Judaism and warfare: Difference between revisions

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The love of peace and the pursuit of peace, as well as laws requiring the eradication of evil, sometimes using violent means, co-exist in the Jewish tradition.^[1] Judaism and violence have been associated when Judaism's religious texts or precepts have been used to motivate, glorify, endorse, or justify violence,^[2][3][4] as well as in opposition to such violence^[5].

Jewish tradition permits committing violence as well as waging war only in certain cases. However, the permissibility to wage war is limited and the requirement is that one always seek a just peace before waging war.^[1] However, Judaism's religious texts overwhelmingly endorse compassion and peace, and the Hebrew Bible contains the well-known commandment to "love thy neighbor as thyself".^[6]

Regarding war, the commandment of Milkhemet Mitzvah (Hebrew: מלחמת מצווה, "War by commandment") refers to a war during the times of the Bible when a king would go to war in order to fulfill something based on, and required by, the Torah.^[7]

What is a milchemet mitzvah? It is a war to assist Israel against an enemy that has attacked them.
-Maimonedies, Laws of Kings 5:1

Wars of this type do not need the approval of the Sanhedrin.^{[citation needed]} This is in contrast to a Milkhemet Reshut (a discretionary war), which according to Jewish law require the permission of a Sanhedrin.^{[citation needed]} These wars (discretionary wars) tend to be for economic reasons and had exemption clauses (Deuteronomy 20:5) while, milhemet mitzvah tended to be invoked in defensive wars, when vital interests were at risk and had no such exemption clauses.^[8]

Modern Jewish scholars hold that the calls to war these texts provide no longer apply, and that Jewish theology instructs Jews to leave vengeance to God.^{[9] [10]}

The Hebrew Bible contains instances of religiously mandated wars.^[11] Examples include the story of Amalekites (Deut 25:17–19, 1 Sam 15:1–6), and the commandment to exterminate them^[12], the story of the Midianites (Numbers 31:1–18),^[13] and the battle of Jericho (Joshua 6:1–27),^[14] However, modern religious authorities repudiate the sort of warfare described in the Torah, or assert that the violent episodes were not historical events, or claim that the events were exaggerated or metaphorical. Maimonides explains that the commandment of killing out the nation of Amalek requires the Jewish people to peacefully request of them to accept upon themselves the Noachide laws and pay a tax to the Jewish kingdom. Only if they refuse is the commandment applicable. Some commentators, such as Rabbi Hayim Palaggi (1788–1896) argued that Jews had lost the tradition of distinguishing Amalekites from other people, and therefore the commandment of killing them could not practically be applied ^[15]

See Jewish revolt against Gallus.

Jewish law (past and present) does not permit any use of violence unless it is in self defense^[16]. Any person that even raises his hand in order to hit a nother person is called "evil."^[17], within the context of Zionism, some diasagree with linking it.^[18]

Guidelines from the Torah to the 'Jewish Way to Fight a War': When the time for war has arrived, Jewish soldiers are expected to abide by specific laws and values when fighting. Jewish war ethics attempts to balance the value of maintaining human life with the necessity of fighting a war. Judaism is somewhat unique in that it demands adherence to Jewish values even while fighting a war. The Torah provides the following rules for how to fight a war. Pursue Peace Before Waging War. Preserve the Ecological Needs of the Environment. Maintain Sensitivity to Human Life. The Goal is Peace^[19]

The ancient orders (like those) of wars for Israel to eradicate idol worshipping does not apply today. Jews are not taught to glorify violence. The rabbis of the Talmud saw war as an avoidable evil. They tought, 'Thew sword comes to the world because of delay of justice and through perversion of justice.'Jews have always hated war and Shalom expresses the hope for peace, in Judaism war is eveil, but at times a necessary one, yet, Judaism teaches that one has to go to great length to avoid it.^[20]

The middle east conflict, which began in the 1920s, is rooted in the two sides, on one hand, the Arab Muslim leader of Palestine, the former Mufti, Haj Amin Al-Husseini^[21][22] and on the other, the non religious Zionists leadership between the 1920s-1940's. Secular Zionists were adamantly opposed to peace negotiation by religious Jews, Hagana's Abraham Tehomi) assassinated the ultra religious Haredi close confidant of chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Rabbi Y. Chayim Zonnenfeld, Rabbi Dr. Jacob Israël de Haan (on a Sabbath, as he walked out of the synagogue) who began negotiating peace with Arab leaders.^[23]

Why most Haredim (ultra ultra-orthodox) do not serve in Israel's army^[24] 1) According to Talmudic teaching, the very fact of taking someone's life, even when justly doing so, it effects, nevertheless the person, as the Talmud regards even a justly court that did order (in ancient times) the death penalty justifiably, that particluar court at that time was labeled "killer court" in shame.^[25] and even King David, regarded of the most piuos righteous persons, (and his wars were within God's permission or/and orders) was denied building the Temple, the Talmud explaines that when king David asked "Why can I not build the Bais Hamikdash?" God's answer was: "Your hands have spilt blood (in all your many wars)."^[26]

The motives for violence by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank directed at Palestinians are complex and varied. Religious motivations have also been documented.^[27][28][29] Some Jewish religious figures living in the occupied territories have condemned such behaviour.^[30] After Baruch Goldstien carried out the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in 1994, some claimed that his actions were influenced by Jewish religious doctrine, based on the ideology of the Kach movement.^[31] The act was denounced by mainstream Orthodox Judaism.^[32]

Critics claim that Gush Emunim and followers of Rabbi Kook advocate violence based on Judaism's religious precepts.^[33]

