S
)fritualitv >> Torah portion
How Can We Justify
Biblical Violence?
Parshat Mattot-Masei: Numbers 30:2-
36:13; Jeremiah 2:4-28; 3:4; 4:1-2.
0
ur biblical portion of Mattot
opens with God's vengeance
against Midian, an avowed
enemy of the Israelites who had joined
Balak the King of Moab in the hiring
of Balaam to curse Israel.
The Midianites also seduced Israel
to have sex with their women and to
engage in idolatrous orgiastic wor-
ship of the Midianite gods. Israel was
therefore enjoined to make
a preemptive strike against
a nation that had dem-
onstrated its desire to see
Israel vanquished.
The Bible goes on to
record Moses' insistence
that the young Midianite
women fit to engage in
sexual relations be killed
along with the young male
Midianite children. How
difficult is all of this car-
nage to the modern ear?
How can we possibly justify such
action, even if it was against a nation
that had already lifted its banner for
Israel's disappearance from the face of
the earth?
What we must remember as we
read the Bible is that we are study-
ing a text from the earliest times of
recorded history, a text that we believe
to have been written more than 4,000
years ago. Yes, we also believe that the
biblical text is God-given, but it was
never intended that every verse of it
be applied to every generation.
Our tradition insists that alongside
the written Torah, there is an Oral
Torah, a vibrant and still developing
legal system that determines which
biblical laws only applied to the
ancient world, which were open to
limitation, re-interpretation and even
expansion in different generations,
and which were deemed unchanging
and immutable for all times.
The traditional Orthodoxy that
survives today is the heir to those who
fought valiantly against the Sadducees
in the second commonwealth and the
Karaites of the Middle Ages. Our ideo-
logical ancestors regarded these sects
as heresies because they believed in a
literal interpretation of the written law
for all generations.
The arena of warfare is probably the
one in which sweeping change from
biblical law is most evident.
The Bible commands, "But in wag-
ing war against the people from the
cities which the Lord God has given
you for an inheritance, you shall
not allow any person to live. Rather
you shall utterly destroy them, the
Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the
Perizite, the Hivvite and the Jebusite as
the Lord your God commanded you.
This is so that they may not teach you
to act according to all their
abominations that they
performed for their gods
and sin before the Lord
your God" (Deuteronomy
20:16-18)
The Talmud insists that
the command to "utterly
destroy" every inhabitant of
our enemies only applied to
the specific nations singled
out by the Bible during
the early biblical period.
During the first common-
wealth, King Sennacherib of Assyria
conquered the lands of the Middle
East and confounded the indigenous
people by forcing them to resettle in
different areas and to intermarry with
their new neighbors. Hence the eth-
nic nations identified by the Bible no
longer exist and so the law demand-
ing their total destruction no longer
applies.
Moreover, Maimonides and
Nachmanides agree that it is forbid-
den for a Jew to wage war against any
nation or individual — whether of the
seven indigenous nations, Midian, or
even Amalek — unless he be given the
option of making peace and accepting
the seven Noahide laws of morality.
Once they agree to become moral indi-
viduals, we dare not harm them. And
according to this view, this was the case
even in the biblical period!
There is also a fascinating interpre-
tation of Rav Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
(the famed Dean of the Volozhin
Yeshiva, in HaAmek Davar, ad loc). He
argues that the biblical command to
kill women and children only applies
to those who were acting in the ser-
vice of the enemy. We could never have
been commanded to harm perfectly
innocent human beings, created in
God's image! ❑
Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah
Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat Israel.
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REMEMBERING WHEN...
From the archives of the Detroit Jewish News
$2,000,000 JEWISH HOSPITAL CAMPAIGN OPENS IN
FEBRUARY
Association to Function Under Federation;
Plan 200-Bed Project in City
November 24, 1944
Incorporation of the Jewish Hospital Association of Detroit and the completion of
plans to conduct a drive here in February for $2,000,000 for the construction of a
modern, 200-bed general hospital under Jewish auspices, "as a contribution to the
health and welfare of our community" was announced this week.
The organizational committee of the Jewish Hospital Association, functioning
under the auspices of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit, consists of Sidney
J. Allen, Maurice Aaronson, Irving W. Blumberg, Fred M. Butzel, Irwin I. Cohn, Israel
avidson, Harry Frank, Max Osnos, Leo Siegel, Abraham Srere, Frank A. Wetsman and
Henry Wineman.
Dr. (J.J.) Golub, noted hospital consultant, recommended that the community plan
for a 200-bed general hospital for acute diseases — an institution that would be
well-planned, scientifically equipped, soundly administered and medically staffed by
qualified and promising physicians in the medical and surgical specialties.
MILESTONES
October 28, 1949
Birth
Oct. 2 — to Mr. and Mrs. Monte M. Korn (Eleanor Karbal), twins, a son, Lawrence
David, and a daughter, Linda Ruth.
Bar Mitzvah
Mr. and Mrs. Max Bednarsh of 2903 Webb announce the Bar Mitzvah of their son,
Moische, Saturday, October 29, at Congregation B'nai Jacob, Linwood at Richton. A
dinner in hishonor will be held at home, at 6 pm, Sunday, October 30th.
Engagement
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wolfe of Pasadena Avenue annouonce the engagement of
their daughter, Marilyn, to Frederick Allan Cherney, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Cherney
of Glendale Avenue. A June wedding is planned. Marilyn is the granddaughter of
Joseph Bernstein of The Jewish Daily Forward.
Marriages
BARON-LIPTON: Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lipton of 19491 Greenlawn announce the
marriage of their daughter, Nancy Diane, to Leonard Baron, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Morris Baron of 3144 Oakman Boulevard.
Obituaries
NANCY SUE SINCLAIR, 15, of 17193 Tracey, died Oct. 22. Funeral services were
held at Hebrew Benevolent Society. Rabbi Morris Adler officiated. Survived by her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Max Sinclair, a sister, Audrey and grandmother, Mrs. Edith
Back.
The Detroit Jewish News Foundation's goal is is to digitize every issue of
the Jewish News, dating to March 27, 1942, and make them available and
searchable to the public. The Foundation will also support and sponsor
forums, town hall meetings and other educational events to best utilize
and share this historical community resource.
To assist the Foundation in its work, simply go to
the website www.thejewishnews.com and
click on the word "donate"
at the top right portion of the home page.
The Detroit Jewish News Foundation, inc. is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization.
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July 19 • 2012
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