During WWI, Jews served in the German armed forces at a higher rate than their percentage of the population. I’m not sure that has been true in America. Most American Jews who’ve discussed this topic with me see no moral problem in dodging the American draft. They don’t see Jews as having an obligations to the wider society. Jews should get while the getting is good.
In his lecture “A Gadol Walks Among Us – Rav Simcha Wasserman and Toras Emes”, Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn says: “For a certain time, he would take in those who were draft-dodging, like many of the makeshift yeshivas that were opened up here to help people get out of going to the Vietnam war.”
I have some sympathy for this as America’s operation in Vietnam was a mess (though WWII was different). I’m not sure that Jews avoided Vietnam service at a higher rate than non-Jews in similar socio-economic circumstances. Besides, surely there’s nothing greater that Jews can do for the world than to study Torah. Let the goyim fight their wars while Jews study the sacred text.
