Mandatory war

Mandatory war (Hebrew: מלחמת חובה‎; milḥemet ḥovah), or compulsory war, is a technical term found in Hebrew classical literature and denoting a war that requires the entire nation of the Jewish people to rise-up and to become actively engaged-in[1] because of an existential threat to the Jewish nation.[2] The aim is to thwart the enemy advances against the nation of Israel, without the necessity of enslaving and exterminating the enemy, or of annexing the enemy's territory.

  1. ^ Hanschke 1980, p. 191, citing the Jerusalem Talmud (Soṭah, end of chapter 8).
  2. ^ Eisenstein 1970, p. 228

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