[Avodah] on not fighting

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Saul Newman wrote:

> i think it can be stipulated that Medinat Yisrael [aka the
> zionist entity] makes no claim to be a halachic state

Does the halacha care whether an entity claims to be a halachic state or not? Does the halacha care whether an entity *is* a halachic state or not?

I have long wondered this question(*), and in a later paragraph, RSN gives an example of what I mean:

> one could likewise argue, that a frum Yehudi [from mamlechet
> Yehuda] who  moved to  territory of one of the other 10 tribes
> should be able to contend the division from the Kingdom of
> David was invalid, and claim army exemption from the Yisrael
> armies on that basis....

There is a certain appeal to this argument, but it would not work at all in practice: The army of Yisrael would either reject the foreigner as a traitor, or they would deny the exemption on the basis that Yisrael is the legitimate heir to the Kingdom of David.

Here is a more practical version of the same question: A few generations later, when Yehuda was being run by non-frum Yehudim, or worse, by (lo aleinu) avoda-zara-nik Yehudim, was that a "halachic state"?

Do we, or do we not, owe allegiance to such a king?

Does such a king have the halachic status of a melech?

My knowledge of Tanach is extremely weak, but I don't recall even hearing of a case where a shomer mitzvos (for example, a navi) considered the king to be pasul. Rather, regardless of how ignorant or evil the king was, they *did* give him the honor and obedience due to his office.

But the stories do not really answer my question. It is possible that the halacha does give full status to a state or government, simply because it *is* in power, regardless of whether it is "halachic" or not. But it is also possible that the halacha does *not* accord this status to such states and kings, and that the neviim acted respectfully purely for practical (read: political) reasons.

(*) It is usually around Chayei Sarah that I wonder these questions, and occasionally I asked them here. Take a look at that haftara. Was Adoniyahu the melech or not? It seems that Nasan Hanavi and Bas Sheva accepted it as a fait accompli. By what procedure did he acquire this kingship?

These questions, I believe, are NOT a tangent to this thread, but are very central to it. As I asked in the beginning, Does the halacha care whether an entity is a halachic state or not?

Akiva Miller

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