Answering Readers, Part 11

Biblical (תַּנַ״ךְ) depiction of
the flight from Sodom and Gomorrah

Duty or Call?
Thursday – September 17, 2026

Navigating the difficult terrain in front of us can be hard, and in this way life can surely be said to be a curse. Oh yes, especially for those men who are facing disaster whether or not they like it, and this is the case for plenty of men out there, out there in the world, vast though it seems in this even larger cosmos. Yes, because that terrain is really filled with landmines, and sometimes you do not know when one of those mines will blow up, and when that happens you could die, but perhaps even worse you could lose one or both of your legs, your vision, your hearing, and perhaps even your mind. Yes, these are real things that afflict men every day, and if you have some kind of trouble understanding this, then perhaps you have already lost your mind, read "What is Mental Illness"? The question that I am dealing with today is truly difficult, and one of wrestling with God, for it is a question that may seem easy to answer at first, but upon further examination we may just discover that for a Jew, which is what this question will revolve around, being capable of fighting off enemies as a sacerdotal duty is perhaps more important than sitting around in despair, but more on this later.

    As usual, I have certain soft policy when it comes to this series and more specifically when it comes to how I will address your questions, questions that you must state in a letter so that I can receive certain information about you, and those rules includes a soft prohibition on fowl language, and I will also not quote anything on this page that contains personal information about other people than the person addressing me in their letter. If I find that I need to cut out some portion of a letter that I end up quoting on this page, I will indicate this by the use of two brackets, [], which indicates as well that I most likely have substituted whatever was the original text in my quotation; thus far this has only happened once. It is my wish to be able to quote the entire letter that has been submitted to me, but for practical reasons and reasons of integrity, this may not always be possible, and this I will indicate by using three dots inside two brackets, [...], again to indicate that something is missing. In a sense you may refer to this as my editorial policy, but again these are, for the most part, soft rules that I may not always be consistent in applying. Again, I very much enjoy reading your letters and inquiries, and I have noted that most people reveal their name, which is fine, but again I need to reiterate: for the purposes of this series there is no need really for you to reveal too many personal details. I do actually prefer less personal details such as occupation and religious affiliation, as opposed to street address and name, and yes, some people provided me with their street address, but this is a detail that I have absolutely no need to publish here. Again, your name does not have to be attached to your letters in order for me to respond; instead it is easier for me to respond if you instead share other less personal details. And yes, I will sometimes, quite often actually, find it necessary to engage in a certain level of conjecture, as it would not be possible for me to provide meaningful advice otherwise.

    Now, this letter is written by a Mr. Avram Mordecai of Israel, and yes I have been allowed to disclose this information, and before I can start to deal with the letter at hand I suppose that I need to make a couple of things clear. Yes, this letter concerns war and violence, and as such I can only call on everyone who find this subject offensive to leave, because while this letter specifically mentions war, it seems quite unlikely that one could consider the State of Israel, read "Proof of the Name of Yahweh", without also having, being made really, to consider war, because without violence there could have been no Israel in the first place, and without continual violence ever since 1947 there could be no Israel today. That stated, this pathology of violence, increasing violence is something that is a part of the whole nation-state project, whether or not we like it.* Again, this is the reality of the world and as such I must address this letter.

    Mr. Avram Mordecai asks:

"Hello Mr. Dutt, I am Avram Mordecai and I am asking you a simple question: should I join the IDF (the Israeli Defense Forces) in this war against terror? My family was greatly affected by the October 7 terrorist attack and now I am called to do my duty. I am 19 years old and I live in Tel Aviv and my denomination is reformist." — Avram Mordecai.

