תיאולוגיה של המלחמה: היחס למלחמה ולמלחמתיות בחוגי הרצי"ה

This article traces the development of a new kind of theological writing in religious Zionist thought which I refer to as the Theology of War. This writing emerged following the thinking of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook and under the spiritual and political leadership of his son Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. Based on the essay “War” which he compiled from the writings of his father, Zvi Yehuda structured a theological-historical worldview that assigns a religious interpretation to the wars of the twentieth century, including the wars of the state of Israel. This religious interpretation instigated the emergence of an ideological circle that produced, enhanced, and enriched the conception of the Theology of War through a dialectical discourse and the assignment of redemptive messianic meaning to wars and the variety of ethical problems and acts of violence and atrocity that are part and parcel of wartime violence. The emergence of this ideological circle resulted in an interesting and unusual kind of writing that provides a poetic dimension to the discourse of war and the halakhic and religious handling of the wars of the state of Israel and the difficulties and failures they have presented. On the other hand, we have also witnessed the development of a unique tempering influence, leading away from the theological meaning which this circle has created, in the image and writings of Rabbi Zvi Tau. In a certain sense, Rabbi Tau’s thinking can be viewed as an independent and unique position seeking to moderate the Theology of War from which it emerged, not by negating the theological significance of militarism and wars, but rather through a far-reaching process of sublimation.