Those Yidden who are currently zoche to be living in Eretz Yisroel, are currently facing a difficult situation, and are living in a country which is at war with Iran, and our various other enemies that surround us. On the one hand, every minute that goes by we merit to see more and more open miracles, on the other hand there are hundreds of rockets, missiles, ballistic missiles, drones and various other flying objects in the skies above. Although almost 100% of the objects that have been sent our way have miraculously been intercepted, without falling shrapnel causing too much harm, there have certainly been a small number of rockets, missiles and falling shrapnel that have caused harm. This leads many people to have the following question: If one would be living in a country where the Yad Hashem [Hand of Hashem] was not so openly revealed, it would be blatantly obvious that when a siren is sounded, alerting civilians of an approaching attack and warning them to enter into a safe room, that one would be obligated to listen. The question is, however, in Eretz Yisroel where the Yad Hashem is so visible, is one obligated to enter a safe room when hearing a siren? Additionally, Eretz Yisroel has bechasdei Hashem very advanced equipment to take down the various rockets and missiles that are sent its way, they have the Arrow system, Iron Dome, special aircrafts, drones etc. does this make a difference?
It’s important to stress, that the answers below are aimed at the general public, however, there are certainly different answers for different people. I.e. if one has a safe room in his apartment, and he is reading a newspaper on the sofa, there is no question in the world that he is obligated to make the appropriate hishtadlus. If a bochur is chilling in his dira, and he holds that he needs to do this so he is refreshed to learn night seder, and he holds it’s such a mitzvah that: שומר מצוה ל א ידע דבר רע – “those who are guarding mitzvos will know no harm”, and he can’t go to a safe room just next door, he is probably also wrong.
On the other hand, if one is 95 years old, and he lives on the fifth floor without an elevator, and he is in the middle of being excused at night, and it’s simply not possible for him to run to a bomb shelter somewhere down the road, there is more room for leniency.
Each case requires its own answer, however, what we mention below is for the general public. The rules made by the Home Front Command are also made for the general public, and it’s important to realize there are many exceptions.
Insights Into Halachah
Da’as Torah
There is a sefer called Hilchos Azakah written by R’ Mordechai Tzvi HaLevi Tzion and R’ Gamliel Rabinovitz and they discuss this question and bring down what several poskim answered when asked this question.
R’ Avigdor Nevensahl answered very simply: “Yes” (i.e. one should go to a bomb shelter).
R’ Shamai Gross, author of the Shevet KeHosi also answered very simply: “Obligatory”.
R’ Shlomah Aviner, Rosh Yeshivah of Ateres Yerusholayim answered: “The din is that one must listen to the instructions given by the Home Front Command due to the obligation of ונשמרתם – “the obligation for one to guard himself”, די נא דמל כותא די נא – “the obligation to listen to the government”, and due to common sense.”
[At the time of operation Tzuk Eitan there was a siren in Yerusholayim, and R’ Aviner’s talmidim told R’ Mordechai Tzvi HaLevi Tzion that although the talmidim in the Yeshivah went to the entranceway of the Yeshivah which was well protected, the Rosh Yeshivah never bothered to go there. When R’ Tzion asked R’ Aviner about this, he said that he did go down, however, there was no space, and he ended up stuck on the stairwell. He added, “like the story with R’ Moshe Feinstein and the milk....” (One time, R’ Moshe lifted up a certain carton of milk, looked at it, and then put it aside without taking any, and then picked up another carton and took from it to drink. The next day it was made public knowledge that R’ Moshe held that the first type of milk was forbidden to drink. R’ Moshe was subsequently asked what was wrong with the milk, and he answered very simply “it was empty”.)]
R' Shmuel Eliyahu, a rov in Tzefas, writes: “One is obligated to enter a protected space when hearing a siren. According to the Home Front Command this is potentially life threatening, and halachah reckons with this. Additionally, one who is wise will plan accordingly, and make the most out of this situation. I.e. he will go to the safe room/bomb shelter as soon as possible, and get a quiet corner for himself and his wife, and discuss together what chizuk they can take from the experience.”
