Is it allowed or not to own a weapon?/ShutterStock
Many times in our daily lives halachic questions arise and topical doubts arise.
Rabbi Shai Tahan, head of the Sha'ari Ezra community and head of Beit Erzi HaLebanon, makes the laws accessible to us and answers questions asked in the Beit Midrash and outside of it.
And this week: possession of weapons, what is the source in the Torah?
Question
:
Hello, Your Honor.
I wanted to ask if there is a reference in the Torah regarding the possession of weapons in light of the security situation we are in.
Answer
:
Hello to you.
When Israel left the land of Egypt, it is written (Exodus 13:18): "And the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt fifty," and Parashii, "There are no fifty but armed men." And it is clear that the purpose of arming themselves was so that they could defend themselves from those who harassed them on the way, and Rashi explained that indeed They had this weapon for protection in the Amalek war, and in the Sihon and Og and Midian wars.
And in the Jerusalem Gemara (Shabbat 6:4) it is stated that they were armed with fifteen types of weapons, and Baal Torim wrote that the letter 'five' comes to allude to the five weapons of weapons which are a shield, a quiver, a spear, arrows, and a staff, which are mentioned in the verse (Ezekiel 9:9): "And the inhabitants of my cities went out Israel and in its forest and shoot with weapons and shields and shields with bows and arrows and hand sticks and spears and kindle fire with them."
However, here the son asks why they should go out armed after God protected them with a pillar of fire and the clouds of honor, and it is also clear that the people did not need weapons because God made sure that they would not see war, and the scripture spoke a full verse: "And Pharaoh sent the people away and did not comfort them God through the land of the Philistines because He is near because God said lest the people be comforted by His creation of war and their return from Egypt", and after they took a detour route so that they would not see war, why was it even necessary to arm them with weapons?
And we found in this some ways from which to learn deep wisdom for our case.
The Ramban wrote that the scriptures said that they went out with a high hand, and thought they would be redeemed, and did not go in the form of runaway slaves. In other words, a weapon is not only used for protection, but also gives the person who carries it a sense of self-respect in that he can protect himself and his family members, and Miriam beamed before his wife and children who carried their eyes to him for their security. And they lamented that this is nothing small in that the Almighty has made sure that the people have ammunition for this feeling.
Another explanation is given in Or Ha'im: "Perhaps because apart from their being armed with weapons of violence, it will not be useful what God will bring them back, lest they return when they see war, because in any case they will return from Egypt, since they do not have weapons of violence in their hands to wage war with the enemy and they will see themselves as lost, that's what he said, and they went out armed , interpretation, apart from the reason that God gave them, they also had sexual instruments, and with the combination of the two reasons, the people will not be comforted when they see war."
That is, God saw the need to arm them even though they moved to a place where they would not see war, and this in order to give them a sense of security, that if they did not have weapons they would feel weak and would return from Egypt.
And from this we learned another benefit of carrying a weapon besides the feeling of self-respect mentioned above, which is the feeling of security that a person has the possibility to defend himself if and when he needs to.
And likewise the Hezkoni explained that since there were fifty of them they were no longer afraid of the Egyptians, and if so we learned again that the purpose of arming themselves was to remove from their hearts any feeling of fear and dread.
And if so, it appears that the main purpose of arming is to save lives during times of trouble, but there are other reasons for this, and they are to instill in us a sense of security and eliminate the sense of fear, and also to raise morale and self-respect and nationalism.
David Berger, in collaboration with Shuba Israel
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