Question: A young Jew who is in the Army Reserve objects to the war on Iraq and wishes to exercise his conscience as a conscientious objector. What is the Jewish attitude toward conscientious objectors; how does the Jewish tradition view this?
ANSWER: Let us view the broader picture regarding the conscientious objector within the Jewish tradition historically. We should note two factors which are relevant to this question. First, the Jewish tradition has little to say on war and military service. As Jews lived in a semiautonomous condition, virtually a“state within a state,” from the fall of the ancient Judean Kingdom in 586 B.C.E. with only a century and a half interruption under the Maccabees and their successors, questions of warfare did not arise. No Jewish philosopher till modern times has dealt with it, nor did the halakhah.
We must ask whether Judaism is opposed to war; is Judaism a pacifist religion or does it contain strains of pacifism? This is a question which deserves a long thorough treatment, however, a brief answer would be negative. Warfare was part of Biblical Israel and was taken for granted. When the prophets spoke about an era of eternal peace and saw it as an ultimate goal, they were speaking of the Messianic Era and expected it to come about through Divine Intervention, not human efforts.
Peace was an ultimate hope, but it did not keep the prophets from seeing a divine hand in defeats of[srael and Judah through foreign armies. God used war as punishment for national wrong doing according to their thinking. Nor was warlike imagery foreign is them as they sought to guide the religious and political life of their mes.
: Now let us turn to an individual claim that his/her conscience 'S opposed to a particular war. Biblical Judaism with its very few Provisions about conscription contains a statement which may appear relevant, When the Israelites formed an army in the Promised Land, they were to be addressed by the officials:“Is there anyone who has
uilt a new house but not dedicated it? Let him go back to the home, let he dies in battle and another dedicate it. Is there anyone who has