This week's newsletter focuses on an unusual commandment that challenges us in this difficult moment.
Please note: In my newsletter two weeks ago about Israel, I included a literal translation of two Yehuda Amichai's poems. The information regarding Amichai’s 1947/48 letters and how they connect to these poems is based on Nili Gold’s research (and discovery) see Nili Gold, Yehuda Amichai: The Making of Israel’s Poet, pp. 317-318.
michael
A word of Torah:
What does Jewish tradition teach about how to treat the enemy and conduct war? In the Torah, we learn that it is forbidden to destroy fruit trees during a siege of a city. It is also clear we have the right to self-defense (see Sanhedrin 72a). In Rise and Kill First: The secret history of Israel’s targeted assassinations, Ronen Bergman tells the story of the ongoing difficult choices made by Israel’s secret services in the ceaseless war against its enemies, something Jews did not have to face for centuries because we lacked real power. Rise and Kill First takes its title from a Talmudic principle that legitimates self-defense. Israel has used that principle as the starting point for an ongoing discussion of how to respond to terrorist attacks.
I want to focus on another mitzvah found in Ex. 23:5, which states that "When you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden and would refrain from raising it, you must nevertheless raise it with him.” The JPS Torah commentary states that there is a prohibition against permitting one’s hostile and vindictive emotions to overcome one’s humanity. The moral duty to show concern for the plight of one’s enemy is stressed in Proverbs 25:21 “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.” In the case in our verse in Exodus, there is also concern for the suffering of the animal.
The Sefer Ha-Hinukh, a book from the Middle Ages, lists all 613 commandments in the order they appear in the Torah. The author then provides a description of the mitzvah. On this mitzvah, #80, he comments: At the root of this precept is to train our spirit in the quality of compassion…If someone violates it…they display a quality of cruelty, which is an ugly character trait.
Nehama Leibowitz, the modern Bible commentator, suggests that helping a person to unload and load a beast will require conversation and working together that might change the dynamic between the two people. She also noted that the verse begins with “when you see” -- implying that when you see the need, it becomes a responsibility that can’t be ignored.
Jewish tradition has no problem with self-defense nor punishing those who commit murder. It is also clear that the tradition asks us not to lose sight of our humanity or that of our enemies. How we apply these traditions to the challenge facing Israel right now is not obvious. Can these two fundamental principles–of self-defense and connecting with the enemy be reconciled? Is there something here that suggests a way forward toward a better situation?
Could the words “lying under its burden” be applied to the people of Gaza, who are burdened with poverty and lack of freedom? It is not only donkeys that can be crushed by what is the reality of their lives. What could that possibly mean in practice?
The verse ends with the word “with him.” This suggests that the lifting of the burdens requires both people. Halakhically, if the owner of the donkey refuses to be involved, you have no responsibility to unload the donkey. Does this mean the rebuilding of Gaza needs to be a joint enterprise? Israel has a responsibility but so do its inhabitants. Will it only succeed as a joint enterprise?
Additional information about the mitzvah mentioned above:
This week's word of Torah is a little longer than usual, therefore I left out some material that I would have liked to included. For those who would like more information about the commandment of helping your enemy, you can find a chapter in Nehama Leibovitz's commentary on the Torah--Studies in Shemot/Exodus p. 425 -436. She analyzes a variety of traditional and modern commentaries on the verse. The Talmudic discussion focuses on other issues though one interestingly is the importance of not causing animals to suffer. see Bava Metzia 32b.
Song
u-mahah adonai dim'ah mei'al kol panim
God will wipe away the tears from all faces
Isaiah 25: 8
