Reply To: Zionism, Why the Big Debate?

tzviki16:

So I decided to check out this sefer that you say is a must read. It’s not on hebrewbooks but I managed to find a partial pdf linked on some site. So I read a couple of pages. In the part that I happened to open up to, he was trying to prove that there is no din of milchama nowadays. He writes:

??? ????? ????? ?? ????? ???????? ???”? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? ????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ??????

???? ??? ????? ???? ??? [emphasis his]

???? ???? ???”? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ??????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ?? ??? ????? ???? ??? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ??”?

Now what the Chasam Sofer actually does write (Even Haezer 2:155) is:

??? ???? ????? ???”? ?”? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ???”? ???? ??”? ?????? ?”? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ????”? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??????’ ?? ???? ??? ?? ??? ???? ???’ ??? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ????

?????? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ??? [emphasis mine].

The Chasam Sofer does not say that the din of milchama does not apply nowadays. It is possible that that he means that just the mitzvah of ??? ???? ????? does not apply nowadays, although it is also possible that he means that milchama does not apply nowadays. However, the Sefer Hachinuch in Mitzvah 582 (the mitzvah of ??? ???? ?????) writes:

?????? ???? ?? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ?????? ?? ?? ????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ??? ???? ???? ???

In other words, the part of the mitzvah relating to war does not apply nowadays. Yet the Sefer Hachinuch in several other mitzvos makes clear that milchama does apply nowadays. For instance in Mitzvah 526 he writes:

?????? ???? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? about appointing a Kohen for war.

In Mitzvah 527 he writes:

?????? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????

and in Mitzvah 532 he writes:

?????? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ?????

Perforce, the fact that ??? ???? ????? doesn’t apply does not mean that milchama doesn’t apply.

He also quotes the Noda B’yehuda as proof. The Noda B’yehuda writes:

??? ??”? ?? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ??????? ??? ?”? ?”? ?? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ??????? ???? ????? ?”? ?? ?”? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ??”?

However seeing as the Noda B’yehuda doesn’t mention milchemes mitzvah and it is in fact a machlokes rishonim whether yefas toar applies to a milchemes mitzvah, this doesn’t really prove that you can’t have a milchemes mitzvah nowadays.

The above are my observations from the two pages that I read.