R' Elchonon Prince, author of Shu”t Avnei Derech, writes: In my sefer Shu”t Avnei Derech (9:32) I bring a letter I received from R’ Yosef Liberman about this topic, this is what he writes:
“It seems to me, that there is certainly a great danger involved, as such rockets have the ability to completely destroy apartments and kill many people chas vesholam. It’s clear in the Mishnayos and Gemara, and ruled in Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 329) that even for a far-off doubt of a doubt, we violate Shabbos to save lives. For example: If a building collapses, and there is a person underneath who we are unsure if he is Jewish or not, and we are also unsure if he is alive or not etc., we still violate Shabbos. Even if he is a goises [close to dying] where most times a goises ends up dying, when it comes to pikuach nefesh and Shabbos, even if there is a small chance that a life can be saved, we desecrate Shabbos. Even if the person under the rubble is a child, and there is a doubt if he is even Jewish or not, we still desecrate Shabbos (see Biur Halachah 329).
That fact that in your city there have only been a minimal amount of rockets falling, and no one has been harmed, is an open miracle from Heaven:שהנה לא ינום ולא ישן שומר ישראל – “as the guardian of Yisroel doesn’t ever dose off or sleep”, and we make a berachah everyday: אוהב עמו ישראל – “ He loves his people Yisroel”.
Additionally, the Iron Dome which intercepts rockets, according to nature isn’t 100% accurate, and sometimes pieces of shrapnel fall out of the sky and can cause harm. Certainly, according to nature, in such wars when hundreds of rockets are being fired, there could easily chas vesholam be many people killed. The only reason the amount of people who die and end up wounded is so minimal is because Hashem protects and saves us.
If so, we can’t rely on miracles and not run to bomb shelters. The Gemara in Pesachim (64b) cites a machlokes [dispute] between Abaye and Rava, אי ס מכינן אניסא - if we can rely on miracles, and we rule like Rava that one cannot (Rambam, Hilchos Korban Pesach 1:11). The Gemara in Pesachim relates a story that happened in the times of Hillel HaZakein: On a regular erev Pesach, although the Beis HaMikdash was packed to full capacity no one was ever harmed, however, one year an elderly person got crushed to death. That Pesach became known as Pesach Meuchin, the Pesach that someone was crushed. We see that even during the maamad of Korban Pesach, which took place in the holy Azorah [Temple Courtyard], in the days of the big Tzadik Hador Hillel HaZakein a tragedy occurred. Therefore, certainly in our times we need to be concerned and can’t rely on miracles. Furthermore, Chazal (Megillah 7b) tell us: לאו בכל יומא מתרחיש ניסא – “Not every day do miracles occur.”
Additionally, the Ramban (Behar) writes, that even if we have bitachon in Hashem during the sixth year (of the seven-year shemittah cycle) that we will be blessed with produce that will last for three years, sin can sometimes stop the berachah from happening.
In light of all the above, it’s obvious, that when a siren sounds one must fulfill the mitzvah of: ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם – “Guard very much your soul” and enter a place which is well protected....”
[The Avnei Derech is discussing desecrating Shabbos due to a siren and he continues, that for a doubt of a doubt regarding pikuach nefesh we desecrate Shabbos even with melachos that are de’O’raisa, and certainly derabonon’s. Therefore, if a siren goes and one would need to desecrate Shabbos according to the Avnei Derech it would be allowed, however, this is only if one is unable to enter the stairwell, which is also very protected. If one needs to desecrate Shabbos, he should do it in abnormal manner, i.e. with the back of his hand.]
R' Chaim Sholam HaLevi Segal, author of Shu”t Birurei Chaim writes as follows:
- I will say to you what I told friends of mine in Yeshivas Knesses Mordechai - Sadigur, who I felt weren’t following the rules being given by the Home Front Command upon the sounding of a siren: The Rambam (Hilchos Rotzeach V’Shemiras HaNefesh 11:4) writes:וכן כל מכשול שיש בו סכנת נפשות ,מצות עשה להסירו ,ולהישמר ממנו ולהיזהר בד בר יפה יפה שנאמר (ד ברים ד ,ט )השמר לך ושמור נפשך וגו׳. ואם לא הסיר והניח המכשולות המביאים לידי סכנה ביטל מצות עשה ועבר על לא תשים ד מים בביתך – “Similarly, any dangerous matter which can cause one’s life to be in danger, there is a positive commandment to remove it, to guard oneself from it, and to be extremely careful with it, as it says, “Guard yourself, and protect your soul etc.” If you don’t remove it, and you leave the dangerous item in place, one violates a positive commandment, and a negative commandment of, “Don’t have dangerous things in your house.”
The Rambam in Halachah 5, mentions many things Chazal forbade due to sakonas nefosh os, and he writes:וכל העובר עליהן ואומר הריני מס כן בעצמי ,ומה לאחרים עלי בכך או איני מקפיד בכך מכין אותו מכת מרדות – “Anyone who violates this and says, ‘I am endangering myself, and I don’t care what everyone else says’, or he says, ‘I am not worried about this’, we give him rabbinical lashes.”
