Trust the Magic

How do you convince people not to go to the army?

(Pictured above: R. Mordechai Neugroschel, who opposes army service, and Rav Eliezer Melamed, who is in favor of it)

Listening again to R. Mordechai Neugroschel’s lecture on why charedim shouldn’t serve in the army (you can hear an audio recording here), something occurred to me. People have told me that he is a brilliant scholar, a renowned philosopher, an expert in explaining Torah even to secular Jews. But his lengthy and empty presentation featuring only five minutes of actual content that presented only two sources. And at the end, he wrapped up by explaining that it ultimately all boils down to one point: We have to follow the Gedolim, and in particular Rav Dov Landau, because he is the Gadol HaDor. And as such, he has supernatural guidance, such that even if he seems to be wrong, he must be right.

As proof for this, R. Neugroschel cited the verse קֶסֶם  עַל־שִׂפְתֵי־מֶלֶךְ בְּמִשְׁפָּט לֹא יִמְעַל־פִּיו׃ “There is magic on the lips of the king, He cannot err in judgment” (Mishlei 16:10). While Metzudas David explains this rationalistically, R. Neugroschel cited the Vilna Gaon’s exposition that it refers to Torah scholars, and it means that even if they err in the course of determining their ruling, God will supernaturally ensure that their answer ends up being correct. And thus, we should follow the Gedolim, because even if they seem to be wrong, they are right.

R. Neugroshul’s lack of discussion of sources, and his final claim that it’s ultimately all about following the Gedolim, struck me as odd. If a dati-leumi Rav was giving a lecture on why one should serve in the army, he’d have lots to say. He’d talk about all the wars in the Torah and all the people who went to battle rather than learning Torah. He’d speak about milchemes mitzva and its underlying rationale. He’d speak about Lo saamod al dam reyecha (“Do not stand by your brother’s blood”) and how gemilas chasadim is one of the pillars of the world. He’d speak about nosei b’ol (sharing the burden) and national responsibility.

The speaker would never, ever, say that the reason why they should go to the army is that the Dati Rabbanim say that they have to go. He wouldn’t have to. Because every single person in the audience would understand, thoroughly and deeply, all these concepts, and the values and reasoning would resonate strongly with them. They wouldn’t need to be told that they have to trust their rabbinic leaders who must surely be magically correct even if they appear to be completely wrong. And if they were told that, they’d probably even be suspicious. This would be with good reason - you don’t need to appeal to supernatural guidance when the merits of your case are clear.

And let’s turn to R. Neugroshel’s claim. Is it true that the Gedolim have supernatural guidance and can’t be wrong? It should be noted that the Vilna Gaon cited by R. Neugroshel was talking about a case of a practical halachic ruling being based on faulty information, referring to a case in Gittin 77b where Rava thought he made a mistake but was ultimately vindicated. But note that Rava thought that it was indeed possible for him to make a mistake! Also, there are countless cases where practical halachic rulings are discovered to have been based on faulty information and are reversed, and the Torah itself discusses how to atone in circumstances where even the Sanhedrin made a mistake. Thus, the Vilna Gaon must surely only be referring to a possibility, not a definitive statement of what always happens.

R. Neugroshel’s claim takes us back to the ban on my books, in which the (charedi) Gedolim insisted that it is heresy to claim that Chazal can be scientifically wrong. But then people pointed out that there are many dozens of prominent Rishonim and Acharonim who say precisely this. Chazal can be wrong, and the Gedolim were wrong.

In the ensuing years, the Gedolim clearly were wrong about lots of other things, such things as vouching for child abusers, granting unprecedented authority over conversions to a known manipulator and sexual predator, and claiming that learning Torah obviating the need for Covid precautions (about which they subsequently did a revealing full reversal). And going back to an earlier period, the most tragic mistake was telling Jews to stay in Europe before the Holocaust because everything will settle down and be fine.

And, of course, what do you do about all the Gedolei Torah who say that yeshiva students (and certainly others) should serve in the army? Some people act as though they think that anyone who believess this by definition cannot be a Gadol. But note that Rav Eliezer Melamed makes a powerful statement in the opposite direction - that any rabbi who does not have a thorough and fully accountable handling of serious issues such as national defense cannot be called a Gadol.

If you believe that you can abdicate responsibility to think through the propriety of avoiding army service because you are following The Gedolim, then you should think again.