One of the under-appreciated concerns - sometimes articulated, often unconscious - held by Chareidim with respect to army service, is the concept of “chain of command.” For a young man whose guiding force in life is G-d, the Torah and rabbinnic authority, submission to faceless officers high up the IDF’s ladder can seem sacrilegious.
This is compounded when considering possible halachic matters of life and death: who is authorizing actions that place soldiers’, and others’, lives at risk? Are these decisions guided by Torah principles in any sense?
Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody, founder of Ematai, and author of the recently-released instant-classic Ethics of our Fighters, joins us to explore these vexing issues.
Iyun Podcast