New Book Records the Halachic Questions Left After Soldiers Fell
“Responsa for a Time of War,” by Captain (res.) Rabbi Ofir Wols, documents the thousands of questions that reached the operational halachic institute of the Military Rabbinate during the War of Renewal, and the halachic rulings needed to enable the fighting to continue. Some of those who asked later fell in battle, and the book also seeks to preserve their voices and spiritual world.
The new book “Responsa for a Time of War” has been published, aiming to document one of the less familiar arenas of the War of Renewal, the arena of halachic decision-making. While the public’s attention focused on the battles, the fronts and the heroism of the fighters, behind the scenes a system of rulings and instruction worked for many months, required to provide immediate answers to thousands of soldiers and commanders facing an unprecedented reality. The book’s author, Captain (res.) Rabbi Ofir Wols, served throughout the war in the operational halachic institute of the halacha branch in the Military Rabbinate. In that role, he was exposed to a vast range of questions that arose in the field, sometimes under fire, sometimes during ongoing operational activity, and sometimes from situations that had never before been discussed in modern military reality.
To understand the background to the book, Rabbi Wols returns to the morning of Simchat Torah 5784. In the book’s preface, he describes how the war broke out by complete surprise, fifty years after the Yom Kippur War, and how within minutes commanders in the sector understood that this was an event entirely different from anything they had known before. One of the defining moments described in the book is the call of Col. Asaf Hamami, may God avenge his blood, commander of the Southern Brigade in the Gaza Division, who announced over the radio, “We are at war, everything is fine, war.” In Rabbi Wols’s view, this short sentence was not only an operational report but a profound conceptual shift that affected the entire military system.
The call, “We are at war,” did not remain confined to the southern sector. It became a message that compelled the entire IDF, including the halacha branch, to abandon routine assumptions and understand that a completely new outlook was required. “The answers given in times of routine are not like the answers we were required to give in wartime,” he writes in his preface.
Throughout the months of fighting, questions flowed into the operational institute from all over the country and from every combat arena. The questions came from the peaks of Mount Hermon and the Lebanon mountains, from the Judea and Samaria sectors, from outposts and bases throughout the country, and from deep inside the Gaza Strip. Many required an immediate ruling intended to allow the continuation of operational activity while maintaining halacha.
Rabbi Wols explains that the book’s uniqueness lies not only in the content of the questions, but also in the perspective from which the answers were written. Many military halacha books deal with the routine reality of service, whereas “Responsa for a Time of War” focuses entirely on questions that arose from combat reality. Even in cases where the questions were seemingly familiar, the answers were given with the understanding that wartime reality changes the way they are viewed and decided.
The book addresses issues from all four parts of the Shulchan Aruch, but it does not stop at purely halachic questions. Alongside the halachic discussions are also issues of morality, responsibility, Torah values, and the meaning of military service in wartime. In this way, Rabbi Wols seeks to reflect the spirit of the period as expressed by soldiers and commanders.
In his preface, Rabbi Wols describes how he found himself part of an unprecedented halachic effort. He says that for years the halacha branch had adapted its personnel to various emergency scenarios, but the reality that emerged after the Simchat Torah attack was unlike anything envisioned in drills. “Nothing in the scenarios we practiced over the years prepared us for the mission of our lives in the military sphere,” he writes.
He says that even before the war, the halacha branch had worked to prepare wartime doctrine, procedures and methods of operation for an emergency situation. Reserve officers in the branch were periodically invited to exercises in which they practiced different halachic scenarios. At the end of each exercise, participants would wish one another that the scenarios would remain only exercises, but reality brought them a true test on a scale they had never known.
Rabbi Wols also describes the transformation the Military Rabbinate has undergone in recent decades and its process of connecting with the field. A significant turning point came during the tenure of former Chief Military Rabbi Rabbi Avichai Ronsky, who worked to strengthen the connection between military rabbis and combat forces. Later, the halacha branch developed further and expanded its capabilities, reaching the eve of the war at the height of its readiness.
One of the book’s notable features is that it was written from direct familiarity with operational reality. Rabbi Wols previously served as an armored corps soldier and later served as a reserve military rabbi. The combination of combat experience and halachic work gave him a unique perspective on the questions that arose from the field.
Some of the questions that reached the institute were entirely unprecedented. Others seemed at first glance like routine questions, but the circumstances of the war made them far more complex. “A war that I am in,” he explains, was the principle that guided those issuing the rulings, with the understanding that reality itself affects the manner of decision-making.
Another dimension reflected in the book is the direct connection between the fighters and the world of Torah. Some of the questions included in it were asked by students and alumni of the Bnei David institutions, many of whom served on the various fronts of the war. Some of those who asked later fell in battle, and the book seeks to preserve their voices and spiritual world as well.
At the end of the preface, Rabbi Wols dedicates the book to the memory of Col. Asaf Hamami, may God avenge his blood, his students Tzvika Lavi and Gabriel Shani, as well as the graduates of the Bnei David institutions and all other fallen members of the security forces who died in the war. In his view, the responsa book is not only a halachic record of a period, but also a spiritual memorial to a generation of fighters who sought to live a life of Torah even on the battlefield.
Alongside the historical aspect, Rabbi Wols also sees the book as a document with significance for the future. The questions selected for inclusion were chosen in the hope of creating a study base that will accompany the world of military halacha in the years to come. “We made an effort to choose questions that have study value and novelty, so that they can be used long term and bring blessing over time,” he wrote.
The timing of the book’s publication adds another symbolic layer. The book was published on 23 Sivan, the day on which, according to the Sages, the letters described in the Book of Esther were sent, the same “books” in which the Jews were called to gather and stand up for their lives. For Rabbi Wols, the fact that a book dealing with the laws of war is being published precisely on this date, even if not planned in advance, lends special meaning to its release.
In the end, “Responsa for a Time of War” seeks to bring to the forefront the world of halacha that operated alongside the fighting itself. Between the battles, the orders and the maneuvers, another campaign was also taking place, a campaign of clarification, ruling and Torah responsibility, whose fruits the book now seeks to make accessible to the general public.
