& Other Sh’eilos Related to Wartime
June, 2025
Rabbi Moshe Taub
Torah vs. Tehillim?
Rav Mechel Dalezman, a talmid of Rav Moshe Feinstein, once told the following story. It was a humid summer day and Rav Moshe was in the midst of a complex shiur when the sky suddenly blackened, and a downpour ensued. The room was shaken by thunder and illuminated by bright flashes of lightning. Rav Mechel and his chaveirim began to whisper to each other, wondering if they should pause and say the brachos.But their rebbi continued to learn, and they decided to follow his example.
Soon afterward, the sky cleared and the shiur concluded. As Rav Moshe was leaving, they asked him why he had not recited the brachos on thunder and lightning. Was it because of bittul Torah?
Rav Moshe was puzzled and asked, “What thunder and lightning?”
My response to this story made him chuckle. “What’s amazing,” I said, “is not just that Rav Moshe didn’t even notice the storm because of his intense concentration. We’ve all had moments of deep focus… What astounds me even more is that a rebbi can be so focused on his Torah that he doesn’t even notice that all of his students were having a separate discussion. Now, that is superhuman!”
This past Thursday night, I was speaking between Minchah and Maariv at a shivah house. I usually try to connect the mishnayos we are learning with hilchos aveilus and the life of the niftar, hoping to engage people in the discussion. But there was an abrupt change in the room, and suddenly, no one was listening to me. They were murmuring and sharing their phones, and some even left the room to make phone calls.
I pretended not to notice, until someone announced, “Rabbosai, Israel just attacked Iran. I think we should close our mishnayos and say Tehillim.”
All eyes turned to me. It was a fragile moment.
“There is a famous Midrash Tehillim (Shocher Tov)in which David Hamelech prays to Hashem that when the Jews recite Tehillim,it should be considered as if they are studying the complex mishnayos of Nega’im and Ohalos,” I told them. “Although reciting Tehillim is beyond powerful, mishnayos are the yardstick by which such power is measured [see Nefesh Hachaim 4:1]. Perhaps, then, since we are in the middle of learning mishnayos, we should finish.”
I quickly finished the mishnah we were learning and concluded, “I once read that Rabbi Soloveitchik used to say that one of the famed Litvish masmidim in his town would complain that the Selichos of Elul caused bittul Torah, and that even the drawn-out tefillos of Yom Kippur took time from his Torah study. After all, he would say, talmud Torah is considered keneged kulam, the greatest mitzvah, and it also gave him a much deeper connection to Hashem.
“Rabbi Soloveitchik would then smile and say, ‘I never had the courage to remind this man that when I was a little boy, I once looked under his tallis during selichos and saw that his hands were trembling and he was crying.’
“If our one constant sh’eilah during this war is when to say Tehillim and when to learn Torah, we can be confident of yeshuos!”
How to Respond?
That night, I had a weekly Gemara shiur in Taanis. Although we were still rattled by the news, we all assembled.
“Okay, we left off on 21b, 14 lines from the bottom…”
This is a discussion of fasting and teshuvah at a time of famine, disease, war, or other calamity. As we began to learn, we were astounded. The Gemara stated that we don’t often decree a fast for tzaros in other cities, only in Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael is different because “when the giverta (the woman of the house) is struck, her maidservant is struck along with her!”
The meaning is that the suffering of Eretz Yisrael affects Jews everywhere, and the halachah is codified in the Shulchan Aruch (576:2).
One participant approached me after the shiur and broke down in tears. “My nephew is in the IDF, and most of my relatives live in Israel,” he told me. “I wasn’t sure how I would even sleep tonight. But Hakadosh Baruch Hu was meitzitz min hacharakim [cf. Shir Hashirim 1], ‘winking’ at the lomdei Torah through the veil of galus [see Drashos Chasam Sofer, Sukkos, p.52, and Melech B’yofiuv, p. 5].”
Every rav’s phone was kept busy that night by calls from shul members stuck in Israel, children learning there, and concerned parents.
The next morning, I sent out an email: “During an eis milchamah, we must come together as a shul in ruach, tefillah, chesed, and Torah. Shiurim should be added to all of our schedules, and we should volunteer for chesed organizations. As for tefillah,our siddurim must be moistened with tears.
“However, that is the easy part.
“The more substantial challenge, the one mountain that Hashem most desires to see us climb (see Rav Chaim Vital), is chesed at home, Torah at our tables, kindness to those dearest to us, and benevolence toward those who live or work closest tous. To leave one’s wife with the dishes and kids in order to visit the sick is, at times, an error. To enjoy kiddush with friends, although it can be a beautiful part of Shabbos, must never be at the expense of the energy we need to delight with our children and spouses at our own Shabbos tables.
“L’fum tzaara agra—and the mere fact that chesed and Torah inside the home are so often a greater challenge is proof positive of their extra spiritual value.”
I concluded with some maamarei Chazal relating to Iran and warin general, along with some pertinent halachos. If I had known that I would receive the following three sh’eilos, I would have included them as well.
