8 posts tagged with "Israel"

Regarding the law on the death penalty for terrorists enacted by the Knesset on 2026-03-30.

A Necessary Foreword​

I intended to write this post on Purim. But I did not. And now the esteemed Rabbi Kochubievsky posed me a question about how I would explain such two delicate topics as Haman's verdict to annihilate the entire Jewish people, and the Holocaust.

Perhaps Rabbi Kochubievsky himself posed the questions about Purim and the Holocaust as two separate difficult questions. But in my view this is precisely one question. Purim offers a way to explain the Holocaust, because if we analyze the situation in which Haman's decree came about, we can put forward a hypothesis that a certain pattern is discernible here, and extrapolate the conclusions to the subsequent and present-day situation.

As a continuation of my posts on Hanukkah and of my discussions with Rav Michael Jedwabny—see Hanukkah, The Son of the Star and the “Three Oaths”, The Storming of Heaven and the History of Hanukkah—discussions in which, it seems to me, there were interesting and profound thoughts on both sides—I noticed a historical circumstance to which I had not previously paid attention:

A deal with the Devil in light of the norms of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties​

"Come on, my friend, get ready the pen,
Sign the paper to have it done!”
He touched his brow; with a heavy thud
A bottle emerged in a blink.
I asked in horror: “Is it blood?”
But answered he: “Just ink.”

(A.Galich)

(a)

An agreement on any actions by Israel in exchange for the release of hostages constitutes recognition of the legal personality (subject status) of a terrorist organization and legitimizes the taking of Israelis as hostages in the future.

If Israel agrees to anything in exchange for hostages, this means that taking Israelis hostage is profitable, and therefore they will be taken again—including abroad.

בָּרוּךְ יְהֹוָה צוּרִי הַמְלַמֵּד יָדַי לַקְרָב אֶצְבְּעוֹתַי לַמִּלְחָמָה

The position of rabbis of galut (the so-called "Haredim") towards army service is flawed not so much because they don't want to let their flock join the army in order to maintain control over their personalities, but primarily because they do so under the guise of the Torah.

Following the attack on Israel on 7.10.23, and considering the sacrifices we have endured and continue to endure in this war, such a stance cannot be justified.

The narrative that participating in a war in defense of Israel interferes with "Torah study" is just as absurd as the claim that treating the wounded interferes with studying medicine.