This is a subject upon which there will never be accord- so I will avoid commenting on it, except to say that i side with Yichusdik,aviK ,sam 2 and others. But on one remark I have to answer because i shows the total ignorance of history. “Chppy” asks : “why didn’t Rabbi shimon be yochai, shammai, rashi, Rambam, the chasam sofer, the chofetz chaim not need an army?”.
Does the poster not know about the Holocaust and the Russian pogroms? in the chofetz chaim’s times, a Jewish army would have been very useful. Does he not know about the killings of jews in the time of the Crusades? Rashi could have used a jewish army at that time…And there actually was a jewish army in the time of R”shimon bar jochai- it was called the army of Bar Kochva- that Rabbi Akiva called the Moshiach. So, yes ,we always needed an army-except we could not have one- now that we are back in our Eretz Hakedosha- we have a Jewish army!