D’var Torah Devarim

Command Joshua and strengthen him and encourage him, for he will cross over before this people, and he will make them inherit the Land which you will see. (Deuteronomy 3:28)
Our Sages expound that God, as it were, said:
If Joshua crosses over before them, the Israelites will cross, and if not, they will not. ( Midrash Sifrei, Deuteronomy 29)
The approach of the Israel Defense Forces is that an officer leads his men into battle, and rather than sending them to fight. The battle cry in the IDF is "follow me."
In previous Divrei Torah, we quoted Rabbi Moshe Zvi Neriah's comment that the Bible essentially is a catalog of leaders who lead their men into battle as opposed to sending them. Among the Biblical figures whom we mentioned were Abraham [Genesis 14:14-15], Jacob [Genesis 32], Moses [Numbers 21:34], Joshua [Exodus 17:9, Joshua 8:1], the judges Ehud [Judges 3:28], Barak [ibid. 4:14], Gideon [ibid. 7:17] and Yiftaḥ [ibid. 11:29,32-33], King Saul [I Samuel 11:1-7], King David [ibid. 18:16] and David's chief of staff, Yoav. [I Chronicles 11:1]
Based upon the Midrash we quote, it can be understood that the source for the battle cry "follow me" is from God Himself.
This Dvar Torah is sent in memory of our nephew, Major Moshe Yedidya Leiter, who exemplified the traditional approach of an Israelite military leader, in leading his soldiers in battle, and in honor of all of our soldiers, officers and non-commissioned, who are risking their lives to allow us to live in security. May God grant our soldiers complete victory over the enemies of Israel and may He grant complete recovery, physical and emotional, of all our wounded, to the safe return of the hostages and to the success of ZaHaL in a campaign against an enemy devoid of any human vestige, and the safe and sound return of our soldiers. (David Magence)
Shabbat Shalom
The Va’ad