Israel Matzav: Haaretz horrified: IDF Chief Rabbi quotes Torah

Haaretz horrified: IDF Chief Rabbi quotes Torah

IDF Chief Rabbi Avichai Rontzki quoted from Maimonides and Jeremiah at a Torah dedication ceremony on Thursday. Haaretz is quite upset.

The Israel Defense Forces' chief rabbi told students in a pre-army yeshiva program last week that soldiers who "show mercy" toward the enemy in wartime will be "damned."

Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki also told the yeshiva students that religious individuals made better combat troops.

Speaking Thursday at the Hesder yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron , Rontzki referred to Maimonides' discourse on the laws of war. That text quotes a passage from the Book of Jeremiah stating: "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord with a slack hand, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood."

In Rontzki's words, "In times of war, whoever doesn't fight with all his heart and soul is damned - if he keeps his sword from bloodshed, if he shows mercy toward his enemy when no mercy should be shown."

Rabbi Rontzki's views are widely held by the religious community in Israel (I'm not an authority to say whether his interpretation is correct, but it certainly seems to be).

But even if you are not religious, can anyone really argue with the proposition that one has to fight a war all-out? Particularly where the enemy is as ruthless as Hamas, Hezbullah and Fatah?

Israel Matzav: Haaretz horrified: IDF Chief Rabbi quotes Torah