The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by Yigal Amir was motivated by Amir’s personal political views and his understanding of Judaism's religious law of "moiser" (the duty to eliminate a Jew who intends to turn another Jew in to non-Jewish authorities) and "rodef" (a bystander can kill a pursuer if he cannot otherwise be stopped).^[34] Amir’s interpretation has been described as "a gross distortion of Jewish law and tradition."^[35]

The mianstream Jewish view concludes that "Rabin's assassin had no Halachic basis to shoot Prime Minister Rabin." ^[16]

The Book of Esther, one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, tells a story of palace intrigue and a plot to genocide all Jews thwarted by a Jewish queen of Persia during the reign of Xerxes I (486-465 BCE). Historian Elliott Horowitz of Bar-Ilan University offers a thesis in his book "Reckless rites: Purim and the legacy of Jewish violence", that the wars described in the Book of Esther have inspired and incited violence. According to Horowitz, aside form an alleged 'great slaughter' in 614 CE, which other scholars believed to be dubious, evidence for repetitive Jewish violence on Purim through the centuries was exceedingly meager, including occasional episodes of stone throwing, the spilling of rancid oil on a Jewish convert, mockery of the Christian cross, and a total of three recorded Purim deaths inflicted by Jews in a span of more than 1,000 years. In modern times Purim was speculated by Elliott Horowitz to inspire the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, however the killer did not say anything to explain his actions.^{[36][37][38] [39]}

The Jews are the mildest of men, passionately hostile to violence. That obstinate sweetness which they conserve in the midst of the most atrocious persecution, that sense of justice and of reason which they put up as their sole defense against a hostile, brutal, and unjust society, is perhaps the best part of the message they bring to us and the true mark of their greatness.

— Jean-Paul Sartre ^[40]

Judaism's religious texts overwhelmingly endorse compassion and peace, and the Hebrew Bible contains the well-known commandment to "love thy neighbor as thyself".^[6] In fact, the love of peace and the pursuit of peace is one of the key principles in Jewish law. Jewish tradition permits waging war and killing in certain cases, however, the requirement is that one always seek a just peace before waging war.^[1]

According to the 1947 Columbus Platform of Reform Judaism, "Judaism, from the days of the prophets, has proclaimed to mankind the ideal of universal peace, striving for spiritual and physical disarmament of all nations. Judaism rejects violence and relies upon moral education, love and sympathy."^[5]

Jewish law prohibits the use of outright vandalism in warfare.^[41]

Jewish Halakhah forbids destruction of fruit trees as a tactic of war. It is also forbidden to break vessels, tear clothing, wreck that which is built up, stop fountains, or waste food in a destructive manner. Killing an animal needlessly or offering poisoned water to livestock are also forbidden.^[41]

Those few cases in the Bible in which this norm was violated are special cases. One example was when King Hezekiah stopped all the fountains in Jerusalem in the war against Sennacherib, which Jewish scholars regards as a violation of the biblical commandment.^[41]

Some organizations that endorse or advocate violence based on religious principles include:

• Kach and Kahane Chai ^[42][43][44]
• Gush Emunim Underground (defunct): formed by members of Gush Emunim.^[45]
• Brit HaKanaim (defunct): an organisation operating in Israel from 1950 to 1953 with the objective of imposing Jewish religious law in the country and establishing a Halakhic state.
• The Jewish Defense League (JDL): founded in 1969 by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City, with the declared purpose of protecting Jews from harassment and antisemitism.^[46] FBI statistics show that, from 1980 to 1985, 15 terrorist attacks were attempted in the U.S. by members of the JDL.^[47] The FBI’s Mary Doran described the JDL in 2004 Congressional testimony as "a proscribed terrorist group".^[48] The National Consortium for the Study of Terror and Responses to Terrorism states that, during the JDL's first two decades of activity, it was an "active terrorist organization."^[49][46]. Kahanist groups are banned in Israel.^[50][51][52]

• Christianity and violence
• Religious Zionism
• Religious fanaticism#Judaism
• Religious violence
• Jewish religious terrorism
• Zionist political violence

• Arab attitudes to Israel by Yehoshafat Harkabi, John Wiley and Sons, 1974
• The Bible and Zionism by Nur Masalha, Zed Books, 2007
• Palestine and Israel: a challenge to justice by John B. Quigley, Duke University Press, 1990
• Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians by Rosemarie M. Esber, Arabicus Books & Media, LLC, 2009
• The birth of the Palestinian refugee problem revisited by Benny Morris, Cambridge University Press, 2004
• Saleh Abdel Jawad (2007) "Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War" in Israel and the Palestinian refugees, Eyal Benvenistî, Chaim Gans, Sari Hanafi (Eds.), Springer, 2007
• The ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe, Oneworld, 2007
• World orders, old and new by Noam Chomsky, Columbia University Press, 1996
• Sacred fury: understanding religious violence by Charles Selengut, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008
• Jewish fundamentalism in Israel by Israël Shahak, Norton Mezvinsky, Pluto Press, 1999
• The gun and the olive branch: the roots of violence in the Middle East by David Hirst, Nation Books, 2003
• Terror in the mind of God: the global rise of religious violence by Mark Juergensmeyer, University of California Press, 2003
• Reckless rites: Purim and the legacy of Jewish violence by Elliott S.Horowitz, Princeton University Press, 2006
• Beyond violence: religious sources of social transformation in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - James Heft (Ed.), Fordham Univ Press, 2004
• For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel - Ian Lustick, Council on Foreign Relations, 1988