. The builders of the walls in fact had to build with their tools in one hand and their weapons in the other because of the wicked men that were trying to prevent the return of the people of Israel back to the promised Land.
Thus the fact that many people in the Land Israel give comfort and support to the enemies of Israel really ought to be considered as treason and they ought to be expelled from the land.
