When a Jewish Soldier Was Sent Into a Death Trap
Plus tall tales about Yemenite missiles, 16% of IDF combat troops maimed in one year, and "confusion" at Yeshiva University
Note: The following Torah teaching is for educational purposes,
and is not a call to action.
Although a casual reader of Tanach or a Kara'ite will inevitably get this wrong, like so much else, King David had legitimate reason to execute Uriah the Hittite for treason. However, for reasons of personal expediency, he chose to orchestrate Uriah's death on the battlefield in a way that would appear as a tragic but ordinary event (Shmuel II 11). In this David acted improperly (see Shabbos 56a).
David sent a letter to his trusted general Yoav (ironically in the hands of Uriah himself) instructing him to send Uriah into the heat of battle, and then suddenly pull back the troops, leaving Uriah exposed. Uriah would need a miracle to survive this death trap —a greater miracle than usual in times of war — and such a miracle was not forthcoming. The plan was successful. Uriah, one of the great warriors of the Jewish people (see Divrei Hayamim I 11:41), was killed.
This much is fairly common knowledge, but what happened next is not widely known. Chazal spell it out for us in several places in Midrash (see Bamidbar Rabba 23:13 and Tanchuma Masei 12):
נתקבצו כל ראשי החילים על יואב להרגו
All the heads of the soldiers gathered against Yoav to kill him.
Of course they did. They weren't stupid. They understood that the bizarre event leading to Uriah's death was not the product of an intelligence failure, incompetence, a perfect storm of unfortunate coincidences, or expert planning on the part of the enemy. It was a deliberately orchestrated death trap.
Furthermore, whether or not they could fathom a motive or accept it had no bearing on the reality starting them in the face. The crime had clearly been committed either way.
The heads of the soldiers did not decide that now wasn't the time to ask questions, and that an investigation could be conducted after the war was finished. That would be ludicrous and intolerable. A treasonous general would not be allowed to lead them one moment longer, nor would justice be delayed. The blood of a Jewish soldier sent to die for nothing would be swiftly avenged.
Chazal tell us that Yoav showed them the letter from King David, and his life was spared. Although Chazal don't elaborate, it is clear that showing them the letter was more than a defense of “I was just following orders”. That would hardly have saved his skin. If anything, those who gave the orders would have been dealt with as well. Rather, the heads of the soldiers must have ascertained that Uriah was guilty of rebelling against King David, which justified Yoav in carrying out the instructions, even though the manner in which Uriah was eliminated was improper.
(Indeed, David openly lamented Yoav's betrayal in sharing the letter, one of several crimes Yoav committed against David. This is not to say that Yoav should have martyred himself to cover for David, but Yoav's pattern of vigilante behavior, noted in the same Midrash, renders sharing the letter an act of betrayal as well. Tellingly, Chazal hold Yoav liable for this, and not for carrying out the instructions to have Uriah killed, for which only David is held accountable.)
Were it not for the technicality of Uriah's own guilt, one of the greatest generals in Jewish history would have been unceremoniously lynched — irrespective of his impressive track record, his value to the Jewish people, or any rationalizations about how many lives he might save in the future if his own life was spared.
None of the heads of the soldiers made any such calculations.
Of course not! A Jewish soldier was sent into a death trap!
And they knew what to do about it. End of story.
*****
In the previous article, I cited official numbers that more than 16,000 IDF soldiers have been maimed in the current Gaza meat grinder. I want to emphasize the following points that might not have been clear enough:
- According to official numbers, 62,000 soldiers were wounded in all previous wars and battles prior to this one — the 1948 war, the war of attrition, the 6-day war, the Yom Kippur war, the intifada, etc. Conversely, more than 16,000 soldiers were wounded in tiny little Gaza in a single year.
In other words, 25% as many soldiers were wounded in Gaza last year alone as were wounded in the entire history of Israel, Inc. up to that point.
That’s staggering.
What were the returns on that investment?
Anyone who is pining for more war, better war, more determined war, and more people thrown into the meat grinder (especially haredim!) is complicit in the utter decimation of the Jewish people by Erev Rav, who are doing this deliberately.
- According to reported estimates, there are approximately 600,000 IDF personnel, including reservists. Approximately 17% of these are combat soldiers. In other words, among active soldiers and reservists, Israel has approximately 100,000 combat soldiers.