- We don’t rely on miracles; therefore, it is forbidden to go up onto the roof, or to go outside into a dangerous place to stand and watch the rockets and the interceptions. It’s well known that R’ Aharon of Belz zt”l, when there was battles going on in Tel Aviv would constantly go into the bomb shelter within his house.
- The Torah warns: ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם – “Guard yourselves very carefully” (Devorim 4:15). The question is, if this pasuk is talking about protecting oneself from ruchniyusdika [spiritual] harm, or also gashmiyusdika [physical] harm. The Maharsha (Berachos 32b) writes that this pasuk is referring to avodah zorah, and is not referring to a person saving himself from physical harm at all.
The textual context of the words, לנפשותיכם מאוד ונשמרתם, form part of the Torah's warning concerning idolatry, and have no connection to physical health: We are warned lest we make an image of any form or likeness.
The full pasuk thus reads as follows: "But you shall greatly beware for your souls, for you did not see any likeness on the day Hashem spoke to you at Chorev, from the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make yourselves a carved image."
Nonetheless, the pasuk is often quoted in everyday speech as a warning to give our physical bodies due consideration, urging us to keep the body from all damage and to sustain its healthy condition as best we can. The source for this surprising reading of the pasuk is a passage of the Gemara (Berachos 32b), which teaches as follows:
A pious man was once davening on the road. An official approached him and greeted him, yet the pious man did not respond. The official waited until he had finished davening, and then said to him: "Empty one! Is it not written in your Torah: 'Take heed and watch yourself carefully' (Devorim 4:9), and 'Guard yourselves very carefully' (Devorim 4:15)? When I greeted you, why didn't you answer? If I had cut off your head with my sword, who would have sought vengeance for your life?"
The Gemara records the response of the pious man, who compared the act of davening before Hashem to somebody who stands in front of an earthly king. The official readily agreed that while addressing an earthly king, one must not interrupt the conversation for the sake of responding to another's greeting, and that doing so is a heinous offence.
"If this is true," continued the pious man, "it is all the more forbidden to interrupt one's davening before the King of Kings!" The Gemara concludes that the official was immediately appeased, and the pious individual returned home in peace.
However, the Shu”t Noda B’Yehudah (Tinyona, Yoreh Deah 10) says clearly, that if one walks in a dangerous place he transgresses ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם. The Shu”t Avnei Tzedek (Yoreh Deah 49) writes: Anything dangerous is forbidden on a de’O’raisa level with an aseh and lo saseh, an aseh of ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם, and a lo saseh of ועשית מעקה לגגך ולא תשים דמים לביתך – “You shall make a fence around your roof, and shouldn’t place dangerous things in your house”.
The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (32:1) writes: “Because possessing a healthy body is among the ways of Hashem, for a sick man cannot know or comprehend anything of Divine knowledge, therefore a person must distance himself from things that damage the body, and to cling to ways that heal and maintain the body. Of this the pasuk states, 'Guard yourselves very carefully.'"
The Chofetz Chaim in his sefer Likutei Amorim (Perek 13) also understands that the pasuk, ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם, is referring to doing dangerous things and he writes: המרגיל עצמו בעישון סגריות ,עובר על ונשמרתם – “One who accustoms himself to smoking cigarettes, violates the obligation of protecting himself learnt from the pasuk of ונשמרתם.”
The Mesilas Yesharim (Perek 9) likewise mentions the pasuk in connection with the obligation of care for the body.
The Netziv in Ha’amek Dovar (Devorim 4:15) explains: Since the pasuk is written ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם, and not ושמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם, like it is written earlier (Devorim 4:9) ושמור נפשך – “guard your soul”, we see that it refers to both the guarding of the body and the soul. Consequently, we learn from this pasuk that one must protect his soul by not serving avodah zorah, and we also learn that one must protect his physical body and not to dangerous things.
It’s also important to add that R’ Dov Landau, R’ Moshe Hillel Hirsh and various other gedolim have all said, that one should go to a safe place upon hearing the siren.
Summary
All the aforementioned poskim agree that when a siren is sounded, one should follow the commands of the Home Front and enter into a safe place.
The source for using the pasuk as an instruction to be wary for one's physical wellbeing is thus an interpretation mentioned by a non-Jewish official – though perhaps accepted by the pious man, and cited by the Gemara. In spite of the source, it has become common usage, both among the lay and in halachic parlance. See above.
