c. 2004 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Saint Leo University.)

(UNDATED) The 2004 election is rapidly turning into a martial political campaign.

George W. Bush says he is a “war president,” and John Kerry, a former U.S. Navy officer, told the Democratic Convention he is “reporting for duty.”

Bill Clinton reminds voters that the president, Dick Cheney and he never served in Vietnam. Indeed, Clinton points out that both he and the vice president avoided the military draft.

The Democrats and Republicans are trotting out retired generals and admirals to impress the American public, and the word “war” is front and center in the run up to Election Day.

All this talk set me wondering. As a former United States Air Force chaplain, should I dust off my uniform, put it on (if it still fits me), and run for office? Any office will do; it doesn’t matter.

But before the bellicose talk spirals out of control, it’s time to take a deep breath and run a Jewish reality test on the concept of war.

The Hebrew Bible and the Jewish religious tradition offer keen insights and teachings about combat and warfare. Because nothing ever came easy to the ancient Israelites _ famine, Egyptian slavery, the Exodus, 40 years in the wilderness, endless battles among themselves and with others _ the Bible describes the fierce battles and armed conflicts they faced.

The bittersweet book of Ecclesiastes sadly recognizes war as a constant component of human existence: “To everything there is a season … a time to love, and a time to hate, a time for war, and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:8).

But the book’s world-weary author is no war-lover. On the contrary. Ecclesiastes describes the potential power of diplomacy at a time of crisis: “Wisdom is better than weapons of war.” (9:18).

The Psalmist warned about a certain kind of leader who has tragically appeared again and again throughout history: “Smoother than cream were the speeches of his mouth, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, yet were they keen-edged swords” (Psalm 55:22).

The Hebrew Bible recognizes the reality of war, but it is the prophet Isaiah who ultimately has the last and most powerful words on this painful subject: “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).

Centuries after the Bible was completed, Jewish sages continued to ponder the grim reality of war. Like Scripture, some of the post-biblical teachings are as fresh as today’s news headlines.

Rabbis living in what is today’s Iraq compiled the Babylonian Talmud (the Hebrew means “study”) between 200 and 500 A.D. It is an extraordinary collection of teachings including some specific references to warfare.

The rabbinic authorities were careful to provide for exemptions from military duty. “The officers shall ask the people: `is there a man who has built a new home, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house’ (Deuteronomy 20:5). Or perhaps he has recently planted a vineyard, or perhaps he has recently taken a bride in marriage. If that is so, let him return home.”

But the Talmud requires that a person deferred from military duty has an obligation to be active on the home front: “Those sent home must send supplies of water and food to the army, and keep the roads in good repair.”

Because going to war is such a significant and dangerous act of statecraft, Judaism makes a distinction between wars of necessity that involve self-defense and imminent peril, and nonobligatory or optional wars. The two are quite different.

The Talmud asserts there must be enabling legislation for nonobligatory conflicts: “People may not be sent to fight in an optional war without the consent of the court of seventy-one leaders.”

However, in obligatory wars “every person must go forth, even a bridegroom from his nuptial chamber, even a bride from her bridal bower.”

The Talmud takes the biblical verse describing those who are too “fearful and fainthearted” (Deuteronomy 20:8) for battle and uses it as a validating proof text to offer exemptions for those who “tremble at the sound of trumpets, crashing shields, and neighing horses.”

Clearly, the ancient rabbis understood not only the physical damage of warfare, but the psychological trauma as well.

Finally, the Talmud identifies a distressing but inevitable truth about armed conflict: “In debating sessions on war, none is as good as the person advanced in years; and in war itself none is as good as a young person.”

MO/JL END