studies. Eventually those innovations were incorporated into the tradition and the talmudic scholars even discovered Scriptural bases for most of them. Modern Judaism has been equally inventive as the efforts of Reform and Conservative Judaism have demonstrated. These movements created new responses to unfulfilled needs of modern Jews . That is precisely what the Israeli armed forces have done.
Israel did not create entirely de novo, but followed other nations as it developed a code of conduct for its military forces. This code assures a level of humanity in the face of modern, impersonal combat It forms the basis upon which a broader Jewish approach to warfare can be shaped. It does not ask some of the basic questions and leaves them to the philosophers while engaging the practical conduct of warfare.
This code of military conduct, similar to those of other nations is secular, but depends upon fundamental human feelings, often religious, to carry them into practice. That has been done successfully with the United States military code, which is also secular, but depends on military chaplains of all denominations to instil its ideas into the soldier’s daily conduct. The code of military conduct of the State of Israel is a moral document and should take its place in Jewish ethical and halakhic discussions.
BACKGROUND
The Israeli military forces are the first Jewish military units under the command of a Jewish state in two thousand years. This military force differs in many ways from its distant predecessor. Itis a conscript force with a small professional core, made up of men, who serve three years and women who serve twenty-one months with reserve training every year till the age of fifty-one. Emergency callups may and do occur at any time. The military services ultimately serve under the direction of the ministry created by the Parliament (Kenesset ). The designation, Israeli Defense Forces (7zahal) indicates 1ts mission and limits.