Late Rabbi’s Account of Historical Debates on Yeshiva Student Conscription in Israel

Rabbi She'ar Yashuv Cohen, the late Chief Rabbi of Haifa, recounted the intellectual and religious challenges faced by students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva during Israel's 1948 War of Independence regarding their participation in national defense. Cohen, who was a member of the Haganah defense organization at the time, noted that while some argued that Torah study was sufficient to secure victory, he and other religious leaders viewed the defense of the land as a 'milhemet mitzvah' (a compulsory war) requiring universal participation. Cohen reported that Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook dismissed the opposition's reliance on a letter by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook as a distortion, explaining that the original letter addressed conscription in England during World War I, not the defense of the Holy Land. In a pamphlet published at the time, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook argued that joining the army was essential for saving lives, fulfilling the commandment of settling the Land of Israel, and the sanctification of God's name. She'ar Yashuv Cohen, who was wounded and taken prisoner by Jordanian forces during the battle for the Old City of Jerusalem, later received a personally inscribed copy of this pamphlet from Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda upon his return from captivity, a document he preserved for decades.