More than 16,000 of them, 16%, have been maimed in the last year alone.
What army in the world can hemorrhage 16% of its combat troops in a single year without that being the number one story 24/7 and the people rising up in fury?
Why is this the first you’re hearing it, from some guy analyzing the official numbers that were casually reported in some article?
Why aren’t all the flag-waving cheerleaders for Israel and the IDF with huge followings making an issue out of it?
Why isn’t every Jew who cares about the welfare of his people up in arms about this — and not against each other?
Why doesn’t this revelation change anything?
Or does it? I did my part by bringing this information to light. What are you going to do about it?
Yemen somehow fired a missile that was going to make it all the way to Israel, but Israel somehow intercepted it over Jordan, but once AGAIN debris somehow landed all the way in Beit Shemesh and other distant cities in Israel (another magic missile), yet there is no word of sirens or debris in Amman or by the Egyptian pyramids. Make it make sense.
Then after making it make sense, tell me why you actually believe it.
Tell me why you still believe any narratives from the Pinocchio Press, and the burden of proof is on “conspiracy theorists” to conclusively prove that it’s lies and spin each and every time. Why isn’t that the starting assumption already?
Meanwhile, multiple booms were heard all over Israel. I heard a series of them one after another. So that was one Yemenite missile over Jordan, you say? Not a bunch of rockets fired from within Israel by our Erev Rav leadership, or the Americans, or one of their proxies?
If you really believe the official narrative, don’t just give me a convoluted explanation for how it’s plausible. Tell me why you actually believe it.
As usual, the monsters who create the crisis provide “expert” guidelines on how to protect yourself from it, because they are all about protecting you.
This comes from the Israeli government’s National Emergency Portal:
If you receive a rocket or missile attack alert while you are outdoors or travelling by car, immediately enter a nearby building and, if possible, go into a shelter or climb one floor up and wait for 10 minutes on the stairwell. If there is no nearby building, lie face down on the ground and protect your head with your hands. If there is a mound or a trench nearby, lie behind it.
There must be a brilliant scientific explanation for why lying on the ground protects you better from falling debris than staying inside a car or bus with a metal roof.
If you are wearing a construction helmet, should you remove it too?
Again, don’t give me a convoluted explanation for why leaving a protected vehicle and exposing yourself directly to incoming debris makes some kind of sense. Tell me why you actually believe this is what millions of people should be doing every time Pavlov sounds a siren, and why you continue to obey with perfect blind faith.
If you’re being honest with yourself, it’s not because you engaged in critical thinking, and neither social expectations nor what you want to believe have anything to do with your behavior.
I didn’t comment until now about my alma mater, Yeshiva University, finally accepting an official perversity club on its campus, because it doesn’t really move the needle for me. YU took the exit ramp from Torah-true Judaism long ago, and whatever they do now is no more relevant to me than what goes on in a Reform temple.
But I have to comment on the PR campaign:
Check out these two letters:
Looks like the focus group decided “confusion” is the go-to word for YU’s damage control campaign.
You know who’s really confused? Anyone who says they are “shocked” that YU caved and accepted a perversity club. There’s nothing shocking about it. This is the sort of path YU has been on for a long time already. It was inevitable.
I see this as a positive step. Rather than creating confusion, it provides clarity for the many, many Jews who were confused about YU being a Torah-true institution.
I spoke about this on one of my first programs: R&B Medical War Crimes #7 - Yeshiva University Emergency Seminar.
Meanwhile, Schachter is far more magnanimous toward proud celebrants of to’eiva than he was toward innocent, perfectly healthy children who didn’t take poison shots. He ruled they should be thrown out of yeshiva and denied a Torah education. They are the danger to the Jewish people.
And unlike his PR-department-approved clarification letter about the perversity club, Schachter could not be bothered to clarify his megaleh panim b’Torah ruling about shots and throwing children out of yeshiva.
When Chazal said that one who is megaleh panim b’Torah loses his share in the world to come, even if he has Torah and mitzvos, who do you think they were talking about? Imaginary people? The sort of people who don’t exist anymore?
You can read my previous articles on this subject here, in chronological order:
Response to Rabbi Schachter’s comments
Rabbi Schachter: Megaleh Panim B’Torah
Rabbi Schachter’s position on the covid shots is unchanged
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