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| LANDO, HIRSH, & ASHAMED OF HIMSELF! |
What would happen if Israel disbanded its military and devoted all national energy and resources to Torah study? Would it be a Messianic utopia — or national suicide? This provocative thought experiment forces us to confront the tension between spiritual ideals and the gritty demands of survival.
Imagine an Israel without tanks, jets, or soldiers — just rows of yeshivot stretching from the Negev to the Galilee. Every citizen is a Torah scholar. No conscription notices. No reserve duty. No Iron Dome. Instead, there is the “Dome of Faith,” built on tefillin, Tehillim, and the Talmudic promise that Torah protects.
Some religious thinkers dream of such a world. The Talmud (Sotah 21a) teaches: "Torah protects and saves." The Zohar says the world exists only through Torah learning. And the Midrash boldly claims: "If all Israel kept two Shabbatot, they would be redeemed." Would not a country entirely committed to Hashem’s will earn Divine protection?
But let’s not kid ourselves. Jewish history is written in the blood of pogroms, crusades, and expulsions — all while our people learned Torah with mesirut nefesh. There were Torah giants in York and Worms, Vilna and Baghdad. They were slaughtered just the same. The Torah they studied ascended to heaven. Their bodies lay in the streets.
The idea that Torah alone will protect the Jewish people, without any army, borders on magical thinking — the very kind the Torah itself warns against (Devarim 18:10–12). Even Yaakov Avinu, the ultimate ish emet, prepared for war when confronting Esav. He prayed, yes. But he also sent gifts and split his camp in case of attack. Emunah and strategy — both.
The State of Israel, reborn in 1948, was not handed to us on a silver platter of Gemaras. It was defended in blood, sweat, and sacrifice. In every war — 1948, 1967, 1973, and today in Gaza — our survival depended on young men with weapons and commanders making impossible decisions in real time. Did Torah study help? Certainly. Did Divine Providence play a role? Undoubtedly. But did tanks, F-16s, and cyber intelligence matter? Absolutely.
To imagine an Israel without an army is to invite our enemies to lunch in Tel Aviv. Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas — these are not nations that will be disarmed by Dov Lando Or Moshe Hillel Hirsh. They are not impressed with our lomdus. They understand force — and unfortunately, in this world, so must we.
Some in the ultra-Orthodox world claim that Torah learning is the “true army” of Israel. They cite the tribe of Yissachar who learned while Zevulun fought. But they forget: Yissachar wasn’t the whole nation. He was part of a partnership. The Men of the Great Assembly said: "The world stands on three things — Torah, avodah, and gemilut chasadim." Not Torah alone. A world that rests on one pillar collapses.
Faith that dismisses all human effort is not emunah — it's fatalism dressed in a kapoteh. Real emunah means building tanks and trusting God. It means defending the helpless and praying for success.
As the Netziv of Volozhin taught, Torah and derech eretz must walk together. But the Netziv read newspapers daily, so his book was recalled by a yeshiva in Lakewood, so maybe disregard the Netziv!
Would Israel survive with no army and only Torah study? In the current world — absolutely not. Such a model would not usher in redemption. It would bring annihilation. That’s not cynicism. That’s Jewish history and common sense.