[Avodah] hetter to have an IDF

[Dov Bloom]

Saul Newman asked: is any one aware of a psak from charedi poskim, that befeirush gives a hetter to either have an IDF, or to serve in it?  for males, of course...

My first thought was Rambam Hilchot Melachim Perek 5 Halacha 1-2 where he defines Milchemet Mitzva as, among other things, "ezrat Yisrael mi-yad tzar she-ba aleihem"  "milchemet mitzva eino tzarich litol ba reshut beit din elah yotzei me-atzmo bechol eit". Then I realized that the Rambam held down a job and studied philosophy so he probably wouldn't be considered a legitimate chareidi posek.

There is a fascinating iggeret/booklet written in 1948, before/during the War of Independence by R Shlomo Yosef Zevin, later the main editor of the Encyclopedia Talmudit, entitled "li-sheilat giyus benei ha-yeshivot". The discussion there was with those who called upon the bachurei yeshiva not to register for the Hagana "draft".  The iggeret can now be found online at http://www.vbm-torah.org/vtc/0026394.doc .  There didn't seem to be an argument about stam people joining to fight, but about bachurei yeshiva. Remember, there are probably 100 times more bachurei yeshiva now in Yerushalayim than there were in 1948, so R. Zevin writes about a fear that the yeshivas would empty out. He claims that this was a mitzva of hatzalat nefashot, "ein osim devarim ha-lalu ela al yedai gedolai yisrael" "ha-zariz harei ze meshubach" "eino tzarich litol ba reshut beit din". 

R Shear Yashuv Cohen, son of the "Nazir" and present Chief Rabbi of Haifa, who was mentioned on Avodah yesterday, served  in 1948 in the Haganah, and was captured by the Jordanians when the Old City fell to the Arab Legion in 1948. He susequently spent time in Jordanian POW camps until there were prisoner exchanges.