Q&A: Redeeming Captives
Redeeming Captives
Question
I saw that you said you oppose any hostage deal with Hamas.
What about the commandment of redeeming captives, which the Talmud says is a “great commandment”?
And even if you say, “captives are not redeemed for more than their value” — fine, if you supported a deal in which fewer terrorists are released, but your opposition to any deal whatsoever isn’t clear.
Answer
These questions wear me out. I’ve written about this so much that all you have to do is search here on the site.
The quotations about the commandment of redeeming captives and about it being a great commandment (on the lips of all the righteous people whom trifles like Sabbath observance, kashrut, Torah study, adultery, assimilation, and so on don’t bother, but when it comes to the commandment of redeeming captives they are very stringent) are irrelevant to the discussion. I know that too even without quoting trivial Talmudic passages like this one (by the way, redeeming captives is not counted among the commandments).
I don’t know anyone who disputes that it is important to redeem captives. The argument is about the price. That is roughly like saying we should abolish the army because it is very important to invest in education, after all the commandment of education is a great commandment. It’s the kind of demagogic statement that says nothing and uses declarations as a spade to dig with.
Obviously I am not opposed to a deal in which Hamas surrenders — that is, disarms, gets away from us, returns all the hostages, and brings about general peace in the universe. I was talking about any deal that might be on the table that Hamas would agree to without surrendering. Right now we got very close to that, precisely because we did not agree to any deal short of surrender, and it still seems that this is not going to happen. The problem is not only the terrorists being released. I have written more than once that I would be willing to release all the terrorists imprisoned by us in exchange for the hostages. The problem is Hamas and the future threat it poses. A state does not formulate policy and conduct itself on the basis of a consideration that deals with the fate of 20 people. That is ridiculous. Would you hand back the Gaza envelope in order to get the 13 bodies that remain in Gaza? Or in order to get living hostages? Everything going on here is an absurd and ridiculous derangement of judgment, entirely driven by childish emotions.
Discussion on Answer
That is one of many distinctions that show that all the quotations here are devoid of importance and value.
What do you think of Rabbi Cherki’s explanation, that the commandment of redeeming captives refers to a community in exile from which a person was kidnapped, and all they can do is collect money to redeem him? But when we have a state and an army, there is no commandment to conduct negotiations for their release (and perhaps it is even forbidden); rather, what should be done is to fight and thereby free the captives as much as possible, as we find with the Canaanite king of Arad, and in David’s war against Amalek?