to manitou at 12 00- how can we be chayiv, according to your understanding, in having an army, if we are dispersed throughout the world? how can one say that the Israeli army is to protect the jewish people, or that it is the army of the Jewish nation, if it simply does not function as a protector of jews outside of israel?
my point is that I would think it is logical that we would only have this concept of an army, as defined by the Torah, in a situation where klal yisrael is one, together, and not in a galus. That kind of army would include people, ages 20 to 60, protecting the entirety of klal yisrael.
In this vein, the israeli army would then be a regular army, albeit the best and most important one, as it does protect the land, and all the jews in it, with Hashem’s guidance.
We would need an army to protect ourselves, because if we didnt have one, the arabs would come in and kill us. Therefore, one would be needed in eretz yisrael and not the rest of the world. Eretz Yisrael is the only place that Jews are under constant threat.
We would need only enough of an army to be a deterrent to the arabs, to keep them at bay. Any more soldiers wouldn’t even be necessary for this army.
Therefore, how can you say that all jews are chayiv in this army?