Indeed Mr. Mordecai, this appears to be a matter of duty or calling, and what I mean by this is that it appears that you really have two choices here: either you simply refuse to serve in the IDF (the Israeli Defense Forces, צה״ל) which would be a potentially good thing to do, after all you may not be a warrior, even though the egalitarian nonsense claims that you are, and so if you are not suited for this kind of function, then why should you expose yourself to this? Yes, if you are a mere corporeal or really, as they say, a civilian, then I must urge you to stay away from the IDF. Now, if you do indeed choose to stay away from the IDF, there is a risk that you will run the risk of commiting a crime,† but again, let us consider your position in the world: are you really a warrior? Again, only you may answer this question, but I should add that warriors only really make up a small portion of any society, and even if you could be considered a warrior, you must also consider the war that you are facing, read "War in Iran": is this war righteous, is it your war to fight? If not, then you must also discard any ideas of joining this fight, and again this would likely mean that you would face criminal prosecution and in the end prison time, which is why you might want to consider becoming a refugee, leaving the country all together. Remember Mr. Mordecai, your tribe has been dispersed for a long time, and I am sure that there is going to be a place for you somewhere in the diaspora, especially as a revolutionary and a subversive. Note that you do not have to embrace being a revolutionary and a subversive, read "Should you Create an Alter Ego?", as you could use this false identity, this alias, to come close to the rotten core of the Western World. Again, note that I am only making this comment in connection to you being Jewish, not to you as a person or indeed to Jews generally, as I recognize that most Jews are perfectly "normal" and "ordinary" people in the world. Again, perhaps I am getting ahead of myself here with my somewhat misplaced comments about the old tribe, and this has prompted me again to clarify that I am not attempting to imply something untrue about Jews in general, but it is a well known fact that the intellectual life of the Western World would be seriously diminished without the contributions of your tribe; that is to say, again: without Jews, there would be a less painful and intrusive counterfactualism going on, as so much of the convulsions that the Western World has experienced in the previous centuries has emanated from the always seeking and never accepting cosmopolitan propensities of your tribe. After all, your people can be proud in knowing that you never settle for the shortsighted and steady flow of propaganda emanating from certain quarters; and while some would even enjoy being dominated in this way of blissful ignorance under the sky, your tribe must object, for it is your destiny. This is why you should embrace this ample opportunity to carry forth the conscience of the world in objecting to the Israeli assault on the Arab population of the region (Palestine), for this is within your range, and perhaps even within your duty.

    On the other hand, there are surely good and even admirable reasons for you to take up arms, for you to fight not for the nation-state of Israel, a counterfeit as it must be, but for your tribe, your true and organic nation, and as you yourself stated: "My family was greatly affected by the October 7 terrorist attack..."; and yes, your family was affected by this act of violence, indeed this act of terror, and so if you consider yourself a warrior, not for Israel but for the Jews, the Hebrew tribe, then you are a nobleman, a warrior of true rank, and in that case you must fight these savage fanatics, these bands of roving thugs and rapists, and indeed if it becomes necessary, you may even have to completely empty the land of these people (Deuteronomy 7:1–2 and 20:16–17), "these people" refers to the terrorists; this is a calling that only belongs to some men, true warriors. Again, I must clarify here, that I am not calling on you, Mr. Mordecai to do anything beyond fighting in accordance with the law, as this would constitute a crime, but do consider your name, and consider Mordecai (מָרְדֳּכַי) in the Tanakh (תָּנָ״ךְ). Yes, you may just be the savior of Israel; again, here I am referring to the real Israel, not the American backed counterfeit, and do note that all modern nations are counterfeits, but this is a point still beyond the scope of this post. Again, to clarify: I do not consider violence to be righteous, but these are some considerations, really some profound insights.

    My recommendation to you Mr. Mordecai, would be to reject violence and instead embrace the peaceful path, as this war that you find yourself in the midst of is not your war; this is America's war, and really the war of the revolutionary elite, and the disruption in the region that this has caused is really a an injustice. Yes, embrace peace – embrace radical peace.

Reginald Drax (AKA, M. C. Dutt) – September 17, 2026.

Footnote(s)

* For more on this I direct you to my posts: "The Problem with Nationalism", "What is Patriotism?", and "What are Post-Political Units (PPUs)?". These posts address the issue with war, violence, and the nation-state in greater detail.

† The issue of following or not following laws, breaking laws, is complicated and I urge everyone reading this to separate the concept of a secular law and a sacred law. For more on this point I direct you to my posts: "The Problem of Secular Law", "Should You Break Rules?", and "The Law Of The Land".