These are my reflections on the issue of the Haredi draft.

My angle is the historical philosophical. Where do we Jews come from, and hence, how can we siphon some kind of understanding concerning a certain issue.

We Jews are coming from Scandinavia, originally, at least this is my own conclusion after doing a lot of research. Scandinavians have raided the Mediterranean since time immemorial. Some of the latest settlements are the Rus in Kiev, that has given us Russia.

Jews come from an earlier wave, that was commenced in around the time of Abraham. Some call it the sea peoples, because of the ability to sail.

There are stories about a kinship between the citystate Sparta and Jews. The city state Sparta was Viking as Athens.

So at the root of Jewish culture lie this raider/warrior mentality that is seen unfolding to its classical theme in the Gaza war, with anger and revenge as some of the motifs.

That is how we Vikings act, with anger, revenge, war and mayhem.

You can also see it reflected in the pantheon of Jewish angels. The Jewish angels are both pretty and raw.

Take the angel Thehyagrah that work destruction. The archangel Michael, another warrior angel.

So war is an integral part of Jewish lore, culture and religion.

Take Moses that was a destroyer with the ten plagues.

Now, this is the tradition. And that is why we are so good at fighting, it’s an integral part of Jewish lore.

Some say, that we are the best.

Yet, seen from an ethical perspective, you could first see it from a Viking perspective. That is, at least from what I have understood from the fishermen here in Denmark, who are the remnants of Vikings in Denmark and also from understanding the runes. Anger needs to be UNDERSTOOD in order for it to work. That is what has been our downfall in this war. We let the anger lead us, Instead of listening to the anger and then act strategically.

Yet seen from a more modern perspective, you can see the ethical reflections in the tree of Kabbbalah at the left side, you have the pillar of severity and at the other side the pillar of mercy.

So you could argue, that there is a BALANCE In between severity, that is punishment and strictness and mercy that is acceptance and understanding.

In other words, the tree of life has this balance incorporated and is then a more advanced ethical concept than war, revenge and fighting.

So, to conclude. We are warriors, we have always been warriors and will always be warriors. As a new thing we have this punishing army, and we need to find that balance between Geburah (severity) and Chesed (mercy).

This is, from my perspective, that underlying ethical ideas and reflections you can use on the Haredi draft. War has always been here, the question is, how do we find BALANCE.

G-d bless the will to find balance in the war against Hamas.