Below is my address to the annual remembrance service of the Brighton and Hove branch of the Association of Jewish Ex-servicemen and Ex-servicewomen. I quote a rabbi’s incredibly powerful war poem which I all but guarantee you haven’t read before.
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Counter-example: The Second World War.
Of what is WW2 a counter-example?
“Dr Goller’s helplessness and bafflement leap off the page as he
tries to encapsulate the utter idiocy of war as a method of settling
human conflict.
[3] Not only is there no guarantee that whoever wins a war – not that
anybody can truly ‘win’ such a destructive phenomenon in which there
are only losers – not only is there no guarantee that whoever wins a
war in any sense has right or justice on their side. Not only that, but
war leads to the most tragic and absurd consequences.”
The Second World War was a just way of settling human conflict and the winners had justice in their side. Your speech suggests that war is wrong, unjust and a bad way of settling conflict. It’s not always.
I think maybe you misread the words you quoted.
“Therefore, as, in a few moments’ time, we open the ark to recite
our memorial prayers, I invite you to reflect and contemplate on the
futility of armed conflict, on the irrational and vainglorious
wickedness of war, on the countless lives decimated by this great evil,
and the duty incumbent on each and every one of us to remember and
to share these messages. רצון יהי כן, may this be God’s will.”
But war is not always futile, it is not always irrational or vainglorious or wicked. Sometimes it is just and prevents a greater evil. Pacifism is not a Jewish idea.
You’re more than welcome to contact Rabbi Goller’s heirs and make your case that he was wrong.
You quoted it approvingly and the quotation in my second comment is all you. Judaism-adjacent is how I’d describe your sermons.
Are you distressed by the fact that I quoted a rabbi approvingly in a sermon?
If you quote something approvingly then you should be prepared to defend it. What I find distressing is that this type of primary school assembly morality is passed off as Judaism.
May I respectfully suggest that, if you’re distressed that I’m quoting an (Orthodox) rabbi as indicative of a Jewish perspective, you need to work on becoming more robust?
Is war always utter idiocy as a method of settling human conflict? Or are there times when it can prevent a greater evil?
Rabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber 
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