Violence: The Jewish View

Violence: The Jewish View

Surely there is not a single Jew who does not agree that violence is something to be regretted. And on the other hand, surely there is not a single thinking Jew who cannot imagine worse things.

If Judaism were a religion built according to the pattern of the beauties of the soul in all generations, it would not explicitly discuss the laws of war. If Judaism saw peace as the absolute and only way in life, we would not place among our heroes so many figures whose lives involved acts of violence. It is even more important to note that if Judaism had taken the position of so many stupid Jews, the number of Jews in the world today would be much smaller than they are, stupid and others included...

It is true that both the Bible and the Talmud praise peace as the greatest virtue, and even state that God, blessed be He, has not found a more precious instrument for His people than peace. There is also no room for argument with those who point out the greatness of Aaron the Priest, which lies in his ability to be a "lover of peace and pursuer of peace." No learned Jew will deny that peace is the ultimate goal, and yet he will admit that - until that longed-for era comes - we must continue to live according to the Talmudic rule: "Rise up to kill, the early one to kill him" (Sanhedrin 19).
If peace is truly beautiful, it cannot be bought at the price of freedom. Slavery is not a reasonable state to enter into for the sake of a world of peace, and those who preach peace while accepting injustice - are too often concerned with their own bodies, and not necessarily with the souls or bodies of the oppressed.

Common perceptions of violence and nonviolence are too often derived not from Jewish sources, but from assimilated liberal sources. Too many of our secular and even religious leaders (except, of course, the great Torah scholars) form their knowledge and opinions from foreign, non-Jewish sources. Our rabbis taught us that "the deeds of the fathers are a sign to the sons," and therefore it behooves us to delve into the depths of our people's history and Jewish tradition, in order to locate the appropriate Jewish response to evil and oppression.

Towards other Jews in trouble, depends on the great principle of love of Israel, which is expressed simply, powerfully, and unequivocally in the Torah: "You shall not stand by the blood of your neighbor" (Leviticus 19:16). The Gemara's interpretation of this verse is also absolutely clear: "Our rabbis taught: How does one who sees his neighbor drowning in a river or being dragged by an animal or being killed by a beast without being on him have an obligation to save him? Learn to say: 'You shall not stand by the blood of your neighbor'" (Sanhedrin 33).
Thus, it is clear that a Jew's call for help gives rise to an obligation to respond in every other Jew. This response is not necessarily limited to non-violence, as we learn from the Gemara's principles that refer to both mandatory and voluntary war. This is evident from the following verses and sayings of the Sages: "Blessed be the Lord my shield, who teaches my hands to draw my fingers together for war" (Psalms 100:1). "...and the camp that remained was for escape" (Genesis 23:9) - The holy Rashi comments on this verse: "Jacob [who was waiting for the arrival of his dangerous rival Esau] prepared himself for three things - for prayer, for war, and for war." "...he who pursues his friend to kill him, even if the pursuer was small, all Israel is commanded to save the pursued from the hand of the pursuer, even with the life of the pursuer" (Rambam, Laws of the Murderer and the Protection of the Soul 1:6). * "...and what is a war of commandment? It is the war of the seven nations and the war of Amalek and the help of Israel from the hand of the enemy that came upon them..." (Rambam, Laws of Kings and Wars 5:1).
This verse of the Torah is not theoretical at all. From the days when our forefather Abraham went out to fight against the four kings to save his nephew Lot, to the moment when our Lord Moses struck the Egyptian who struck a Jew instead of establishing a committee to examine the roots of Egyptian anti-Semitism; from the days of the wars of Joshua and the judges (Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Samson, Jephthah), to the wars of King David; from the Maccabees, who will never be seen as 'prophets of peace and non-violence,' to the disciples of Rabbi Akiva who were commanded to join the Bar Kokhba warriors and who will never be identified with Mahatma Gandhi - the Jewish leadership has taken an active and violent part in the Jewish struggle for freedom.

Are there laws that are more important than the law that commands us to save a Jewish soul? Are there laws that we should not violate despite our desire to save a Jew from physical or spiritual death? Let us learn from the Shulchan Aruch: "Whoever is sent to take his daughter out of his house on the Sabbath to take her out of the land of Israel, it is a mitzvah to set out on his journey to try to save her, and he goes out even for three parsas, and if he does not want to - the court of justice will judge him" (Orach Chaim, 14).
There may be a mitzvah in the Torah of Moses that is more important or holy than keeping the Sabbath, but I have never heard of it. So, when the Torah not only permits us, but also obligates us, to violate the Sabbath in order to save Jews who are torn from the body of the Jewish people, what does this teach us about our response to the three million Jews who find themselves in this situation? And when does the severity of the prohibition against harassing Soviet diplomats or acting violently towards their property exceed the severity of the Sabbath, which we must desecrate in order to save even one Jew...?

Perhaps our problem is our reluctance to listen to the call of the majority (who are the peoples of the lands, as we know), according to which the gravest sin is the willingness to use violence for Jewish freedom. If so, we had better remember: it is much better to be the tail of lions than the head of foxes!

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3 Shevat 5771. Published in "The Jewish Idea: The Journal of the Kach Movement", Sivan 5782. Published in English under the title: On Violence. In: Jewish Press, Jan. 29, 1971, p. 15; Writings 5731, p. 62.
The Duty of the Jew