News on Shabbos
On ErevShabbos I received a call from someone watching the Israeli news. “This broadcaster is certainly not shomer Shabbos, and it’s already Shabbos in Eretz Yisrael. Is it an issue to watch?”
This question may fall under a concern about benefiting from chillul Shabbos (see siman 318, with Pri Megadim, mshb”z siif 7; relating to broadcasts, see shu”t Har Tzvi 1:183 at length; see also Shemiras Shabbos K’hilchasah, 31:72, and shu”t Minchas Yitzchak, 1:107;3).
However, if the reporter is giving information that is critical for those in Israel, it would be a case of pikuach nefesh for the broadcaster. In America, however, unless there is a to’eles harabbim, a rav should be consulted.
Another caller that Friday asked, “Can I call my daughter in Israel just to leave a positive message that she will hear after Shabbos? Am I violating Shabbos in their time zone?”
For this sh’eilah, I would like you to imagine a boy in Lakewood who has a string so long that it crosses the Atlantic, passes through the Mediterranean, and ends in the hands of a Yerushalmi boy in Meah Shearim. The boy ties his end of the string to his dining-room light switch.
At 3 p.m. each Friday afternoon in Lakewood, the American boy pulls the string so that the Israeli family can sleep.
Would this be allowed?
Many poskim would allow it (see Shemiras Shabbos ibid. #26 and Rav Ribiat in his footnote, pp. 573-576, in Volume 1 of his 39 Melachos). However, one certainly can’t call a non-frum Jew in Israel when it is Shabbos there (assuming there’s no pikuach nefesh involved).
Sending a fax, making a call or booking a ticket from Brooklyn, for example, to an overseas airline, with no concern that there would be a Jew on the other end, would be fine according to this view (see also shu”t Oneg Yom Tov for how this applies to other Shabbos concerns, such as shivis beheimah). Again, a rav should be consulted.
The third sh’eilah was whether it is permissible to leave a radio news channel on over Shabbos to find out what is happening in the war (see M’orei Eish HaShaleim, p. 576ff).
Before going into the halachah, one must ask himself what his goal is, for if he hears bad news, chalilah, there’s nothing that can be done, and his Shabboswould be ruined. Sharing bad news itself is to be avoided on Shabbos (see Mishnah Brurah, 307:3). The Shaarei Teshuvah (288:1) even forbids one to tell another person that he had a negative dream on Shabbos if that person figured prominently in it!
Perhaps one might argue that his goal in keeping the radio on is yishuv hadaas, to calm the nerves, and that’s assuming that the news is positive. Although it is true that the Rema allows crying on Shabbos if it settles one’s nerves (288:1), we also avoid information that could have the opposite effect.
However, during a time of war, certain dispensations are given. For instance, the Shulchan Aruch rules (576:10) that although we don’t cry out in tefillah on Shabbos, we may do so for specific concerns. When the Nazis took power, some kehillos even recited the special Yehi Ratzons said on Mondays and Thursdays (shu”t Tiferes Adam 3:18). As for wars in modern-day Israel, the Steipler allowed the recitation of Tehillim on Shabbos during such times (Orchos Rabbeinu, p. 124; see also Piskei Teshuvos, siman 288).
If one gets around this first concern, he is then faced with another. Chazal mention, and the Rema rules (252:5), regarding noisy or noticeable melachah that is begun before Shabbos starts and that will continue into Shabbos. This halacha is known as ‘avvsha milsa’ and must often be avoided.
The reason why we allow lighting candles before Shabbos, turning on the lights, air conditioners, etc. is because the concern for avvsha milsa is not applicable to melachos that are typically done in advance (see Igros Moshe, oh”ch 4:84;3).
Now, no non-Jew turns on his television in advance so that it will be on when he comes home! Such devices would then indeed fall under this category and would be forbidden; some poskim even wonder if there is some halachic method to shut them off on Shabbos (see Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s letter in M’orei Eish HaShaleim, vol. 1, top of p. 595, siman 5, and shu”t Minchas Shlomo, mehadurah kamma, 1:9).
Avvsha milsa applies even if the melacha is only noticeable to those in the home.
Generally speaking, therefore, keeping the news on over Shabbos would fall under this issur (see shu”t Har Tzvi above discussing radios on Shabbos).
Nevertheless, in certain situations, such as one whose chronic depression is alleviated by music, some poskim consider the possibility of certain allowances (see Rav Shlomo Zalman ad loc., shu”t Chelkas Yaakov, Orach Chaim 63 and 64).
But even in the rare case where on is granted an allowance, certain protections will be asked of him so as to secure kevod Shabbos, such as putting the device behind a locked door or in a closet and keeping the volume low (cf. M’orei Eish HaShaleim, vol. 1, p. 669, top of second column).
Nothing written here should be used as a final psak.
May our discussion of these sh’eilos be a zechus to bring a mighty yeshuah to klal Yisrael!
See HERE for more on ‘Wartime Segulos and Zechusim‘
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